Is God Cruel?

Introduction

Is God cruel? I think this a question that we have all asked at some point in our lives. In fact, if we’re going to be honest about that issue, we must first air a little dirty laundry of the Christian community. There are dirty little secrets that we don’t like to admit to. We don’t like to think about them and we certainly hope a non-Christian doesn’t bring up the topic. The fact is, however, there are certain passages in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament that we have a hard time reconciling with the concept of a loving God. We struggle with the wars, the violence, and the absolute genocide of the Old Testament and we wonder if God was indeed cruel. Because we don’t understand these portions of Scripture, however, what we tend to do is to sweep them under the rug. We put those passages in the “trust by faith” portion of our mind and hope that we don’t have to deal with them ever again. What is sad is that it is often these very passages in Scripture that show God’s love in an incredible fashion. My objective today is to examine a few of these incidents in the Bible and move them from the “trust by faith” part of your mind into the “builds my faith” part. As we examine these verses today I challenge you to read them critically as a skeptic might, challenge me in your mind. Force me to prove that I am correct. I am confident, however, that by the end of this lesson you will agree that God is who He says He is, a God of love and mercy.

I am familiar with many of the passages that we will look at because I had my own sport when I was in college. One of my favorite things to do was to debate the Christians on campus. I was at a time in my own life when I was struggling with who I was and what I believed in life. I had been raised in a Christian home and so I knew well the stories of the Bible. I could rattle of any biblical fact you wanted to know with an air of smug arrogance. I was also in a phase of rebellion, so quite naturally I rebelled against Christianity. I could hardly rebel against life, as I knew it without rejecting Christianity to some extent. The reality was, though, that I had serious questions about the Bible and about God and I desperately wanted someone to be able to answer them. What I found, however, was the exact opposite. I found a lot of Christians who could not defend their faith and were not even all that familiar with the Bible. I have chosen several passages for this article because they are verses that I used to use to attack Christians with. Verses with which I could prove God as a harsh and cruel dictator that were also inconsistent and contradictory. These stories I want to look at today were some of the very best of my arsenal and sadly I never met one Christian while I was in college who could give me an adequate answer, not even the ministerial students.

Genesis 3:14-21

To start any discussion of God’s cruelty or kindness we must start at the beginning, the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 2 and 3 we find a description of Adam and Eve in the Garden in a close relationship with God. They lived in a state of harmony where there was no sin and no death. Then came the temptation of the serpent to risk this perfect relationship that they had with God. God had placed in the Garden, the tree of Good and Evil, forbidding them to eat of it. We all know the story, they disobeyed, they ate, and here comes an angry God to punish them. Now I never argued that God didn’t have the right to punish them. They were His creation living in His garden. What I wondered was, “Didn’t it seem cruel or going overboard to curse mankind and all of creation with death because of one little mistake?” Was this not a clear case of over-reaction?
The fact is, even in proclaiming the curse of death upon mankind, God was already showing His mercy and grace. Let me explain. What are the wages of sin death? Obviously the answer is death. But before that even, what does sin do to us? It separates us from God. A holy and perfect God cannot be in the presence of sin. So picture this: You live in a world in which you sin one time and are forever separated from God with no hope of reconciliation. This is huge, because when you boil it all down, heaven is being totally in the presence of God while hell is the complete lack of God’s presence. Here’s where the beauty of the curse of death comes in. The wages of sin are indeed death, but God gave us an out within the confines of this very curse. We can substitute the death of another for our own in order to pay our fine and be reconciled with God. In the Old Testament it was periodic animal sacrifice. For us today it was the sacrifice of God’s Son on the Cross that has paid the price for our sins. Without death we would have no hope of ever being in the presence of God for the rest of eternity. One sin, and we would be done, forever. That wasn’t good enough for God, though. If you read Genesis 3:15, you can see that even at the very beginning, the very moment that man was disobeying and unleashing this plague of sin into the world, God had already formulated His plan to send His Messiah. Keep that plan in mind as we examine this question of God’s supposed cruelty because it will play a key role.

