Having power over somebody does not exclude you from having emotions. Superman is nearly invincible and a great guy who always does the right thing; but his feelings can still get hurt if people are mean to him, and he still gets angry when people are cruel to each other, such as a human murdering another human. God would be above a superhero, but the same principle applies.
If you are God, the point of creating humanity is because you’re alone, and want to love and be loved. If you spent a lot of time and effort to raise your kids and they grew up to hate you for no discernible reason and did terrible things just to act the opposite of how you raised them to be, you’d be pissed too. Do I have “power” over my kids? I guess. I’m bigger than them and even if they’re adults, you can always pull out a .22 and shoot them if they don’t obey. But that doesn’t solve anything and it’s not very loving is it? I want to raise my kids to do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do, but also because it benefits us all to act that way reliably, and makes us all happier.
If everyone obeys God just because they have to fall in line or die/be directly punished every time, that defeats the point of making humanity because they won’t love you. Yet maybe it would be necessary to step in if they’re harmful enough to the rest of humanity, hence the smiting. But most religions have an idea that God is trying to move us past the point where he has to step in, or has already stepped back permanently. Maybe God punishes evil after death to facilitate us getting our act together. Or perhaps he simply rewards the good and doesn’t reward the evil.
Maybe he experimented a little in the past as to what actually works. Maybe he knew he was justified to punish evil, but didn’t realize the toll it would take on him by hurting your own children until it happened, and that’s why he doesn’t do it anymore.
Don’t @ me in the comments criticizing some specific version of God you have in your head. There’s a million different religions that say a million different things. This is theoretical, answering OP’s question.
Having power over somebody does not exclude you from having emotions. Superman is nearly invincible and a great guy who always does the right thing; but his feelings can still get hurt if people are mean to him, and he still gets angry when people are cruel to each other, such as a human murdering another human. God would be above a superhero, but the same principle applies.
If you are God, the point of creating humanity is because you’re alone, and want to love and be loved. If you spent a lot of time and effort to raise your kids and they grew up to hate you for no discernible reason and did terrible things just to act the opposite of how you raised them to be, you’d be pissed too. Do I have “power” over my kids? I guess. I’m bigger than them and even if they’re adults, you can always pull out a .22 and shoot them if they don’t obey. But that doesn’t solve anything and it’s not very loving is it? I want to raise my kids to do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do, but also because it benefits us all to act that way reliably, and makes us all happier.
If everyone obeys God just because they have to fall in line or die/be directly punished every time, that defeats the point of making humanity because they won’t love you. Yet maybe it would be necessary to step in if they’re harmful enough to the rest of humanity, hence the smiting. But most religions have an idea that God is trying to move us past the point where he has to step in, or has already stepped back permanently. Maybe God punishes evil after death to facilitate us getting our act together. Or perhaps he simply rewards the good and doesn’t reward the evil. Maybe he experimented a little in the past as to what actually works. Maybe he knew he was justified to punish evil, but didn’t realize the toll it would take on him by hurting your own children until it happened, and that’s why he doesn’t do it anymore.
Don’t @ me in the comments criticizing some specific version of God you have in your head. There’s a million different religions that say a million different things. This is theoretical, answering OP’s question.