How Many Lives Does God Take in the Bible: An Investigation into a Surprisingly High Body Count

https://www.openculture.com/2026/03/how-many-lives-does-god-take-in-the-bible.html

How Many Lives Does God Take in the Bible: An Investigation into a Surprisingly High Body Count

Whether or not we believe in any god, most of us here in the twenty-first century have the impression of divine rulers overlooking humanity with at least theoretical love and benevolence. They forgive us, they have plans for us, they never close a door without opening a window, and so on.

Open Culture
@openculture I mean He wipes out the entire human race except for a single family (not to mention all but two of every animal) just seven chapters in.
@Thad @openculture He kills that many people, but he "loves" us. That's some mighty tough love going on.
@countdracula My evangelical grandma once read me a kid's version of the story of Noah's Ark and got to the end and the rainbow as God's promise He won't kill everybody with a flood again and then she casually added "Next time He's going to do it with fire" and I'm four or five years old at this point but I'm old enough to think that kinda sounds like God is rules-lawyering His promise.