(Pro) The Christian God is malevolent vs benevolent (Con).

In my personal point of view, God is like a parent in the sense that the consequences He gives us as His children, is the direct contribution to our progression as an ever advancing civilization. A parent is essentially a friend and a trainer and his toughness when necessary for the child. Im not a Christian but let's take look at Matthew 7:11 in the Holy Bible and I hope I do well for my Christian brothers and sisters. The verse says, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! " That is the whole point why Jesus calls God, "My Father", and declares His Station as His Son. That is the primary way we should relate to God, as our Father. The unfortunate thing is that people think of God primarily as a judge, watching to see if I did anything wrong so He could send His punishment. That is clearly not the case because regardless of what an average/ideal parent says or the punishment they give to the child, the parent always loves them no matter what and as I said before, it is for the good of the child's growth. Only once in the King James Version of the New Testament do we find the phrase "God the judge," while the phrase "God the Father" is found 13 times. On top of that, 11 times we find the phrase "God our Father," but not once do we find "God our judge. " Notice the major difference between "God the judge" which is in the Bible only once, and "God our judge which is not in the Bible. Additionally, in James 1:17, it says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. " So all the good things and perfect things come from the Father (God) and the things He sends us does not change in its nature. But the question is, God has commanded conquests to be carried for the eradication of entire peoples, how is this a "good and perfect gift"? I will open this question by giving reference from Deutoronomy 20:16-17 where it says, "However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them--the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--as the LORD your God has commanded you. " This verse is quite controversial and raises many eyebrows due to its direct command of essentially, extermination. However we must dive into the reasons behind this Divine Directive and see whether the annihilation was a good thing or otherwise. In the Hebrew Bible, there are instances where God points to the abhorent behaviour of the Idol worshippers mentioned in Deut. 20:16-17. In Deut 23:17-18 it says, "No Israelite, whether man or woman, may become a temple prostitute. You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both. The temple of the idol worshippers was in the land that God had promised the Jewish peoples. However, these were no ordinary temples, for they contained unspeakable evils that were ultimately concerous to the spirituality of the devout Chosen people. The temples they used to pray to their interpretation of a supreme being, was used as grounds for harlotry, essentially cult prostitution. Both males and females when they reached the age of maturity, partook in this sick activity of being the prostitute of the temple, apssed around to those who unleashed their sexual urges on young men and women, boys and girls alike. Job 36:14 perfectly summarizes the conditions of the victims when it says, "They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes. " This is a direct and clear indication that in the name of their own interpretation of a supreme being, the actions leaders and teachers of the idol worshippers would partake in such activities to quell their temporary urges as they passed a girl or boy around like a used piece of napkin. This is the cancer that had dominate the land in which God had promised the Jewish people. Some would think that, "well why didn't God just command the Jews to go elsewhere? " The answer is clear and simple. When the Jews were the ones with the most recent Message from God that was a cure for the spiritual ills of the world in that day, then to ignore the sick would be an action worthy of punishment itself, the same way how a doctor would be punished by a power higher tham himself if he ignored the sick. So the Jews were obligated to remove the cancer that was spreading in the region, as per the command of God, because end crops go bad, you don't keep them around. .. you eliminiate them and start anew, by tilling the soil and planting new seeds. Addinitionally, I am not Muslim nor is this debate topic about Islam, but one thing interesting to note is that in Islam, there are 99 Names of God and among those 99 Names there are titles that show both sides of the coin esentially, and I will mention them respectively including their references in the Qur'an:The Giver of Honor (3:26)The Giver of Dishonor (3:26)The Exalter, The Upgrader (58:11)(6:83)The Abaser, The Humiliator, The Downgrader (56:3)The Giver of Life (7:158)(15:23)(30:50)(57:2)The Bringer of Death (3:156)(7:158)(15:23)(57:2)The Expediter, He Who Brings Forward (16:61)The Delayer, He Who Puts Far Away (71:4)The Propitious, The Benefactor, The Source of Good (30:37)The Distressor, The Harmer, The Afflictor (6:17)So the issue you raised, regarding Is God Malevolent or Benevolent, from a Islamic point of view and Christian and Jewish, it seems God is both for good reason, but even the parent-like nature of God is quite evident, even without the Quran to voice these 99 Names. So in conclusion, I have presented an All-Benevolent Parent (God) who gives us necessary consequences, positive and negative, as result we become the ever-advancing civilization that grows and develops and constantly learns from its mistakes. I look forward to the the next round.