212 The Apparently Angry, Arbitrary God

How can I believe in a God that is so angry and arbitrary? With a basic reading of the Bible people come away with a view of God that is apparently angry and arbitrary. For those who grow up in church we often have become immune to these stories and statements that describe God as destroying His enemies and wiping them off the face of the earth. We seldom question the Bible and simply accept it for what it says. As a result we are drawn to Jesus and have serious reservations about God. Join us on this depressing picture of God that is portrayed in the Old Testament. But take heart there is good news to come..

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The Apparently Angry, Arbitrary God

God in the Old Testament often appears harsh, angry and arbitrary. Marcion, a second

century Christian, felt that the Old Testament portrayed God as a bumbling, cruel, Creator

God. One who was impossible to reconcile with the attractive Saviour God of the New

Testament. He produced his own Bible by deleting the Old Testament and editing the New Testament of “Judaism’s” by which he meant those passages that presented the angry God of the Old Testament.

Before you write Marcion off, there are difficult questions that can be asked in our

day and age. Are you tempted, like Marcion, to do some editing when you read the following passages:

Genesis 6:7 He said, “This race of men whom I have created, I will wipe them oF the

face of the earth-man and beast, reptiles and birds. I am sorry that I ever made

them.”

Is this statement in direct conflict with the Genesis 1 which states that God was happy, no,

very happy, with His creation? Is it true that God had to drown the opposition in Noah's

flood when they threatened to take over the world? Does God pnly survive because he is

strongest person in the universe?

Was righteousness only preserved by God's wiping out the other side? Does this mean that truth and goodness can only be preserved by force and violence?

Is it true that when the Israelites grumbled once too often, God created desert adders to

bring them to their senses?

Numbers 21:6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents (venomous snakes) among them . .

Does God still send snakes to discipline His people? If not, why did He need snakes then?

Numbers 20:12 . . . Because you (Moses) did not trust in Me enough to honour Me

as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I

have given them.

Can it be that a merciful, compassionate God would abort the purpose of Moses’ life work

for one rash act?

1 Samuel 16:14 The spirit of the Lord had forsaken Saul, and at times an evil spirit

from the Lord would seize him suddenly.

Does God have a working relationship with evil spirits? Do they also do His will? Does this

mean that God wills evil at times?

2 Samuel 12:11 This is what the Lord says: . . . Before your very eyes I will take your

wives and give them to one who is close to you and he will lie with your wives in

broad daylight.

What would we conclude about a church leader or church board suggesting this kind of

experience for the wife of an immoral husband?

Psalm 2:8-9 . . . rule them with a rod of iron, . . . dash them in pieces like a potter's

vessel.

Does God really believe in freedom? Is He God because He simply crushes the opposition?

Psalm 2:12 His wrath can flare up in a moment.

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you be destroyed in your way . . . for his wrath can flare up at any moment.

From this passage God is petulant and petty and does not have much patience.

Psalm 3:7 Arise, O Lord! Deliver me, O my God! For you have struck all my enemies

on the jaw, you have broken the teeth of the wicked.

Is this not unadulterated, night club bouncer mentality?

Psalm 58:10 The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they bathe

their feet in the blood of the wicked.

What would one conclude about a modern person wanting to bathe their feet in the blood of their enemies?

Exodus 4:11 (NIV) The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes

him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

Does God really cause the afflictions on the earth? Sounds like it from this passage and

the following passages.

Deuteronomy 32:39 (NIV) See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me.

I put to death, and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can

deliver out of my hand.

1 Samuel 1:5-6 (NIV) But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her,

and the LORD had closed her womb. And because the LORD had closed her womb,

her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.

1 Samuel 2:6 (NIV) The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the

grave and raises up.

The next passages appear to suggest that God sends evil and evil spirits to hurt people.

1 Samuel 18:10 (NIV) The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon

Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he

usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand

1 Samuel 19:9 (NIV) But an evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he was

sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the harp

1 Kings 17:20 (NIV) Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you

brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?”

Job 9:22-24 (NIV) It is all the same; that is why I say, “He (God) destroys both the

blameless and the wicked.”

When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent. When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?

These are words of blameless Job. Shall we believe his summation of God’s character?

Isaiah 45:7 I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create dis-

aster I the Lord do all these things.

Lamentations 3:38 (NIV) Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both

calamities and good things come?

Amos 3:6 (NIV) When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When

disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?

These passages, taken at face value, present God as harsh, arbitrary and severe, and tend to alienate those who feel strongly about justice and kindness. One writer describes the kind of reaction that can occur as follows.

The errors of popular theology have driven many a soul to scepticism who might

have otherwise been a believer in the Scriptures. It is impossible for him to accept

doctrines which outrage his sense of justice, mercy and benevolence; and since

these are represented as the teachings of the Bible, he refuses to receive it as the

Word of God. (GC525)

The above quote is not an isolated one in this author's works.

Here is another.

The appalling views of God which have spread over the world from the pulpit have

made thousands, yes millions of sceptics and infidels. The theory of eternal tormentis one of the doctrines that constitutes the wine of the abomination of Babylon.

(GC536)

There are also passages in the New Testament which give the same harsh, arbitrary picture of God. Here are some of them.

Matthew 13:40-42 In this parable the weeds are burnt!

Luke 14:26 If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, . . ., he

cannot be a disciple of mine.

Romans 9:10-13 . . . she was told, even before they were born, when they had as yet

done nothing, good or ill, . . . “Jacob I loved and Esau I hated.”

Romans 9:18-20 Thus He not only shows mercy as He chooses, but also makes

men stubborn as He chooses. You will say, “Then why does God blame a man? For

who can resist His will?” Who are you, sir, to answer God back? Can the pot speak

to the potter and say, “Why did you make me like this?”?

Revelation 14:9-11 Yet a third angel followed, crying out loud, “Whoever worships

the beast and its image and receives its mark on his forehead or hand, he shall drink

the wine of God's wrath, poured undiluted into the cup of His vengeance. He shall

be tormented in sulphurous flames before the holy angels and before the Lamb. The

smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and there will be no respite day or

night for those who worship the beast and its image or receive the mark of its name.”

What shall we say about these passages? Shall we ignore them? Shall we say that because God is God we must accept them at face value and be submissive as Romans 9:18-20 suggests? Does it mean that when statements fly in the face of what we inherently know about justice or fairness that we should be content to let them stand?

Are there solutions that make enough sense to attract the agnostic and the atheistic to their Maker and Redeemer?

Here is a newspaper columnists view:

Bloodthirsty, authoritarian theology threatens Canada as much as tobacco, obesity

and booze put together. It endangers our planet more than global warming, nuclear

winter or rogue asteroids. (Spider Robinson in the Globe and Mail, May 6, 2002)

These questions beg answers and where shall we find them? The journey we are on in these podcasts are about the true picture of God as presented by his only eyewitness and son Jesus Christ. We will discover the truth about God as we dig into the teachings of Jesus Christ, who is the living Word of God. He has more, no much more good news about God than we ever imagined. We need to discern his teachings about God’s character and share it with all we meet.

Ian Hartley, August 2025.