Genesis 11:5-9

The second story that we need to look at is found in Genesis 11. Here we have mankind shortly after the flood once again disobeying God. He had ordered them to spread out and repopulate the earth. They decided, however, that they had a better plan in mind. Mankind chose to stay together and build a society, one that included building a pagan tower in honor of the gods. This tower they were building was very likely the forerunner of the ziggurat, a temple that would have at the very top a room represented the heavens. It would be here that they would give offerings to pagan gods. In verse 5, we find that God says that God is concerned that nothing man wants to do will be impossible for them if they stay together. Is this a God who is afraid? What does He know that we don’t? What will happen if man stays together? Perhaps God is not as powerful as we think and He relies on the fact that mankind is splintered and constantly fighting one another. If we were ever truly united, could it be that we could challenge his sovereignty? That was my theory, but I don’t think it is correct.
We find a clue for the answer back in the Garden of Eden. God forbids Adam of Eve from eating of the tree of Good and Evil. Why? Doesn’t it seem like that would a tree He would want them to eat from daily? Wouldn’t He want them to know good from evil. The fact is: the name of this tree is somewhat confusing to our ears because it is a classic Hebrew figure of speech. It is, in fact, what is called merism. What that means is polarity represent totality. You take the opposite ends of the spectrum to represent the whole. We see this kind of language quite frequently in the Old Testament: As far as the east from the west; the beginning and the end; the alpha and the omega, from the highest mountain to the deepest sea. The tree of the Knowledge Good and Evil simply means knowledge. Adam and Eve, and subsequently mankind, now had access to more knowledge than we had the moral ability to control. We see this evidenced throughout history right up to today’s world.
Now, remember that God still has a fresh memory of the flood and the awful destruction that was precipitated by man’s evil. Now He sees the same pattern beginning again. He simply cannot let this happen again. He knows that if left to their own devices man has the capability and knowledge to create far more evil than they can morally control. In God’s mercy, we see Him separating mankind so that it will be much more difficult for them to get to the levels of sin that they did in the days of Noah. God is actually saving these humans from a far worse fate by splitting them and confusing their ability to communicate with one another. Now, let’s switch gears a bit.

I Samuel 15:3

In this verse we find God ordering the complete genocide of an entire culture including the children, infants, and animals. There is no way we explain our way out of this one. God has ordered an entire culture to be annihilated, and this is just one example of many. Does this not prove a bloodthirsty, violent, and cruel God? Well, let’s look at the evidence.
First of all we must remember that God is holy and He must punish sin and rebellion. This Amalekite culture was totally depraved and polluted. You name it, they did it: brutality, cruelty, incest, bestiality, cultic prostitution, child sacrifice by fire, etc. These were among the vilest cultures that have ever exited in the history of mankind. Even with that we find God being patient with them and giving them over 400 years to repent. In Genesis 15:16, God tells Abraham that his descendants could not yet inhabit Canaan because the Amorite sin had not yet reached its full extent. He gave them time to repent and they did not.
But what about the children, infants, and animals; How can a kind God order their destruction? As we said earlier, these cultures were totally depraved, beyond the hope of redemption or repentance. We know from the Bible that children under an age of accountability are not held responsible for their actions. Is it not obvious, then, that in a way, by ordering the children killed God has engaged in an act of mercy for these children. He has, in essence, given them a free pass out of certain destruction and into His presence. As far as the animals, are concerned, what would thousands of domesticated animals do without humans to care for them. This would cause starvation, disease, etc. In both cases, we see God engaging in acts of mercy and kindness.
Another fact is that God cannot be judged by the same standards with which mankind is judged. In Ezekiel 18:4 we learn that every soul belongs to God. Look at it this way: If I cut down a tree in my lawn, that’s fine. I can do that because it’s my tree. If you do it, it is a crime. You do not have the right or authority to cut down my tree. This is the same for God. We are God’s souls. He kills us all; it’s just a matter of when, where, and how. Because we belong to God, He and He alone can choose when we are called into the spiritual realm.
The final and perhaps most important reason that this is an act of kindness on the part of God is that He was preserving Israel. The Amalekite (and other Canaanite) cultures were bent on completely wiping Israel off of the face of the earth. God had already decided, however, that it was through these special people of his that He would bring His Messiah. He had to preserve the Israelites so that they could bring forth the Messiah that would eventually save all of mankind. We all recognize the ultimate mercy that is shown in the life and death of Jesus. If Israel was destroyed or corrupted beyond hope then there would be no Messiah and no hope of ever being permanently reconciled with God. God is not a God of cruelty but of mercy and kindness.

