A "Good" God

By now everyone's heard of Pat Robertson's comments about Ariel Sharon and the uproar they caused. For those who don't know, Mr. Robertson quoted the book of Joel where it says God has enmity against those who divide His land, and implied that Mr. Sharon's stroke might've been divine judgment. I actually saw the episode of The 700 Club, Mr. Robertson's tv show, where he made his remarks and I know they were misconstrued, perhaps deliberately so, by the media. What really fascinated me though, was why people reacted so viscerally to what Mr. Robertson said, or what they thought he said. I think I have an answer. People don't want a just God; they want a "good" one.

Most people don't want a God who has standards and holds people accountable for breaking them. This is true even of most self-identified conservative/evangelical Christians. I heard a few of them on Bill O'Reilly's radio show the day after Mr. Robertson made his statement. They expressed outrage and/or embarrassment over the remarks and were keen to distance themselves from them. "My God is a good God" was the general attitude of these Christians, "good" apparently meaning that God doesn't punish people or even have rules the breaking of which could lead to punishment. But if that's the kind of God they worship, they don't worship the God of the Bible.

The God of the Bible is good, but He also has commandments and moral absolutes. Our postmodern culture rejects moral absolutes in favor of moral relativism in which nothing is really wrong. It seems many Christians have absorbed that postmodern spirit but rather than admit it try to "Christianize" it by saying that God is "good", i.e. permissive and non-judgmental. Consequently, He would not have punished Ariel Sharon with a stroke because He doesn't have a standard of right and wrong. It's utterly astounding to me that people can call themselves Christians and read the Bible yet totally miss that the God thereof judges people and nations. What do they think the Flood, or the plagues on Egypt, were all about if not judgment for wickedness?

But, comes the usual protest, I don't want to know, let alone worship, a God who could flood an entire civilization or kill a nation's first born. That's cruel! So, they want a "good" God who lets evil reign unchallenged. Another favorite complaint, usually lodged by atheists, is that God can't exist or be good when there's so much evil in the world. God has to do something about evil before I'll believe in Him, these people say. But when God does do something about evil they call Him cruel! Sadly, confusingly, many Christians are in this camp. These people, believers and unbelievers alike, want to have their divine cake and eat it, too. They want a "good" God who, by their definition, can't judge people or intervene in human affairs to punish evil, yet they demand "doing something about evil" as proof that God exists! Talk about a catch 22.

I think a lot of people who claim to be Christians need to be honest with themselves about what they really believe and then realize they have to make a choice. They can have their "good" God who smiles indulgently at everything they do, or they can have the Biblical God, who doesn't. They can't have both. Lets hope they choose the true one.