I've been thinking about how we sometimes criticize God. I've heard people try to use the Old Testament as evidence against His goodness or justice. If He says "don't murder" why did He command His people to go to war? If one of His attributes is Omniscience, then how is it possible Abraham and Moses seem to change His mind with their prayers?
And then there's the classic, "Why does God let bad things happen to good people?" I could get into the fact that people aren't good in the first place, but something else has occurred to me. When we criticize Him, aren't we appealing to a sense of "good" over God? But if God is sovereign, then doesn't He set the standard of what is good?
I have a feeling our sense of justice is fueled more by our emotions than our understanding. Who has a better understanding of the law? The person who wrote it, or the people who interpret it?
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2 comments:
This is certainly one possible answer. Of course, there is also the possibility that God had written the idea of good on our hearts. If that is true (and I believe that it is) the idea of how does God let bad things happen is a valid one that must be wrestled with and not dismissed in the typical "Calvinists are smarter than the rest of the unredeemed world" attitude.
You love your wife. I love you. If I knew for certain that someone (We'll say Abe since we both know him) was going to rape and kill your wife I would drive to Tennessee. I would not stop for Yuengling. I would use any force necessary to stop Abe. I would literally rain Hell down on him (and I'm very good at raining hell on people) to stop him.
If God foreknows that Abe is going to rape and kill your wife and God has the ability to stop it but does not, there are issues we must be willing to wrestle through.
We must admit that God either looks mean or incompetent.
Just my 1.25 cents.
Hey Joe,
Thanks for this comment. I've heard this analogy from another friend as well. And while this isn't a response, I thought I'd let you know I wrote the Ecclesiastes post after thinking about what you said. I thought you would want to know.
http://isaiahkallman.blogspot.com/2011/12/meaning-in-seemingly-meaningless-look.html
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