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This, IMHO, is the primary heresy of Calvinism - it posits a cruel and capricious god..This is the god portrayed by atheists and the view of God that has produced more atheists than Christians, IMHO. It is nowhere near the God the Father that Jesus taught.

Nonsense. God is neither cruel or wicked. Instead He is perfect love and kindness. What your statement shows is truly a lack of understanding of the depths of the depravity and wickedness of man.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the exact same God of the Old Testament as He is of the New. It is He that rain fire on Sodom and brought the plagues on Egypt. And He was right to do so. It is justice and God trying to get our attention and we are better off for it, still talking about it all these centuries later. This statement is silly and simply shows a lack of understanding on the wickedness of man, a refusal to acknowledge our sinful state, and an inability to reconcile what God has revealed about Himself in ALL of the scriptures. People have far more regards for themselves then they should and in doing so they simply lower the glory of God.

Our Lord Jesus had no problem in saying what He would do in the last days, comparing the final destruction of man to the days of Noah or Sodom (some of the worst destruction)-and neither did Peter:

2Pe 2:5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

2Pe 2:6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;

2Pe 2:7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked

2Pe 2:8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);

2Pe 2:9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

2Pe 2:10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,

2Pe 2:11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.

2Pe 2:12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction,

From your perspective Peter doesn't sound very "loving" does he? Why, heck, Peter even sounds positively Calvinistic. Amazing that the Church has refuse to even listen to the doctrine of its first "Pope". If people spent less time talking about the beatitudes and more time in studying the rest of scripture, they probably would understand the true nature of God a bit better and be better for it.