An Unjust God

I’m sorry God but you are unjust. There are many stories in the bible where God condones and even rewards behaviour such as murder, theft, adultery. It’s enormously hypocritical to bestow the ten commandments upon humanity and then watch God ignore them utterly. Clearly the God of the bible is a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do deity. The bible consistently provides examples of God rewarding those who behave poorly. It is highly probable the bible is consistently read with confirmation bias by those people who have already decided upon their own view of God. In my opinion, objectively speaking, there are many tales in the bible to support the viewpoint that God is one of injustice and corruption.

Let’s look at the creation story. First humans, Adam & Eve, were given a most marvellous living situation with everything they could ever need. Curiously, God planted a fruiting tree in the Garden of Eden but told Adam & Eve they were not able to eat of that tree. Why would anybody do something like this? It’s a recipe for failure! Undoubtedly God knew that the temptation of the fruit is likely to be too much to bear. So when, unsurprisingly, the yummy looking fruit is eaten, God kicks Adam & Eve out of the Garden of Eden. Further, God curses women to have childbirth pains for all eternity. All eternity! Clearly, forgiveness is something unfamiliar to God if he is the reason that women are still paying the price for the appetite of Eve. That is incredibly unfair! Nobody in the year 2023 did anything that warrants the same curse from God since creation. That is a punishment far exceeding the crime! What is the moral of the story? I’m guessing women should not pursue knowledge or eat just anything to allay hunger.

The story of the twins Jacob and Esau is another early record of God’s injustice. There was a birthright [blessing] owed to Esau by his father, Isaac. While there was a famine in the land, Jacob was cooking and Esau said he was near death from starvation. Under that duress, Jacob asked Esau to trade him the birthright for a meal. Some years later, Isaac lay on his death bed and instructed Esau to go out hunting to find game to prepare for his dinner so he could bestow the birthright blessing upon Esau. While Esau was out doing as his father instructed him, Jacob and his mother Rebekah conspired to trick Isaac into bestowing the blessing upon Jacob instead. Rebeka cooked the food as enjoyed by Isaac and encouraged Jacob to approach Isaac with his parts of his body covered with goatskin so Jacob presented as Esau (who was hairy) to blind Isaac. Jacob understood that he would be cursed if his father recognised Jacob’s deceit but he did it anyway. Jacob received the blessing that didn’t belong to him. He stole from his twin brother. He conspired to thieve a birthright that did not belong to him. God honoured the blessing and bestowed it upon Jacob who became the leader of nations. What is the moral of this tale? I’m guessing it tells us that it’s ok to deceive and thieve yet still receive blessings from God.

King David had a few wives and plenty of concubines. This didn’t stop him from coveting his neighbour’s wife, Bathsheba, when he saw her. David then committed adultery with Bathsheba who became pregnant. David sought to ensure Bathsheba had sex with her husband, Uriah, in a bid to hide his misdeeds. Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, returned from battle and refused to live at home and have sex with his wife in favour of being loyal to his army comrades. David even deliberately got Uriah drunk and encouraged him to go home to his wife but Uriah refused to abandon his comrades. Because of this, David instructed that Uriah be put in the front line of the ongoing war and then have the army fall back so Uriah couldn’t possibly survive. As King David hoped, Uriah was killed and, therefore, was unaware of his wife’s and David’s infidelity. Let’s count the amount of commandments broken by David: 1. coveting neighbour’s wife; 2. adultery; 3. Murder. So how did God punish David for this massive breach of God’s teachings? Well, apparently God killed the initial baby which is really a punishment against Bathsheba more so than David and not an uncommon loss in that era. Their second child together became King Solomon so there wasn’t too much of a punishment at all. What’s the moral of this tale? I’m guessing it tells us that stealing your neighbour’s wife, getting her pregnant and killing her loyal husband amounts to receiving a blessing of the wisest King of the bible. Additionally, being honourable to the army and leader to whom you serve is also pointless.

There’s another biblical man, Jesus Barabbas, who was a prisoner because of his crimes of murder and robbery, and it is likely he was also an insurrectionist. Barabbas was a criminal granted his freedom, despite his crimes, because apparently it was important that the innocent Jesus was crucified instead. As a parent, I would take whatever action required to ensure my child avoided death. Not so God. He’s happy to allow a murderer to avoid punishment because it’s all part of some larger plan to kill his own son. That’s not justice. That’s not parenting. That’s deplorable! What’s the moral of this tale? You’re a chance of literally getting away with murder if God has an obscure plan to kill one of his own.

The book of the bible tells the story of God’s most faithful worshipper, Job. On a whimsical wager with the devil, God decides to allow the devil to kill Job’s family, ruin everything he owned, and strip him of his health. The aim of this noxious bet was for God to prove that Job would continue to worship faithfully despite what happened to him at their hands. So God idly watched Job’s life be utterly destroyed just to be proven right. What’s the moral of this tale? Your devotion to God may well be rewarded with the total destruction of your life because God wants to win his gamble with his supposed foe.

Millions of people died in the Holocaust. There was no justification for this persecution. It was pure hatred and injustice. Where was God? He certainly chose not to intervene to save his people from such a hideous and abhorrent fate. Apparently, there is an inscription in a German camp that says words to the effect of, “God will have to beg for my forgiveness.” Yep, that makes sense. God didn’t bother to intervene in the greatest slaughter of his own people. God chose apathy over justice. God chose absence over justice. God allowed murderous persecution over justice. What’s the moral of this tale? It doesn’t matter what atrocities you face, God will not be present nor will he intervene to save you. Additionally, your unwavering worship of God for many generations is for nought.

Then there’s me. I live a life that is filled with injustice at the hands of Christians. I cannot believe in karma or what-goes-around-comes-around because I know I haven’t deserved the travesties inflicted upon me. I also know there is nothing positive enough in my future to make up for the trauma I have endured at the hands of these born-again Christians. I have had to endure the lies, misrepresentations, deceptions, brainwashing, extremism, hatred, delusion, alienation within my close family on top of the abuses that preceded those actions. These Christian people have affected my life in a distinctly cruel way yet all of them state they’re following the Christian doctrine. What’s the moral of my tale? There are no repercussions for lying in offical documents, committing insurance fraud, making false representations, administering abuse, covering up sexual abuse, inflicting child abuse. God has simply modelled that to them in the bible so they’re living the Godly way.

Modern Christians avoid spiritual consequences for their misdeeds because God doesn’t apply justice. These same Christians get away with the misdeeds in the real world because they are saying and doing whatever they please without impunity. The bible tells plenty more stories where injustice occurs so I am incredulous at the claims of God being a loving deity. If God didn’t bother to intervene to administer justice when humanity was killing itself in the Holocaust, there is a ridiculous level of pride required for Western people to expect God’s going to apply justice for them in their day-to-day life.