Tag: Love of God

What If God Is Cruel

Take a moment with me and consider: what if God was cruel, completely unpredictable and wholly uncaring towards us.

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Take a moment with me and consider: what if God was cruel? What if God was completely unpredictable and wholly uncaring towards us? What if God was arbitrary, uninterested and unkind?

Some might say that God seems to be that way… if there is a God… pointing to passages in the Old Testament that portray God as angry, wrathful, retributive and seemingly callous about human life and suffering. Some say that they cannot believe in a God like that.

But, hold on a second. Why should God be the way we think He should be? Why should God be the way we want Him to be?

If God is God, and there is no higher authority, who are we to demand God be anything other than whoever He is and wants to be?

Indulge me a little here. Continue reading “What If God Is Cruel” →

How Can a Loving God….?

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In 1 Samuel 15, God told King Saul to wipe out the Amalekites, every last one of them, and leave no survivors. The story is about Saul failing to follow God’s directions while claiming to have done so. He kept King Agab alive and allowed his men to save the best of the sheep and other animals. When Samuel, the prophet, asked, “What is this bleating of sheep I hear?” Saul blamed the men for his failure to obey God, but Saul was the one who did not obey God. That is how the story goes….

But, wait a minute! …. God told Saul to kill them… all of them. That sounds incredibly harsh. It sounds worse than harsh. Is God not supposed to be a loving God?

This is a pretty common question (a rhetorical one) posed by people who oppose Christianity and reject the Bible. “A loving God would not kill people,” they say. Since the Old Testament, in particular, depicts God in this way, the Bible cannot be true, the Christian God is fiction and the whole thing is bunk.

The unspoken sentiment behind that line of thinking is that “we” (humankind) have come a long way since primitive times. We have evolved past the Enlightenment into a modern scientific age in which we have superior moral and intellectual stature. We are the gods of our own world. We have thrown off superstitious belief in a tyrant God that stifles human potential in this post-enlightenment age.

But does history add up that way?

Continue reading “How Can a Loving God….?” →

Angry God/Loving God

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Many people who have read the Bible (or say they have read the Bible) see only an angry, arbitrary and punishing God. Reading through the Old Testament can create that impression, but that would be a cursory reading that only scratches the surface. Most of us read things through the lens of our existing understanding. Our view of God depends not only on our understanding, but on where we stand.

People can be quick to criticize what they do not understand. We see that every day in comments about news events. People don’t know all the facts, but that doesn’t stop them from forming strong opinions and rushing to conclusions, and those conclusions are usually of the black and white variety. People who know all the facts, usually have a different, more nuanced view of those facts.

If you approach the Bible, or anything, with preconceived notions, there is little chance that you will come away with a different opinion than the one you have already formed. If you are willing to consider alternatives to those preconceived notions and open to understand them. Continue reading “Angry God/Loving God” →