why the God of the Bible is not an immoral god

The issue of the very moral goodness of God has been brought into question by the New Atheist movement, notably by one of its leading proponents, Richard Dawkins. Dawkins claims that the massacre of the Canaanites in the Old Testament proves God is immoral and guilty of genocidal murder. This is an incredibly serious accusation to place against the God of Christianity, especially since Christianity teaches that God is love. How do we reconcile then a bloody event in human history supposedly by divine command with the nature and character of a God of love and a God of morality and justice? The following 45 minute lecture by Peter J Williams on the Old Testament and the character of God is a very helpful starting point in addressing this big objection.

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.

Superhero Musings

So with the epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s the Dark Knight trilogy last summer coupled with the rebirth of Superman this summer in the origin story of Man of Steel, I have been thinking about superheroes a lot over the past few months. Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated by superheroes; maybe it appealed to my boyhood imagination or possibly it was the testosterone fuelled action sequences or even the innate sense of justice or morality we all have deep within our subconscious. Whatever triggered my love of superheroes and comic books they have remained a part of me ever since.

Now I am a huge DC fan, Marvel has its moments but I find DC characters far more compelling and the stories far more satisfying. I want to talk about two of my favourite all time superheroes: Batman and Superman, two characters that are the complete antithesis of one another but also epitomise what superheroes are.

Batman is my all-time favourite superhero. Batman, otherwise known as the Dark Knight is a complex individual but at one and the same time accessible and relatable. As a man with no superpowers he is the antithesis of Superman, whose very name suggests someone extraordinary and super-human. However, Batman’s strength lies exactly in his humanity. Batman is the archetypal human in many ways: intelligent, rational – yet with great emotional depth – a physical specimen of a man who is strong, athletic and agile, tenacious, successful and accomplished, stoical and yet practical; a natural born leader. But notwithstanding all of these amazing attributes he is also vulnerable, a man who has suffered pain and loss, an orphan whose eyes were opened to the harsh realities and evil within society from a very young age; his upbringing thus an oxymoron of privilege and loss. It is this juxtaposition, the son and heir of the Wayne billion dollar empire who despite inheriting such enormous wealth and status did so at the cost of losing his parents to a desperate gunman, having to come to terms with a life without the love and support of his family and effectively being adopted by the family Butler Alfred Pennyworth that makes Batman both someone to aspire to and someone to pity.

Batman is a character with tremendous emotional depth and an innate sense of and passion for justice. Batman is a character who can honestly and sincerely empathise with other victims of crime and the less fortunate and vulnerable in society. One of the most fascinating aspects of Bruce Wayne/Batman’s character is the irony that his alter-ego of Batman is a symbol of fear and justice born from Bruce Wayne’s very own phobia. As a child Bruce Wayne developed a paralysing phobia of bats. Bats haunted Bruce’s dreams as his parents’ murders were the subject of his nightmares. There was created a connection between his fear and his tragedy; a fear that would eventually evolve into his source of strength and become the inspiration for the very armour he would wear to protect both his body and his identity. Batman the hero is a symbol designed to strike fear into those who prey on the fearful. As such Batman is also a symbol of victory over one’s fear.

Another of Batman’s myriad qualities and virtues is his razor sharp intelligence. Batman is first and foremost a detective before he is a warrior. Many of Batman’s villains such as the Riddler, the Joker, the Court of Owls and Hush wage not just a physical war with the Dark Knight but a psychological one as well. Batman stories are replete with elements of detection, the science of deduction, the science of forensic examination and criminology thus making for intellectual as well as visceral gratification. Batman is an analyst, a detective and a strategist. His gadgets and technologies are always extensions of his penetrating intellect and mind and always serve him as tools in his investigation, unlike in James Bond where gadgetry takes on a more superficial role of gimmickry.

Batman’s intellectual prowess is matched superbly by his physical superiority. Batman endures much pain and suffering in his duels with evil and his physical conditioning is a vital part to his success. Batman is a master in the martial arts, athletic, tough and with great cardiovascular and isometric strength. Batman’s sagas are often violent and bloody and his body is literally scarred from his altercations and wars with evil.

