At first glance, God in the Old Testament seems harsh, and perhaps callous. God in the New Testament seems loving, and gentle. With respect, this is a simple misunderstanding. It's also not new...this has been a common misunderstanding since at least the turn of the first century AD.

In a recent online discussion a friend claimed that you can love God, or you can love yourself, but not both. To support his claim he cited 2 Timothy 3. Here's the passage in question:

To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is not only to embrace the One who is Truth, but to love - infinitely, as He loves - those who despise the Truth as well.

Having a website is a big responsibility. Most of the time, most people don't think twice about it...after all: they wonder why anybody at all would read their website. If they're convinced that they're not being read, they don't have to think about what they write.