II Kings 2:23-25

Is this not a case of pure and simple overkill? We find a situation in which a bunch of kids are making fun an adult. Big deal, you say, that happens all the time. But to send a couple of bears to maul them to death, is this not cruel? How can we possibly explain this one?
The first thing to note is that this not a group of kids. The KJV translates this as little children while the NIV words it as young men. This is the same term, however, is used for soldier aged young men. These were not little children; they were young men of fighting age. This was, in our vernacular, a gang. By their sheer number they were threatening the life of Elisha.
Now, what exactly were they saying that was worthy of death? First of all by chanting “go on up,” they were challenging the truth of God having taken Elijah up to heaven. They were taunting Elisha to go up to heaven as Elijah had. In calling him baldhead, they were implying that he had leprosy. Leprosy was the vilest of conditions in the ancient world and lepers would shave their head to indicate that they had leprosy. Basically, they were calling him the worst possible insult.
To truly understand the severity of this it is important to understand the role of the prophet. The prophet was God’s direct representative on earth. He was God’s mouthpiece. To insult or mock a prophet was a direct blasphemy towards God. When these young men mocked Elisha, they mocked God.
The act of God unleashing these bears to kill these young men shows God’s mercy. The culture was quickly degenerating into an attitude of blasphemy against God that would precipitate a much worse fate. This was preemptory attack trying to warn Israel. It was a warning shot. It shows God repeatedly trying to bring His people back to himself through smaller judgments. If they would not repent then God’s full judgment would have to come upon them. God did not want this to happen. If His people followed the example of these young men, where would it stop? In fact, the people did not repent, and we see shortly after this the destruction of Samaria and the Northern Kingdom taken off into bondage. God was trying to get them to turn away from this fate. This is yet another example of God working to keep His people pure so that He could bring the Messiah through these people. God is not cruel; He is kind and patient.

Genesis 22:2

In our final case we find God ordering Abraham to go and sacrifice his son, Isaac. We know that God stopped him so I never really argued that this was an act of cruelty, except maybe a cruel sense of humor. The problem here for me was, however, is this order not in clear violation of the Leviticus 18:21 prohibition of sacrificing children? How can God prohibit child sacrifice in one part of the Bible and condemn cultures for doing it, all the while He had ordered Abraham to do the exact same thing?
The fact is child sacrifice is wrong. It was wrong when God didn’t command it (Jeremiah 19:5). It was wrong when it didn’t come from the mind of God but of man (Ezekiel 20:30-31). It was wrong when it was unauthorized. This case meets none of those criteria. This situation was not an abomination to God because He had commanded it, it had come from His mind, and it was authorized. These are, after all, God’s souls. He cannot be held to the same moral standard to which man is held. It is important, then, to remember that God did not have Abraham go through with this test. He did need, though, to test Abraham’s faith. This was the man that would be the forefather of God’s chosen people. God had to know that this man had the faith and obedience necessary to bring this about because it would be through these people that He would bring the Christ. This is yet another act that shows God’s incredible kindness and mercy that would see its ultimate fulfillment in the coming of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

In the beginning, I stated that my objective was to examine these stories of God’s supposed cruelty and find mercy. To move these from the realm of “trusting by faith,” to “building faith.” When examined in the light of all the evidence we find not a cruel, contradictory dictator, but instead we find a kind, merciful, beneficent God. We find a God who has constantly given man his free will and yet repeatedly tried to soften the blow of judgment that mankind has earned. This is a kind and merciful God, one that we can truly love and worship.