Dear Friends,

God is superior.

Period.

.

Yes, but God

Coronavirus…violence in the streets…child abuse…have you decided it’s impossible for there to be a loving, all-powerful Lord God of this universe? With God as my helper, I would like to convince you today that you are granting the benefit of the doubt to the wrong party.

Disclaimer: When I mention atheism, agnosticism and deism, I realize there are different ways of defining those terms. If I discuss them in a way that doesn’t match your definition, then feel free to educate me.

What about atheism?

If you’re not sure about whether God Himself is even real, I addressed atheism in Part 3a, linked in the series outline above. Also, if you scroll down to the comments on that post, you will find a long debate I had with an atheist reader who was kind enough to engage with me. For today’s post, we will acknowledge that atheism resolves the Problem of Evil in some sense, but we will also maintain that atheism is still complete nonsense, due to other considerations. Please visit Part 3a to read those other considerations, and join that discussion if you are interested.

In short, I reject atheism as a viable solution to the Problem of Evil.

What about agnosticism?

Perhaps you read the paragraph above and said “Well, that doesn’t apply to my approach, because not being sure about whether God is real is really just agnosticism, not atheism. I am an agnostic.”

This is my problem with agnosticism: It seems to treat the non-existence of God as one of several reasonable possibilities. To me, this is unwise; the non-existence of God is an utterly absurd notion and you should not embrace it as part of a union of competing worldviews, whether you label that union “agnosticism” or not. Yes, I know…calling something “absurd” does not amount to an argument. For the arguments, as I said, you are invited to visit Part 3a.

In short, I reject agnosticism as a viable approach to the Problem of Evil.

I know you are hurting but I’m begging you not to turn away from reality and Love!

When the Problem of Evil is confronted by…

…Job in the midst of bereavement, sickness and financial loss…

…us in the midst of our own trials and tribulations…

…us in the midst of vicarious pain experienced when seeing photos of the Holocaust or other atrocities…

in all these situations, we need to remember that anger can cloud the mind (1)!

I want a worldview that makes me feel good, yes…but I first want one that makes sense. And the more my worldview is dominated by anger, whether it’s anger against injustice or anything else, the less chance my worldview is actually logical. And the more my worldview is dominated by anger, the less room there is in my worldview for love…and that means that if Love is part of reality, then I am going to miss out.

Even though you are hurting, please give reality a chance. You might be surprised at what you discover!

So, is God a *%#*!# or the Paragon of Love?

We are assuming an all-powerful God for this discussion…and we are confronting the question of his goodness.

This is a central question of the book of Job. Is God good or not? I went into more detail on Job’s case against God in Part 1b, also linked in the series outline above. For today, I will just present this summary:

• I am a good guy
  • [Job 12:4 KJV] 4 I am [as] one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just UPRIGHT [man is] laughed to scorn.
• God helps the bad guys
  • [Job 12:6 KJV] 6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand GOD BRINGETH [ABUNDANTLY].
• God hurts the good guys
  • • [Job 30:21 KJV] 21 Thou art become CRUEL to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

Job was actually going further than those who charge God with not doing anything about our suffering. He was charging God with actively doing wrong.

And, in at least one discussion I had with an atheist, these charges were more or less repeated, but with the addition of a foul, nasty, epithet hurled in God’s direction.

Whether or not you add in a curse or a vulgar insult, it is a very serious thing to indict God with wrongdoing. Instead of dealing with specific accusations today, I want to address this type of indictment from a more fundamental level. I will first offer some thoughts in my own words, and then cite Scripture.

Come, let us reason together 

Let’s take a deep breath and set aside our wounds, our hurts, our pain and our anger for a moment. What is more logical, my friends? A or B?

A. Created beings can be morally superior to the very Originator of their morality

B. The Originator of morality is always morally superior to created beings

I am very convinced that B is the far more logical choice. It does not make any sense to me for a created being to be superior to the Creator in power, or in goodness, or in any other respect. As another example, consider the piano. Where does our ability to appreciate, compose, and perform piano music come from? Ultimately, it must come from the Creator. So, does it make any sense to think you could ever defeat God in a piano contest? In turn, we should never presume to challenge God to a morality contest.

So, when we think about some terrible event like 9/11, and wonder where God was that day…even if we don’t have a detailed, satisfying answer, we are woefully mistaken if we conclude that God just isn’t good. Instead, we should say something like this:

“I may at first think that 9/11 shows that God is not good…but unless and until I have a better, more specific understanding of God’s approach to 9/11, I must simply conclude that my initial reasoning is at fault, or my information is at fault, or my values are at fault, not God’s. As a rational person, I will not challenge God’s goodness, because that would be saying that I have better moral sense than the Originator of my morality…and that would be an irrational thing to say.”

By the way, this argument also seems to contradict deism (at least, the kind of deism that denies divine intervention). Since humans often intervene in each other’s affairs in a loving, sacrificial way, a Creator that is necessarily morally superior to us would also have to intervene at least some of the time.

Let us now use Scripture to address indictments against God. Have a seat and get a firm grip on the armrests…because court is now in session.

