Is God an Ogre?
Is God an Ogre?
By: Dr. Danny Purvis
I am endlessly fascinated with how unbelievers (and believers for that matter) view God. There are as many opinions about God as there are people in the world, I guess. But I have to admit…there is one view that the data just does not seem to support. I speak, of course, at the ever-present view that God is some angry celestial that is grumpy beyond belief and is only out to distribute punishment in increasingly “unfair” ways. There is a lot to unpack here but let’s start with the most important element.
God is not unfair as we define that word. Most often we define it by expressing dismay over something that we want but did not get…or something we get that we did not want. It is primarily rooted in our innate selfish desires. God allowed something I did not like…or He disallowed something I wanted…therefore He is unfair. God is the only true fair Being in the universe. He is perfectly just and perfectly righteous. His actions cannot be categorized by our understanding of “fair” and “unfair” because we are the creatures that continue to move the goalposts related to those two constructs. And trust me…the last thing you want God to be, as related to our sin, is “fair”. Because if that were the case the fair thing would be for every single human being on the planet to be eternally punished for our sin. That is what we deserve (Romans 1:32a). And as Hamlet famously stated: There’s the rub.
The view that God is an ogre (a famously popular opinion) is generally based in one area. It is the idea that terrible things happen to “innocent” people and that God is the cause of that. He doesn’t care. After all…how could a good and loving God cause…(you fill in the blank). This is generally seen in our reactions to horrific things that lead to death. Not all death of course. Nobody would level a charge like that towards God over a 99-year-old that led a productive, healthy life and then died peacefully in their sleep. But as human beings we have a tendency to rate deaths and their requisite impact. And that’s ok. It is completely understandable from a human, cultural standpoint. We make the distinction between “tragic deaths” and those we find more understandable. The character Spock in the original Star Trek series made an interesting observation about this.
When speaking to the ship’s doctor, Leonard McCoy, who was railing against a foe that had killed millions of people, Spock responded: “I’ve noticed that about your people, Doctor. You find it easier to understand the death of one than the death of a million. You speak of the objective hardness of the Vulcan heart, yet how little room there seems to be in yours.” He makes an interesting point. We tend to view some deaths as more tragic than others, and then we point a finger at God for being a tyrant and an ogre for allowing that death to happen. We, generally, have no problem with the death of the 99-year-old I mentioned above, but will view a child killed by a drunk driver as inherently “more tragic”. No one says about the 99-year-old: “How could a good and loving God allow this to happen?” But we often say that about the child. And I get it. From a cultural and social standpoint those deaths do hit us differently…I’m not saying they shouldn’t. That is a part of being human and does underly our empathy for those deaths. But when those things happen, is that enough to view God as an ogre for allowing that to happen? Does the data bear that out? What data am I talking about?
First, we have to understand something that is extremely important. Even the God haters acknowledge this point. And that is…that God is responsible for all human life and death on this planet. He is the One Who gives life, and He is the One that takes it. This is a very important concession. Secondly, and this is a big one, Scripture also tells us that all people…every single one of us, lives under a death sentence. God is the perfect Judge (He cannot be anything but that) and a perfect Judge must judge sin. We are all guilty of sin (Romans 3:23-24). And God has pronounced the sentence for that sin: “Thought they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die” (Romans 1:32). Notice Paul refers to that death sentence as God’s “righteous decree”. Now, Paul is not just referring to the physical death that will come upon all people as a result of Adam and Eve’s original sin, but the death as the right punishment for all who sin. In fact, all who sin are subject to immediate death as the just punishment for sin. But here’s the interesting part. More than 99% of the time…that doesn’t happen.
God is fee to exercise His death sentence on every single person the very first time that person sins. But He doesn’t. In fact, let’s look at the data. There roughly 8 billion people on this planet. It’s a little under that but let’s make the math easier. Let me ask you something. Do you know how many people on this planet, on average, die every year? Before you Google it…I’ll tell you. On average, approximately 60 million people across this amazing planet die each year. And while that is a big number, let’s look at it from a percentage standpoint. That 60 million people makes up less than 1% of the world’s population. See where I am going with this? God is so unfair…He is such an ogre…that he allows more than 99% of the population to live each year even though we have already seen that 100% of the population deserves to die for their sin. He stays the death penalty we all deserve for about 99.7% of the population…every single year. I gotta ask. Does that sound like an ogre to you? Does that sound unfair to you? The bigger question is: Why does He allow this number of people to live, even though we all justly deserve death? I’m so glad you asked.
The answer is, of course, found in Romans. After Paul tells us of the death penalty we deserve at the end of the first chapter of Romans, he starts the second chapter by explaining God as the only righteous Judge in the universe. And tucked away in verse four of chapter two, he tells us why. “Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2:4)? Now, Paul is talking primarily about unbelievers at this point. Did you catch what Paul is saying under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? God withholds our just death penalty in order for us to come to Him for salvation. But here’s the really fascinating thing. He does so knowing that the vast majority of the people He is sparing will NOT turn to Him (Matthew 7:13-14). In other words, even those who will continue to reject Him…hate Him…and mock Him will not have their sentence immediately carried out because of His kindness. Does that sound like an ogre to you? No. It sounds like Who He is. The most patient Judge in the entire universe. Patient even with those who will always hate Him. If that makes Him an ogre…I pray He stays an ogre.
