Is The God of the Bible a Mean God?
Perhaps the weakest argument against the belief of God is the one based on God’s display of wrath in scripture. This argument rejects God because off His “meanness;” if God is mean, He cannot exist. While arguing that God must not exist because He is mean is pretty petty, it is a very common belief and a reason many people become atheists. Those who believe this do not only look at the examples of harshness in scripture but also the evil in the world today. “If God is all-loving, He wouldn’t have done those things and wouldn’t allow the awful things that happen today.” This argument leads us to question. Are these atheists correct in characterizing God? Is the God of the Bible mean?
Circumstances For God’s Wrath
Whether you really think God is mean or not, you’re probably thinking now about the Old Testament examples of God’s wrath; how He commanded men, women, and children to be killed and sent massive plagues on His enemies and His own people. Let’s consider one of these passages. 1 Samuel 15:2-3:
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”
God commanded King Saul and the Israelites to go kill all of the Amalekites, including the women and children, because they opposed Israel when they came out of Egypt. Certainly a command like this may sound mean, like it was fueled by hatred and revenge, but let’s consider why God even conquers over people in the first place. Let’s look at His command through Moses in Deut 7:1-8.
"When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you… 2 and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. 6 "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt"
The Love of God
The conquering over nations that God demonstrated was fueled not by hate or vengeance but by love. God wanted to protect His people from evil influences and maintain their preciousness and holiness. The word “holy” means “separate.” God aimed to separate His people from others and keep them pure, righteous, and faithful to Him. No other god could do what our God can do, and so He wanted to protect His people from idols. We see in passages like Judges 3:5-8 what happened when they didn’t listen to God. When they intermarried and lived among the Gentiles, they forgot about God, worshiped false gods, and continually did evil. It was this very thing that God was trying to prevent. God conquered because He loved His people and when they rejected Him, he punished them too.
Why would God allow bad things then to happen to the Israelites? If He loved them why would He send famine and plagues and allow them to be taken captive? Asking God why He would do this will get you the same answer as a parent when asking why they punish their kid for breaking the rules. Deut 8:5 says, “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.” The purpose of discipline is shown in Heb 12:11, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” One way that God shows His love is to discipline the disobedient. Many sins have their own harmful side effects that can discipline a person and it’s important to know that just as a father disciplines the child he loves, God does too.
Why Does God Allow The Innocent To Suffer Today?
The previous answer, while it explains the bad things that happen to the disobedient, does not consider the awful things that happen to the innocent. Why would a loving God allow them to suffer? Find out next week with part 2.