ALL RULINGS AGAINST GOD’S GOODNESS ARE HEREBY VACATED

The United States Supreme Court consists of learned and powerful men and women that are held in high regard by many; but God sits as the Chief and only Justice behind the bench of the Supreme Court of the universe. Let us review His ruling on this topic; it will sound familiar to what I wrote above, because what I wrote above was gleaned from the below 🙂

From Eliphaz the Temanite (you have to take his statements with a grain of salt, because he is later rebuked by God, but the statement below conforms well with later statements from more reliable sources, so I include it as a warm-up, a sort of opening act):

[Job 4:17 KJV] 17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? [nuff said]

From Elihu the son of Barachel (this is a step up from Eliphaz, because Elihu is not rebuked by God at the end of Job):

[Job 33:12 KJV] 12 Behold, [in] this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. [A keeper for sure. Any argument using the premise that God is not greater than man is clearly flawed.]

[Job 37:23 KJV] 23 [Touching] the Almighty, we cannot find him out: [he is] excellent in power, AND in judgment, AND in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.    [notice God’s superiority in all respects, not just in power]

From God Himself:

[Job 40:8 KJV] 8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?   [Notice very carefully that God says nothing, he reveals zero information to Job, about his interaction with Satan. He instead highlights the fundamental error that is made whenever we impugn God’s character and justify our own, in any situation for any reason.]

Finally, consider this delightfully succinct verse from Proverbs that makes a similar point:

[Pro 21:30 KJV] 30 [There is] no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.

God is superior in all ways, my friends; this is a solid foundation to build a worldview on.

Court is adjourned.

Optional: final notes on Job you are welcome to skip

This isn’t a series about Job, but we will leave this book with some final bullets:

• I am not sure what the common error is (if any) in the statements of Job’s 3 friends, and how that differs from the statements of Elihu, but I do believe all 3 went off the rails at some point, because God says they did:
  • [Job 42:7 KJV] 7 And it was [so], that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me [the thing that is] right, as my servant Job [hath].
  • To God’s point, I did notice Eliphaz going off the rails here:
    • [Job 22:6 KJV] 6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
    • Eliphaz’s description of Job’s behavior certainly conflicts with God’s own description:
      • [Job 1:8 KJV] 8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
    • Eliphaz seems so desperate to prove that he knows exactly why Job is being punished, he starts making stuff up out of thin air
    • This just shows that when you don’t know all the facts, you’re safest simply maintaining that God is superior because He is God…you don’t have to have the specific answer!
  • Also to God’s point about the three friends, see Zophar’s insinuation:
    • [Job 20:19 KJV] 19 Because he hath oppressed [and] hath forsaken the poor; [because] he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
  • …and Bildad’s:
    • [Job 18:21 KJV] 21 Surely such [are] the dwellings of the wicked, and this [is] the place [of him that] knoweth not God.
  • One final note, along these same lines, about Bildad’s statement here:
    • [Job 8:6 KJV] 6 If thou [wert] pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
    • The problem with this statement is it implies that Bildad’s better condition is based entirely on his pureness and uprightness, and that Job’s worse condition is based entirely on Job’s impurities and his lack of uprightness
    • If you simply consider Biblical and non-Biblical cases of Christian martyrs, Bildad’s comment falls flat on its face
• Satan was wrong; Job never did curse God. For a nice little summary of the outcome of God’s interaction with Satan, please see (2).
• There are further clues about God’s thought process in this story, beyond the interaction between God and Satan.
  • Job was outwardly doing awesome before all the bad stuff happened, but inwardly he did not feel safe, rested or at peace:
    • [Job 3:25-26 KJV] 25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. 26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
    • What was the thing that he greatly feared? His children dying, of course. And don’t forget that in the very first chapter we see him constantly offering sacrifices for his children, out of concern that they may have sinned. And it seems he had reason to be concerned about them cursing God in their hearts, given his wife’s own reaction to Job’s downfall ([Job 2:9 KJV] 9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.). Where did he get the initial concern that his children would curse God if not from their close family member (their mother in this case) that openly advocated cursing God when trials came? It seems that Job had legitimate concerns, but was allowing those concerns to rob him of his peace and joy instead of taking them to God in prayer.
    • Job was not entrusting his concerns to God, which helps explain his own statement in 3:25-26. His lack of trust is mentioned by Elihu as the very reason for his present bad situation:
      • [Job 35:14-15 KJV] 14 Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, [yet] judgment [is] before him; therefore trust thou in him. 15 But now, because [it is] not [so], he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth [it] not in great extremity:
  • So, it seems like part of God’s purpose here was, lo and behold, to actually improve Job’s life…by nudging him to trust in the only One we can always trust.

A structure far more glorious than its foundation

If I am building a fortress to stand against the Problem of Evil, I consider the Scriptures cited today to be the foundation. I consider this verse, and the underlying logic thereof, to be a good enough reason to say that the Problem of Evil can never be solved by ascribing less power or goodness to God:

[Job 33:12 KJV] 12 Behold, [in] this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.

Or, in my own words, the Giver of morality is always morally superior to the recipients.

I hope this foundation made sense to you…but I also want to tell you that, God being my helper, the castle is going to be far more impressive and glorious than its foundation! As we build on this foundation by looking at what God has done and what He is planning to do, I am looking for glittering, impregnable, beautifully adorned walls to rise high into the sky.

I hope you will join me! God bless…

Links:

1: Take it from Master Splinter

2: Checkmate