Thursday...questions

What are your questions about religion/theology/God/heaven/hell/etc.?

Don't expect any answers from me. I'm just wondering what you're thinking about.
A couple of the things that I have struggled with are the two very different Gods portrayed in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible -- the angry, judgmental God of the Old Testament vs the loving, merciful God of the New Testament.
These two very different distinctions of God are incompatible in my way of thinking.

I've kind of reconciled it in my head that the Old Testament God is a god of man's design (religion) and the New Testament God is the real deal that Jesus came to help us understand. I'm not sure if that makes any sense or not because it is difficult for me to explain it in my head, much less try to share it in words. Sometimes I sort of think in feelings instead of in words. Does anyone else do that?

Most of Christianity seems to use Jesus as a kind of get out of jail free card to the Old Testament God's wrath and eternal condemnation, but that doesn't work for me anymore. I'm not sure that it ever really made sense to me. I guess I accepted it because I trusted others that taught it to have understood it better than I did. I think we were all believing and teaching a misunderstanding or perhaps a known falsehood without really knowing what we were doing.

I saw this meme recently...

...and thought to myself, "See? The whole evangelical thing makes no sense when you put it like that!"

What would Jesus say about that?
I think he would fall into his Sermon on the Mount rhythm with something like, "You've heard it said that God is going kick your butt if you don't follow all of the rules, but I'm telling you that's just religious manipulation and your leaders trying to control you. God loves you!"

What if people actually knew Jesus followers by their love rather than by their hate?
What if people stopped using religion to control and manipulate people?
What if we worked to bring love and understanding to our community instead of striving for personal wealth and power?

Does God really love me?
Does God love everyone?

I have questions.
Do you?

John