Is God cruel?

I'll try to keep this short:
My argument is that the Bible is consistent with regards to the characterization of Jehovah as a God of mercy and loving kindness.

We started out in the Garden of Eden, which seems to have been a really fine place, so:

Where did war and crime and sickness and death originate?
When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad they rebelled against God's sovereignty and plunged the entire human race into degradation. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. . ." (Romans 5:12)

Is that all? Or is God going to do something about it?

God promised a remedy in the third chapter of Genesis; but much time would come to pass before a resolution. It may seem interminable to us, but Psalm 90:4 reminds us that to God a thousand years passes as a 'watch in the night'.

Meantimes God is the 'judge of the earth'. (Genesis 18:25)

All who have been born under Adam are subject to death; so does it matter in the grand scheme of things how anybody dies? Keep in mind that those who never knew god have been promised a resurrection where they will have the opportunity to regain all that Adam and Eve lost. (John 5: 28) When they once again taste a breath of fresh air, will they curse God for their now forgotten pain or thank him for their life?

So, what has the earth been like - the earth of whom God is the judge? Particularly, what were the nations like which were destroyed by God? (I'll stick with the Canaanites for now, though similar arguments can be made for other acts of execution.)

The Canaanite religion was extraordinarily base and degraded. Perhaps you are not offended by their practice of idolatry, incest, sodomy, and bestiality, but what about child sacrifice? Did you know is was the practice to place their living infants into the outstretched arms of the idol so they would fall into the fire? Some were quite old enough to realize what was happening. Can you imagine their terror? Do you think the civilization deserved to continue?

You may ask what was so great about the Israelites that they were chosen to be God's people?
Nothing, except God had made a covenant with their ancestor Abraham.

And why were they chosen from time to time to be God's executioners?
Again, does it make any difference in the grand scheme of things who puts a condemned person to death? The fact that the Israelites were victorious over seven nations having greater military might was to be further evidence of God's power to deliver.

Were the life and message of Jesus out of harmony with the God of the OT?

That Jesus reportedly cured he sick, healed the lame and raised the dead is often cited as evidence that his personality was not the same as his father's. Yet, there were many instances of healing, resurrection and deliverance in the OT. And God certainly did give us the thing we value most: namely, life. Keep in mind that Jesus' message of salvation was tempered with warnings about the destruction of the wicked. Read of separating the sheep from the goats in Matthew chapter 25, vss. 33-45. (Or, of his condemnation of the Pharisees (Matthew 23:33)

OK, my neck is exposed. Chop away!