Why does an all-Loving God do evil things? … (01/12/13)
“God’s Day in Court”
(… in Defense of God)
There are quite a few folks – Christians & non-Christians alike – who have wondered about the seemingly contradictory nature of God as He is portrayed in the Bible.
On the one hand, the Bible tells us that God is an embodiment of perfect, unconditional Love (Psalm 100:5, Matthew 5:48, 1 John 4:8-16, et al). On the other hand, the Bible also seemingly portrays the same God in a very different light – as a God who regularly commits acts that can only be characterized as evil.
Many non-Christians rant in response; claiming vehemently that this fundamental contradiction proves that God doesn’t exist at all, and many Christians – at least those with any semblance of an awakened conscience – struggle to somehow justify continuing to worship such a deity.
Indeed, while growing up in America’s “Bible Belt”, I had often wondered myself:
How could an all-Loving God kill all of Egypt’s first-born during the initial Passover?
How could an all-Caring God command a father to kill his own son simply to test his faith?
How could an all-Forgiving God rain down fire and burn up the inhabitants of two entire cities?
Well, it turns out that the answer is pretty simple …
He didn’t!
Allow me to illuminate …
When I was first reading the Bible, I had often pondered the many names for God used by the Bible’s authors. Sometimes God was referred to as “God”, other times as “LORD”, and still other times as “LORD God”. Like most new readers, I simply assumed that these terms were synonyms – that all of them described the same God – that the authors were simply alternating those names to make it easier on us, their readers. In fact, most Christians I know, and even most of the Christian preachers I have heard, still believe this to be so.
AND YET, this is not the case at all.
When I later delved into the Hebrew manuscripts themselves, it became clear that the translators of the ancient Biblical texts didn’t use the terms “God” and “LORD” interchangeably, but rather purposefully used them to represent two entirely different Hebrew terms in those writings.
Essentially, almost every time we read “LORD” in the Hebrew Bible (what Christians like to call “the Old Testament”), it represents one of two Hebrew terms — “Adonai” or “YHWH”; both intimate names for the ultimate, eternal Source most of us know as “God”.
In contrast, almost every time we read “God” in the Hebrew Bible, it is representing the Hebrew term “Elohim” – which literally means “gods” … That’s right – “gods”. It’s a plural term, referring to more than one spiritual entity.
This information was pretty fascinating to me, and yet I didn’t give it much thought until I later decided to use this rediscovery to color-code the first few books of the Bible. To do so, every time the word “God” showed up, I shaded it lightly with an orange pencil, and every time the word “LORD” was read, I shaded it with green.
The results were astounding …
Almost without exception, every “evil” act performed by God was actually performed by the orange-shaded “God” (the Elohim), while the “LORD” (the actual Godhead) seemed simply to forgive and Love with a cool-green, never-ending compassion.
I won’t go into too much detail here (feel free to contact me if you have questions about any specific passages), and yet consider the following:
*In the 4th chapter of Genesis, we see God (the “LORD”) not being too happy with Cain’s animal sacrifice (God’s only direct Commandment in the entire Bible was for us humans to tend the garden and care for all the animals therein), and yet caring for Cain anyway.
*In the 9th chapter of Genesis, we hear the Elohim tell Noah and his sons not to merely “be fruitful and multiply” (as most English translations note), but rather to “tyrannically dominate and over-fill the Earth” (the actual Hebrew terminology).
*In the 11th chapter of Genesis, we see God (the “LORD”) attempt to non-violently check the then unbridled hubris of humanity at the Tower of Babel.
*In the 17th chapter of Genesis, we see Abraham almost make a covenant with God, but then choosing to align himself with the Elohim instead.
*In the 18th chapter of Genesis, we hear God’s promise NOT to destroy Sodom & Gomorrah, and yet in the 19th chapter of Genesis, we see two of the Elohim (fallen angels – literally) destroy those two cities anyway.
*In the 22nd chapter of Genesis, we see the Elohim mislead Abraham into almost sacrificing his own son to prove his allegiance to them. It appears that it was God who then stopped this nonsense.
*Most importantly, in the 3rd chapter of Exodus, the Elohim defiantly steal the name of God, and begin to use it indiscriminately to fulfill for their own less-than-Kind ends (see specifically Exodus 3:13-15+, Exodus 6:2-7 & Exodus 6:28-29).
*As such, in the 12th chapter of Exodus, it is the Elohim – who are merely posing as “the LORD” – who actually kill all of Egypt’s firstborn children.
*Not surprisingly, it is also the Elohim – illegitimately posing as God (calling themselves “the LORD your God”, or “the LORD, the God of your ancestors”) who establish the large collection of bizarre (and often radically cruel & unjust) laws in the books of Deuteronomy and Numbers, and it is the Elohim who perform all the evil deeds in the Bible thereafter.
In conclusion, please let it be understood that I am neither advocating nor rejecting any particular religion or any set of spiritual beliefs. Rather, I am merely offering some valid Biblical scholarship that can empower each and every one of you to live a life that is both more enJOY-able and more Meaning-full.
If you are a Christian, you need no longer defend or rationalize or justify the immoral actions of the “God” in your Bible. You are here to follow The Way of Jesus Christ, a Way that only knows mercy and compassion and forgiveness and Love (and that knows all those traits to be active verbs, not mere passive ideals).
And if you are a non-Christian, you need no longer feel offended when “a believer” condemns you for your “unbelief” – you need no longer get angry when a Christian either directly or indirectly “damns you to Hell”. In essence, you need no longer aggressively dismiss the Bible’s subtle Beauties when you respond to the aggressive behaviors of its worshipers. You now know that they are simply misinformed about the deeper Truths in their own Bible – Truths that are being hidden from them – Truths that could set them free to Love as opposed to hate; to cherish as opposed to criticize.
Essentially, you are now free to show them the foundation of their own religion, by giving them your warm & gentle compassion instead of your cold & arrogant indignation.
For God to be truly revered, His (or Her, or Its) true LOVE must first be known.
And for God’s true LOVE to be truly known, we must first have the humility to set aside all our beliefs that contradict that LOVE – and then have the courage to worship that LOVE … by acting accordingly.
And on that note, I wish you all Godspeed … literally.
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