-Dr. Danny Purvis
By: Dr. Danny Purvis
I am endlessly fascinated with how unbelievers (and believers for that matter) view God. There are as many opinions about God as there are people in the world, I guess. But I have to admit…there is one view that the data just does not seem to support. I speak, of course, at the ever-present view that God is some angry celestial that is grumpy beyond belief and is only out to distribute punishment in increasingly “unfair” ways. There is a lot to unpack here but let’s start with the most important element.
God is not unfair as we define that word. Most often we define it by expressing dismay over something that we want but did not get…or something we get that we did not want. It is primarily rooted in our innate selfish desires. God allowed something I did not like…or He disallowed something I wanted…therefore He is unfair. God is the only true fair Being in the universe. He is perfectly just and perfectly righteous. His actions cannot be categorized by our understanding of “fair” and “unfair” because we are the creatures that continue to move the goalposts related to those two constructs. And trust me…the last thing you want God to be, as related to our sin, is “fair”. Because if that were the case the fair thing would be for every single human being on the planet to be eternally punished for our sin. That is what we deserve (Romans 1:32a). And as Hamlet famously stated: There’s the rub.
The view that God is an ogre (a famously popular opinion) is generally based in one area. It is the idea that terrible things happen to “innocent” people and that God is the cause of that. He doesn’t care. After all…how could a good and loving God cause…(you fill in the blank). This is generally seen in our reactions to horrific things that lead to death. Not all death of course. Nobody would level a charge like that towards God over a 99-year-old that led a productive, healthy life and then died peacefully in their sleep. But as human beings we have a tendency to rate deaths and their requisite impact. And that’s ok. It is completely understandable from a human, cultural standpoint. We make the distinction between “tragic deaths” and those we find more understandable. The character Spock in the original Star Trek series made an interesting observation about this.
When speaking to the ship’s doctor, Leonard McCoy, who was railing against a foe that had killed millions of people, Spock responded: “I’ve noticed that about your people, Doctor. You find it easier to understand the death of one than the death of a million. You speak of the objective hardness of the Vulcan heart, yet how little room there seems to be in yours.” He makes an interesting point. We tend to view some deaths as more tragic than others, and then we point a finger at God for being a tyrant and an ogre for allowing that death to happen. We, generally, have no problem with the death of the 99-year-old I mentioned above, but will view a child killed by a drunk driver as inherently “more tragic”. No one says about the 99-year-old: “How could a good and loving God allow this to happen?” But we often say that about the child. And I get it. From a cultural and social standpoint those deaths do hit us differently…I’m not saying they shouldn’t. That is a part of being human and does underly our empathy for those deaths. But when those things happen, is that enough to view God as an ogre for allowing that to happen? Does the data bear that out? What data am I talking about?
First, we have to understand something that is extremely important. Even the God haters acknowledge this point. And that is…that God is responsible for all human life and death on this planet. He is the One Who gives life, and He is the One that takes it. This is a very important concession. Secondly, and this is a big one, Scripture also tells us that all people…every single one of us, lives under a death sentence. God is the perfect Judge (He cannot be anything but that) and a perfect Judge must judge sin. We are all guilty of sin (Romans 3:23-24). And God has pronounced the sentence for that sin: “Thought they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die” (Romans 1:32). Notice Paul refers to that death sentence as God’s “righteous decree”. Now, Paul is not just referring to the physical death that will come upon all people as a result of Adam and Eve’s original sin, but the death as the right punishment for all who sin. In fact, all who sin are subject to immediate death as the just punishment for sin. But here’s the interesting part. More than 99% of the time…that doesn’t happen.
God is fee to exercise His death sentence on every single person the very first time that person sins. But He doesn’t. In fact, let’s look at the data. There roughly 8 billion people on this planet. It’s a little under that but let’s make the math easier. Let me ask you something. Do you know how many people on this planet, on average, die every year? Before you Google it…I’ll tell you. On average, approximately 60 million people across this amazing planet die each year. And while that is a big number, let’s look at it from a percentage standpoint. That 60 million people makes up less than 1% of the world’s population. See where I am going with this? God is so unfair…He is such an ogre…that he allows more than 99% of the population to live each year even though we have already seen that 100% of the population deserves to die for their sin. He stays the death penalty we all deserve for about 99.7% of the population…every single year. I gotta ask. Does that sound like an ogre to you? Does that sound unfair to you? The bigger question is: Why does He allow this number of people to live, even though we all justly deserve death? I’m so glad you asked.
The answer is, of course, found in Romans. After Paul tells us of the death penalty we deserve at the end of the first chapter of Romans, he starts the second chapter by explaining God as the only righteous Judge in the universe. And tucked away in verse four of chapter two, he tells us why. “Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2:4)? Now, Paul is talking primarily about unbelievers at this point. Did you catch what Paul is saying under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? God withholds our just death penalty in order for us to come to Him for salvation. But here’s the really fascinating thing. He does so knowing that the vast majority of the people He is sparing will NOT turn to Him (Matthew 7:13-14). In other words, even those who will continue to reject Him…hate Him…and mock Him will not have their sentence immediately carried out because of His kindness. Does that sound like an ogre to you? No. It sounds like Who He is. The most patient Judge in the entire universe. Patient even with those who will always hate Him. If that makes Him an ogre…I pray He stays an ogre.
-Dr. Danny Purvis
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