Williams outlines the weaknesses of the New Atheist's arguments against the God of the Old Testament and provides the correct framework for contextualizing the events of the Old Testament.
I also want to address with some considerations and thoughts of my own a further objection to the God of the Old Testament, that God is responsible for the evil and sin in the world. The creation of the Garden of Eden and then God's decision to plant the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would seem to imply that God is therefore responsible for Adam and Eve's disobedience - after all why put it there in the first place if God didn't want Adam and Eve to eat of its fruit? I have taken some quotes by a person on the internet that I think articulate this objection:
"Adam and Eve didn't have the proper cognitive functions, they didn't know what "good" or "evil" were. God didn't demonstrate it, but again leaving a doom tree in your garden where your perfect creation is...well just plain stupid. Also knowing everything means you know what those humans will do which makes this a setup."
Adam and Eve were made in the “image”
of God after His likeness (Genesis 1:26, 27). God gave humanity dominion over
nature and Adam named each animal (Genesis 2:20). Therefore Adam and Eve did
possess proper cognitive functions in the respect that they were relational
(God is triune and therefore relational – notice Genesis says let us make man
in “our” image, not “my” image). Relationships imply morality as we make
conscious choices about how to treat, respond and interact with one another and
our environment. As God is good and there is no evil within Him, Adam and Eve’s
pre-fall nature was one of moral purity, harmony and unity – in respect of
their relationship to God, their environment and each other. Secondly, God gave
humanity dominion over nature, which again implies cognition as dominion is an assertion of the will and mind. It also implies morality as dominion can
have negative connotations of oppression, persecution, violence and abuse of
power. Before the Fall humanity did not abuse the natural world like we do
today through deforestation, chemical pollution of the atmosphere and oceans
and intensive mining. Adam and Eve exercised their God given nature to ensure
their dominion protected God’s creation not destroy it.
Knowing everything does not make
planting the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil a setup for omniscience
also means God knows all possibilities not just realities. God conceived of
Adam and Eve obeying His command as well as disobeying; God knew the logical
consequences of all potential actions by Adam and Eve. Moreover through the
laws of nature causality ensues, for every action there is a reaction – cause and
effect. God thus knew the effect Adam and Eve’s disobedience would have and so
initiated the appropriate response in line with free will; God established the
sacrificial system of the Old Testament to make atonement for that sin, which
found its fulfilment in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Tree of Knowledge
and Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden does not negate free will it, it affirms
it. Free will cannot exist without choice. Though Adam and Eve were not
omniscient like God, they did possess part of His nature in His goodness. By
giving Adam and Eve a solitary command not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of
the knowledge of Good and Evil, God was allowing Adam and Eve to make the decision
to exercise that God-given moral goodness in obedience.
"You can't have both free will and know the future or future
events/prophecies. God placing the possibility of "sin" makes his
agency responsible for it, and this destroys any chance of benevolence. This
consequence was also a set up, no one in their right mind would place a tree
that would harm the whole of humanity in a paradise with a deceitful snake
either. Also not knowing what good/evil is, makes their "choice" not
a choice, God would be at fault and responsible for all evil."
God as an agent is free – God freely
created the universe and all life within it. However, God is transcendent over
His creation and therefore is not bound by its laws as we are. If God were
bound by the laws that govern the universe then He could not have created it;
if God were inseparable from His creation than He would no longer be God, for
the universe is finite and God by essence is infinite for God is uncreated and must be to be the agent of creation.
Time is a dimension of this universe. But God is not bound by time or space and
therefore is eternal. Therefore God does not view time sequentially as we do,
who are bound by the dimension of time. But just as God as agent created the
universe with the dimensions of time and space, He is also still an active
agent within it – His revelation to ancient Israel, through the person of Jesus
Christ and through the on-going activity of the Holy Spirit within His Church.
The existence of sin or even the
possibility of sin does not make God the responsible agent for sin. Sin
literally means falling short of the mark, like an arrow missing the bulls-eye
by falling several metres short of the target; the mark or target in this case
being the Holiness of God. It is logically impossible for God to act against
His own nature – God in essence is good therefore He can do no evil – He cannot
sin. Nor can God tempt anyone to commit evil and thus sin, for this would also
be a contradiction of God’s nature. When God created the universe, the earth
and Adam and Eve He did not create with the intention of causing evil – God is
a conscious moral agent and therefore His motive for creating life is important
to our understanding of sin. God cannot create sin it is logically impossible.
The possibility of evil must exist for us to make moral choices. We choose to
do right or wrong and therefore we are responsible for our actions. Just
because God knew the possibility that Adam and Eve would make morally evil
choices does not make Him responsible for those choices because they are moral
agents by virtue of free will and it is impossible for God to tempt or force
them to sin. The very fact that God chose to create humanity with the knowledge
that this must entail the possibility of evil for us to be able to be free agents
proves His benevolence rather than destroys it! God acted in His nature –
everything God made was good (Genesis 1:31). God’s choice in creating human
beings with free will must be judged benevolent because He acted for good in
contradistinction to evil – He created a universe in which sustains life; He
created a natural paradise for which Adam and Eve could call home and He had a
special relationship with them in the Garden of Eden that was separate and
distinct from His relationship to the rest of the created order after we were
made in His image. Adam and Eve knew intimately the love of their creator and
the invitation by Him to obey Him and continue to enjoy the presence and
goodness of God.
