Have you ever read the Old and New Testaments and came away with a different impression of God? Many secularists argue the fact that the God of the Old Testament is cruel, ignorant, and unloving while the God of the New Testament is compassionate, understanding, and loving. In fact, militant atheist professor Richard Dawkins states in his book The God Delusion, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
Perhaps you’ve had some of these conflicting thoughts as well. There is too much to talk about in one article, so I’m going to test Dawkin’s statement across two. In a follow-up article, I am going to focus on answering the charge that God changes between the Old and the New Testament.
God is Jealous
Dawkins refers to God as being “jealous and proud of it.” Some may find validity in that, citing God’s frequent references to Himself as jealous in the Old Testament, such as Exodus 20 and 34:14. It is true that God was (and is) a “jealous God;” however, Dawkins’ misunderstanding of this contentment proves fatal in his objection of God.
The word jealousy is used vastly differently in the Bible than we do in contemporary culture. “From our own experiences, we all know what human jealousy is. Jealousy is commonly understood as resentment against a person for having or enjoying what we think should be our own.” Charles Haughee writes. “We all have the desire to guard and protect something or someone we care for, with every available means—to be jealous for them (not of them). This is the sense in which Paul was jealous for the Corinthians, and it is the type of jealousy God feels for His own children as well.”
With the context in place, we see that God was jealous to protect His people, such as a father is jealous for his children’s protection. Haughee again writes: “The context of Exodus 20 shows that God was concerned that His people would worship idols and false gods, taking them away from the knowledge of the one true God and into sin. . . God knows that keeping His commandments will bring us blessings and that breaking them will hurt us, so out of godly jealousy—out of love—He greatly desires for us to obey.”
God is Unjust
Summarized by one writer, in the Old Testament, we see that God judged Adam and Eve (Genesis 3), the corrupt people of Noah’s day (Genesis 6-8), Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19), Egyptian slave masters (Genesis 15:14, Exodus 7-12), the worshippers of the golden calf (Exodus 32:26-35), Achan (Joshua 7), and Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar (Daniel 4:5, 27, 34). In the New Testament, God judged the Jews for the rejection of Christ (Matthew 21:43-44, 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16), Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10), Herod (Acts 12:21-23), and the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 11:29-32).
Some may object and say, “If God is so just, why would He destroy—or threaten to destroy—various places and cities?” These assertions tend to focus only on “God and destruction” rather than “cities and their sin.”
When God destroyed cities (such as Sodom and Gomorrah) or threatened to (such as Nineveh), it was because of their great sin and open perversion; not because God just woke up one morning, felt like exacting some wrath, and wiped some cities out.
Deuteronomy 9:5 says, “It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” God always had a reason for executing judgment, and it is always just.
God is Unforgiving
We read in Isaiah 1:18, “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Daniel understood this concept even when Israel turned from God. In a prayer of repentance, he said, “The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him;” (Daniel 9:9). Nineveh is an excellent example of this. Because of it’s great sinning, God was going to destroy the city. He sent his prophet Jonah to warn them and gave them 40 days to repent. After the king and people openly repented of their sins, God forgave them and relented of the destruction He was going to bring.
The key takeaway from any objection brought against God is the context and misunderstanding of the topic. If viewed in proper contextual light, most complaints God receives are answered reasonably. Part 2 of this discussion will focus heavily on contemporary hot-topics in the culture and politics, and reasons why God cannot be labeled homophobic, sexist, or racist, to name a few.