Perhaps my favourite aspect of Batman is the fact that despite his superhero allies and friends such as Commissioner Gordon and Alfred, Batman is a lone wolf. Batman is fiercely independent and guards his relationships very carefully, keeping practically everyone at arm’s length. Batman isn’t afraid to dwell in the shadows and enter into the viper’s nest. Batman’s psychological resilience to insanity and his fierce sense of morality that protects him from the temptation of evil are the result of the personal responsibility he feels to pursue justice and fight crime. Batman doesn’t look to another to save the day; he doesn’t pass the buck or responsibility; he doesn’t make excuses or shrink back because there are other superheroes more supernatural than him. Batman shoulder’s the burden of justice on himself. He takes every act of injustice and crime in Gotham City as a personal assault on him, as it once was when his parents were murdered. Batman understands the qualities he has - some very unique to him - and therefore believes it is his duty to protect the vulnerable and the innocent. There is a profound truth to this – we should all take responsibility for our actions and do what is in our capability and capacity to in order to improve this world and care for our fellow human beings.

On to Superman, Superman is a very different character to Batman. Yet Superman also possesses the same juxtaposed qualities as Batman – extraordinary strength and weakness. Although an alien from the planet Krypton with super-human abilities; Superman is also an orphan who growing up did not know his real identity or heritage. Thus Superman has very real human qualities to him as well. He is an outsider, an intergalactic immigrant who must deal with and comes to term with rejection, hostility, paranoia and suspicion. Superman must also choose to do what is right in the face of xenophobic resistance and hatred towards him. Kal-El otherwise known as Clark Kent grew up in Smallville, a small town outside of the bustling city of Metropolis, one of the greatest cities in the DC America. As a teenager and student Clark Kent deliberately underachieved in order to mask his extraordinary abilities. He shunned the spotlight and shrunk back from popularity. But in his adult life Clark also had to learn what it means to be human – to love, to form friendships and professional relationships and to make a career for himself. Clark Kent has many of the same struggles as ordinary, everyday humans do. In this respect Superman is an utterly intriguing character; orphaned, estranged from his birth-right, outcast, conflicted, feared and hated, resented and envied. Superman becomes super in the very act of protecting and serving the very people that fear and hate him.

Superman’s extraordinary physical capabilities seem to defy the laws of physics and nature. His powers come from the yellow sun at the centre of our solar system. But though Superman’s powers have their limitations in relation to his exposure to the sun it is his powers – super-speed, super-strength, space flight, super-sonic flight, x-ray vision and laser sight that make him arguably the most messianic of all superheroes. Like Jesus, Superman has a godlike duality. On the one hand Clark Kent and even Kal-El are very human but Superman is almost divine. Like Jesus, Superman is a product of two worlds – Superman came from the stars as Jesus came from Heaven. Joseph was only Jesus’ step-father as Jonathan Kent, Clark’s. Superman’s personality is also much more similar to Jesus’ than Batman’s. Superman’s bright red and royal blue costume with the golden \S/ emblem speaks far more of light and goodness (on the surface) than the silhouette of Batman’s cape and cowl. Superman’s face is exposed not masked, symbolic that Superman is at one with himself and his duty as a man with superpowers to save the world from evil and destruction.  Superman embraces his superpowers as Jesus embraced his divine mission as the Son of God as saviour of humanity. Jesus and Superman transcend normalcy and ordinary humanity.

Superman is an extension of the human psyche that recognises the divine and humanity's inability to redeem itself. The world needs Superman, even when it doesn’t want to admit to it. Superman is the personification of moral goodness. Superman can do what humans cannot. But Superman is also accessible – he lives on earth, he can be contacted and spoken to. Superman is a manifestation of our need for a messiah. When earth is in jeopardy and danger, the world turns to Superman. It is an implicit confession and acknowledgement of our sinfulness and our powerlessness to earn our salvation.