The Christian Bible is arranged so that the prophetic books come at the end of the Old Testament and lead into the New Testament. The last Old Testament book is Malachi whose prophecy ends with these words. “I will send you Elijah, the prophet, … to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children … lest I come and strike the land with doom.” Does the thought of a God who brings “doom” seem right to you? St. John the Baptist preached some doom. Which reminds me of a news commentary: one of the talking heads said about US policy, “It is better to be feared than to be loved.” Maybe John the Baptist would agree with that but not Jesus. For Jesus, “God is love.”
