I do get so annoyed with the fuzzy NT God image. Sorry? I mean, Christ does preach love and redemption and all kinds of WONDERFUL things. But all those bits where he makes the moral code more stringent than it was in the Mosaic Law? Yeah, they tend to get skipped over a bit.

YES.

And rj_anderson, thanks for this post! This has been an annoyance of mine for awhile, but I could never spell it out like you have here. (Also, hi! I'm new here. I've seen you around quite a bit, actually took a look at your journal when you posted the Conspiracy of Kings review, and decided to friend you when I found your other entries interesting as well!)