Act Of God - Part 3

The Evidence

The Evidence


When people speak of “Acts of God” they are usually referring to either natural disasters, or Biblical judgments. So let us put both of these events under the microscope, and see if the conclusion is that God is unjust or cruel. I will deal with each individual category of divine justice.

The oldest, most widely printed, most read, and most respected religious text - claiming to be from God himself, is the Bible. It contains a record of God's dealings with the nations and individuals throughout history. Therefore, assuming that human beings have the right to judge their creator, the Bible, along with the human experience, could be the basis for judging God's interactions with the human race.

But, some might object and ask why other religious texts cannot be used in our trial. The reasons are many, and they are as follows.

The Bible is the only religious text which was written at, or near the time of the events it records. Various archaeological sources have verified this – many times. The books of the Old Testament were written by the prophets, kings, poets, and historians during their lifetime. The gospels have all been validated by historians and language experts, as having been written not long after the death of Jesus. In contrast – the Koran was originally only kept in one man's memory – Mohammed, and was not written down for many years to come. Buddha's teachings were not committed to writing until hundreds of years after his death, and Buddha never made any claim to represent God, so his writings cannot be used to judge God's actions. The Hindu writings – the Vedas and Brahammas were mostly poetry, and were written hundreds of years apart, and they contain much mythology and superstition.

Regarding the authenticity of the Bible, it is generally accepted as the original writings of the named authors. The former Director of the British Museum – Sir Fredrick Kenyon - wrote - “It cannot be too strongly asserted that in substance the text of the Bible is certain. ... This can be said of no other ancient book in the world.”

Unlike other ancient manuscripts, the Bible contains scientific statements that were unknown to scientists for millennia, and it contains “Prophecies” – warnings of the future – which have all come true with incredible accuracy. There is more about this in the chapter - “God's Final Act” - later in the book.

The Bible is also unique in literature in that it contains accounts that sometimes seem to reflect negatively on God and on his followers. The Bible writers themselves, claiming to be inspired by God to write the scriptures, included accounts which are self-condemning and shameful, about themselves, their friends, and the whole nation of Israel that claimed to be God's chosen people. Certainly God has not attempted to hide his activities from us but, instead has had them publicly recorded and preserved for all the world to see. The Bible's honesty is highly unusual among the writings of ancient nations, because the general rule was to only record a nations successes and victories, and to erase any failures or scandals from their records.

Now, the Bible does not shy away from reporting the actions of God and those who He appointed as his servants. In fact the Bible can be quite graphic in it's descriptions of crime and punishment. It is an open fact that God took severe actions against certain individuals and even nations in the past. Some of these accounts are shocking to the modern reader, especially in lands where people pride themselves as being “civilized” and tolerant. Anyone who cares to examine the Biblical record, particularly the accounts involving the dedicated nation of Israel and it's wars with the surrounding nations, can read of the mass slaughter of people, including children, and the severe penalties under the laws given to Israel at that time.

The Bible presents two faces - or aspects of God's personality, that of the God of justice, including punishment, and that of a God of love - forgiving and compassionate. These facets of God's personality are uniquely summed up in Exodus 34.6 where it reads;

“Yahweh, Jehovah, (God's name) a God merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in loyal love and truth, showing loyal love to thousands, pardoning error and transgression and sin, but he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.”

The above demonstrates that, although God's first choice is to forgive, it is dependent on the attitude of those who break his laws. There are accounts in the Bible where seemingly trivial transgressions, such as the first man eating fruit from a forbidden tree, resulted in his death yet - king Manasseh - a murderer, idolater and blasphemer - is forgiven and restored to his kingship - Why? Simple – Adam did not regret his action, in fact he actually blamed God, by blaming the “The woman you gave me.” Whereas, King Manasseh - guilty of all manner of evils against God and man, and soaked in innocent blood - regretted his crimes and called to God for forgiveness.

The statement by God quoted above reveals an important, life-changing fact, namely that - God holds us responsible for our actions. Furthermore, he holds us responsible for the upbringing and safety of our children. When we expose our children to dangers, and evil ideas and practices, they are affected, and they can come under divine condemnation. If God intervened every time a parent did something that adversely affected their own children, then human beings would not be free moral agents, and there would be no benefit in following God's laws and principles. To enjoy true freedom - independence, we must be accountable for our actions, and we must accept the consequences, even when they impact on our children. God is not a divine babysitter.

