ARE PEOPLE MORE TOLERANT, LOVING, AND RIGHTEOUS THAN GOD?

That people are more tolerant, loving and righteous than God would seem to be so according to the following scenarios.  Whether true or not, these are ways people see God.

We humans learn to be tolerant of people from all walks of life.  We live and let live.  But God seems intolerant, threatening to destroy people who don’t agree with Him and believe His truths.

We know family and friends who are really nice people.  They would not hurt anyone and they often go out of their way to help others.  We would never say they deserve hell.  But God would say that no matter how nice people are, if they do not believe in Christ, they will not be saved.

We would never do anything to hurt our children or put them in danger.  We do all we can to protect our children and we want what is best for them.  God could do the same, but he lets people suffer evils and even violent cruel deaths and does nothing.

We want to see justice done and not let people continue to commit crimes against society.  We have police and we try and do something about it.  But God does nothing to make life fair.  Oftentimes the wicked and criminals enjoy a better life than innocent people.  Where is justice and fairness if God is so righteous?

Good people try and work to create a better world for all mankind.  We band together to help make our communities better places to live.  It is a struggle and an ongoing fight that seems unending, but we pitch in and do it.  God stands by and lets things deteriorate and seems to do little to help us.

When we read some parts of the Bible we read about a God who is angry, who condemns people, and orders their destruction, even children.  What kind of a loving God is He?

It sure looks like people are more tolerant, loving and righteous than God.

Let’s consider this question:  Are we as tolerant, loving and righteous as we think we are?  Don’t we all at times act intolerant of others?  Don’t we all at times act in unloving ways toward others?  Don’t we all do wrong things that violate our own consciences and standards of what we know to be right?  Self-centeredness seems to be a strong human trademark.  I sometimes wonder, if we were put under the pressure of certain circumstances, might each of us commit evils we never thought possible?  When G.K. Chesterton read an article in the newspaper asking “What’s wrong with the world?” he wrote back, “I am.”  In all honesty, are we as tolerant, loving and righteous as we claim to be?   We think we are, but is it only so long as things go our way?  It is easy to think we are okay when we compare ourselves to others rather than to a perfect God.  If put under the microscope of God's pure light, undoubtedly it would reveal a lot of darkness in us. If a book was written with everything you ever did and said or thought, would you want everyone to read it?  We humans, created in the image of God, do have a lot of righteous thoughts and behaviors.  But can we say that we are more perfect than God?  

Could we also have the wrong opinion about God?  Is He really as intolerant, unloving and unrighteous as we make Him out to be?  Is it possible that He could have valid reasons for remaining aloof?  Is it possible that we fail to see the whole picture and are actually ignorant of God’s true nature?  Is it possible that we make up our minds about God based on misinformation and we fail to see the positive ways God does reveal Himself?  Is it possible we are to blame for lots of the evils in this world?  We are tolerant, yes, but God is not like us in that He does not let sin slide.  We overlook wrongs in people, probably because we are aware of our own imperfections, but God is totally righteous and He does not.  Does that make Him an intolerant person;   or, a more righteous person than us?  Even though God is longsuffering, God eventually judges unrighteousness. But He also does not abandon us.  On the other hand, we can easily abandon people who do not agree with us or who offend us.  God stays involved with His creatures and offers grace to help them.  An evidence of God not abandoning us is seen by the fact that He sent us his son.

We get a glimpse of what God is like by looking at the person of Jesus.  Jesus claimed to have come from God to show us what God is like.  He said, “The one who has seen me has seen God.”  To see what Jesus is like is to see what God is like.  What is Jesus like?

Do we hate God because He refuses to let us live the way we want without any consequences?  Is it because he is not always there to protect us that makes us hate him?  Is it because he tells us we are wrong and need to make some changes that makes us hate him?  Is it because he requires we view life his way that makes us hate him?  Perhaps hate is too strong a word.  Perhaps I should say “we prefer to have nothing to do with Him”. 

What is this talk of hate?  Who hates him?  Not us!  But, are we being hateful toward Him when we stay away from him so that he can’t confront who we really are?  Or is it fear?  Are we being hateful toward Him when we choose to deny that he even exists?    Are we being hateful toward him when we don’t give him the time of day because our agenda is more important than His?  Come on, do we hate him?  Yes, we blame him for this messy world we are in. 

My sympathies extend to all who suffer.  I am sorry for the horrific suffering you have had to painfully and senselessly endure with no answer as to why.  Perhaps we feel we have a right blame Him. But, even though He is different from the world He made and is transcendent, yet He chooses to remain involved and do something to recreate the whole mess.  One of the ways He stays involved with us is by giving us His word which is ever present to guide us to new life and hope.  His word not only points  the way, but it actually empowers new life, just as His spoken word had power to create in the beginning.

Another way God shows He stays involved with us is by coming into this world and experiencing this world’s sufferings in His own person.  The purpose of his sufferings was to provide a way of escape for all of us.  As believers in Christ Jesus, we do not escape the evils of this world, but we do have the hope that God is coming in His appointed day to justify and restore all things.

Many in this life feel God has not been all they wished for, but they still believe.  When Jesus suffered his cruel and unjust treatment in the events surrounding his death he cried out “why” – “why has God forsaken me” – but he still ends by commending his life into the hands of God.  The writer of Psalm 88 complains that God is absent in the midst of his woes, but in verse one he still addresses God as his savior.  Psalm 10 is a prayer of complaint regarding the wickedness that is everywhere preying on the innocent.   In Psalm 73 the writer is baffled by the fact that evil often wins over good.  The answer he receives is that this situation is in appearance only.  In the end God will have the last say. 

I cannot defend God.  Perhaps any defense I offer falls far short of being adequate in human eyes, and in God’s.  The purpose I am attempting here is not to defend God, but to have us think beyond where we are.  Oftentimes a wider perspective brings greater understanding and ability to cope with life as it is, though imperfect and horrifying. 

In the end, will it be God who will be justified as most tolerant, most loving, and most righteous of all?  Of course, the atheist and the naturalist do not have to be concerned about any of this.  Humanity is the only god and humans will determine their own fate.  If such is the case, hopefully they will be good enough to pull it off.  So far, it is looking bleak.  It is we who claim belief in God who have the problem of trying to understand God.