The reason you believe this is because you are influence by a Christian sensibility. Suppose we believed God was cruel and arbitrary? Suppose "justice," or eternal peace, was predicated on some personal accomplishment -- circling a mountain x number of times; killing a dangerous animal; sacrificing a child?
There are cultures that have practiced these things to appease the spirits. We know, and I know, that we don't have to do these things. And the only, reason we know this is because of the Lord Jesus.
You do believe God is cruel and arbitrary. He was from the very beginning. It has always been so. Jehovah has always been a real cruel dude.
Suppose "justice," or eternal peace, was predicated on some personal accomplishment -- circling a mountain x number of times; killing a dangerous animal; sacrificing a child?
Or sacrificing an innocent man? What is more arbitrary than that? It isn't me who had been influenced here.
There are cultures that have practiced these things to appease the spirits. We know, and I know, that we don't have to do these things. And the only, reason we know this is because of the Lord Jesus.
I covered this in a thread elsewhere on the witch accusations that took place all through the Middle Ages. Christians did exactly that, only for different reasons. Women and children were burned at the stake in 'sacrifice' only they didn't call it that. The rational doesn't matter, only the fact. And today, every time you read a story about some fanatic who starves a child, or refuses medical treatment for a child, based upon faith, put it in the same category as that 'sacrifice.' It is no different. It is death based upon irrational beliefs.
You really don't 'know' any better.