Before investigating this matter further, several important issues must be pointed out. First, not all actions recorded in the Bible have the support of God. There are some evil acts perpetrated by characters in the Bible which God obviously condemned. Other disturbing incidents may not be openly condemned by scripture but the context and overall theme of the Bible make it clear that God does not approve of such acts.

When people speak of “Acts of God” they are almost always speaking in the negative. The phrase brings to mind the destruction brought upon such people as the Egyptians, the Canaanite cities, and the early inhabitants of the pre-flood earth. Yet, these acts are contrasted by a vast number of other “Acts of God” which are positive and good. There are countless times in the Bible where God saves people, protects people, delivers people, and comforts people. Through Moses, God frees millions of people from oppression and slavery. God gives a child to an elderly Sarah, who had been unable to conceive. God's laws protected slaves, women, animals, children, widows, the blind, the poor and the disabled. God's prophets cured illnesses, God saved many faithful ones from fiery furnaces, lions dens, military sieges, and death itself.

And we cannot forget the miracles of Jesus who cured so many people, fed thousands, raised the dead, and comforted and forgave many. Yet, these “Acts of God” are conveniently swept aside, or dismissed in the debates about God's goodness. In fact, while the acts of destruction and judgment in the Bible are not questioned by Atheists, and believers alike, and are used as ammunition to accuse God of tyranny and cruelty, the good acts of God – which far outnumber the others, are dismissed as fantasy, fable and fabrication – why? Because many critical people want to believe the bad, not the good. They then have an excuse to challenge, or ignore God. As is the case with someone denying God's existence yet - still insisting on labelling him as cruel - this is another inconsistency with the many critics of the Bible. If we are to use the Bible to judge God, we must use the whole Bible – not selective parts which might paint God in a negative light.

In any actual human court case, a defendant's past behaviour, and character are crucial to the final assessment of his culpability. If a person has no criminal record, or their crime was prompted by an injustice, or a moment of passion, these things are taken into consideration for the verdict, and the punishment. There are many criminals in our world who are callous, indifferent, calculating, manipulative, and repeating offenders. Their reasons for committing such crimes include jealousy, greed, pride, to be freed of responsibility, or just plain sadism. In fact, many humans kill for absolutely no reason. Yet, imagine a man who stands accused of several crimes. His defence brings in witnesses and evidence to show that, apart from those occasions, this man is an outstanding pillar of the community. He does charitable acts, he has protected others, given food to the poor, helped develop cures for illnesses, built homes for the homeless, and cheered people with his positive attitude. Not only that, but the crimes of which he is accused – which he freely admits – were motivated by his desire to defend vulnerable people from violent criminals. The law of most nations accepts self-defence as an excuse for using violence, even more so if that person uses violence to defend others. Recently in Australia, a man went on a violent rampage – stabbing many women, and a baby. A lone policewoman who was at the scene, killed the assailant. She was hailed a s a ”hero”. But isn't that exactly what God does - intervene to save people from violence, slavery and oppression? And God has never killed anyone without reason or justification. Yet, God is maligned as evil, and cruel. Why does God not receive the same treatment as humans?

When human beings take someone's life, or adversely affect others with their actions, whether deliberate or not, they are not always able to rectify the wrongs. This is particularly true where people including children, have died. Most of us have seen footage of dead mothers and babies killed by bombings or terrorism, or even natural disasters, and our hearts ached for the victims, knowing that it was too late to help them. Generally, we can only learn from the mistakes of ourselves and others, and try to prevent such tragedies happening again. But the same is not true of God. According to the Bible, God has both the ability, and the desire to undo all tragedies that have happened, even those divine judgments made by himself. This aspect of God's dealings will be covered in more detail later.

According to the Bible, and religions in general, God created the earth. So then, did God also create the natural disasters that happen on the earth – earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes etc?. If He did not create them, why do they happen, and why does God not control them, or protect humans from their effects? We will examine these questions in full.

But, first, it is important to consider a fundamental teaching in the Bible – that of “Free Will” - the human right to decide, and express our own thoughts, actions and future. This is a significant element in the question of suffering and evil. Let us look closely now at the opportunities, attitudes and consequences of unrestricted freedom.