The God of the Holy Bible is a Monster!

My opponent contends that the God of the bible is a monster who is incapable of love based on the referenced scriptures that almost exclusively, with the exception of Ephesians, Timothy and Luke, reside in the OT. For this 1st negative I will briefly rebut my opponent's first statement: Statement: "The god of the bible is a monster. He commands his people to abstain from murder, yet he kills 70.000 men in 1 Chron. 21 because of David's census blunder." Response: The account of the incident surrounding the census reveals it was Satan who incited David to take the census: "Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel" (1 Chronicles 21:1). God allowed Satan to tempt David, and David sinned, revealing his pride and allowing God to deal with him for it. It is a well known fact that God permits Satan to act in order to achieve His purposes. God uses Satan in various ways, among them the refining, disciplining and purification of disobedient believers (Luke 22:31-32; 1 Corinthians 5:1-5; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Such is the case with David. As to why God was angry at David; David was King and broke the law. In those times, a man only had the right to count or number what belonged to him. Though David be King, Israel did not belong to David; Israel belonged to God. Numbering the people of God had consequences: Hundreds of years before David took the census, God told Moses (who was a type of king before Israel had Kings) In Exodus 30:12, "When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the LORD a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them." A Census was not to be taken without God's command because in doing so, the census taker (The King) is expressing a lack of faith, that is, the King is not to trust in the numbers of fighting men, but in the power of God. It was up to God to command a census, and if David counted he should only do it at God's command, receiving a ransom of one shekel from the rich and poor alike to "atone" for the counting. Since David did not receive this command, and did not receive a ransom from each man, he is guilty of breaking the law. Now when David sinned by taking the census, he was approached by the prophet Gad, in the same chapter of Chronicles, who,speaking on behalf of God, gave David a choice of three punishments for issuing the census(1 Chronicles 21:12). This was God's way of testing David to see if he new the law. Of the three options: (1) three years of famine (2) three months of losing wars (3) three days of plague, only (3) is the legitimate response to such a disobedient act according to Exodus 30:12 above. Since David knew the law, he reluctantly chose (3) because it appropriately fit Exodus 30:12, and as a result a plague struck 70,000 men, and they all died. In conclusion, the chronicles account does not paint a picture of loveless monster God who murders his own people. God gave his people a law and expected the King, above all others, to follow it perfectly. When the law is broken by sin, atonement must be made because God's word must stand. It is clear from scripture that 70,000 men died not via an arbitrary genocidal act of God, but as the result of a clearly given mandate hundreds of years prior to David taking the throne that required a temporary life taking plague when an unsanctioned census was taken in Israel. Although King David had no excuse in the eyes of God, and witnessed many men die as a result of his careless decisions, God still loved him because of his repentant heart.