The Bible can give an inadequate, demanding, or scary picture of God. It did for this author. But she began to think that perhaps it was the perspective of the Biblical authors. It was written by men who use few words, focus on facts, and like the idea of a mighty conquering warrior God. Notwithstanding Inspiration, people see through their filters and often produce a biased or partial picture. The same is true for translators. The stories of the Bible had real people who lived in relationship with God-were part of God's family, when they would be, and God treated them like children in all the various developmental stages. These people had emotions, and issues and backstories just like ours, allowing for cultural differences. They struggled with good and evil too. In this episode (Exodus 24--Deuteronomy) one can see that God's laws and rules all come from parental love Israel had just come out of slavery and functioned on a reward and punishment level of development--their mindset needed high structure and high nurture which Adonai gave them. He carefully spelled out all of His expectations for them. The problem was they didn't all want to obey. Just like children, they always pushed the boundaries and complained at any lack. They were very susceptible to the suggestions of the dark side, believing and acting out most of them, and making it very difficult for God to do what He wanted to do for them. It isn't always easy to understand God's voice or actions unless you understand this huge backstory of a universal war, and all the little ones interconnecting with it. God's minor voice is His preferred will. His major voice is His allowed will. Arla hopes to get people reading scripture again, enjoying it, understanding it, and falling in love with God. She would love for people to see that God's law is really just love--the character of all three Abba, Adonai and Ruach--and will keep us safe and happy until this war between good and evil is over. "His laws will keep us " as it says in the Greek interlinear translation of John 14:15.