Now I must confess that I have always found the ideas of the early Christian dissident Marcion of Sinope ad 85 to 160 quite interesting. Of course we do not know whether or not they are true.
Basically Marcion believed that there were two gods. Jesus Christ presence on earth represented the good Heavenly Father god of the new testament. However the old testament god represented the lower vengeful god. Marcion thought that our present physical world was made by demiurge the lower god of the old testament. However Jesus came on earth to save the human race on behalf of the merciful Heavenly Father god of the new testament.
He based his theory firstly on the stories of the old testament which present a vengeful god lacking in mercy. Also Marcion pointed out the human suffering in our present world, the wars and human illness. Of course there is also the law of the wild animals eating each other alive.
Marcion founded his own church after being expelled from the early Christian church as his views were considered to be heretical. Interestingly his church flourished for a few hundred years before slowly dying out. The major weakness in his church was that church members as well as priests are not allowed to marry. The reason for this is that he considered the sexual act to be sinful as it was an act of the demiurge who created the present world.
In conclusion as somebody who does believe in god Marcion,s views are interesting however of course I cannot be certain that they are true. However he does raise an interesting idea about the difference between Jesus the mericful god of the new testament and the vengeful god of the old testament, also of course regarding the suffering in the present world. To be honest we will only find out how much truth there is in his ideas when we die.
Best wishes to all readers.
kevinclarion 