Should We Question God’s Sovereignty or ‘Right’ When It Comes to Taking Human Life?
Hi again Everyone!
I hope all has been well since the last time you logged on to read the last post here at Rational Faith Online. We’re all busy in January as we set set the tone the new year, so lets get right to it…
It sounds pretty strange to ask a question about the ‘rights’ of God, at least to my ears. However, people question God’s right to do things all the time. Christians are not immune to this either. For example, most of us have a problem with the idea that God called for the destruction of the Canaanites, assuming that included women and children, when the Israelites were taking over the promised land. We might accept it without understanding it, but have difficulty with the idea that a good God would order such an act…and question the character of a God who would.
We may ‘kind-of’ accept it, but not really feel OK with a God who lets a three year old get cancer or a teen die in a car accident. People give up their faith in God over such things, and events like this give ammunition to critics and atheists to try to discredit the character of God.
What we usually don’t consider is the sovereignty of God.
Is Giving and Taking Life God’s Prerogative?
Is it God’s prerogative to take whatever human life He wants in whatever manner He wants at whatever time He wants to take it? No matter how distasteful it may seem to think about it in this way, if the Christian definition of God is an accurate one, then the short answer is…yes.
Does that mean He sits on His throne randomly wreaking havoc in the lives of people for the fun of it? Of course not. Just because He has the prerogative to take life, does not mean that He does so unjustly or randomly.
Christians teach that God is an all-powerful, all-knowing, just, faithful, merciful, and all-loving being who created the world and everything in it, including humans.
If this is our concept of God, why wouldn’t He have the right to take human life whenever it was best for His purposes…and His ultimate purpose to bring what’s best for humankind? Anyone who objects to God’s sovereignty over human life is placing God’s status on the same level as that of humans. As humans, we do not have the right to take human life however and whenever we determine we think is best. Even though some people are in a position where they actually do take other lives in this way, they are not acting within their true rights as humans when they do so…if there is a God who determines what is right and wrong.
There is a monumental difference between humans and God. God, if He exists as the cosmic authority and creator of life, has no obligation to let us live a comfortable or long life. He may choose to end a life early, and have morally sufficient reasons for doing so. Reasons He is in a far better position to assess than we are. He may end many lives for morally sufficient reasons that He is the only one in a position to assess whether it are necessity or fair to do so. He may choose to use other people, such as Israeli soldiers in the case of the Canaanites, or do it directly as in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
If the God Christians teach about exists (all-powerful, all-knowing, just, faithful, merciful, holy, and all-loving being who created the world and everything in it), then His moral standing and wisdom is far above that of human morality. He would have morally sufficient reasons for taking life when He does.
Authority Issues With God’s Prerogative
This poses an authority problem for us humans…we don’t like the idea that someone has authority to take our life as He sees fit. I ‘get’ this problem. I hate anyone having authority over what I do. This is the main reason I quit my job back in the early 2000′s and started my own business.
However, for God to be God, we can not avoid this authority problem. In order for God to be God, humankind has to concede that He has authority over life and death, and can give it or take it away as He determines.
If God is real and has a purpose for the ultimate good for humankind like the Bible teaches, is it not possible that working everything together for good could mean taking lives for His greater purpose? An all-knowing God could assess whether a particular death is for the betterment of humanity and act accordingly. Humans are not privy to the knowledge it takes to make that kind of decision.
There is also nothing to say that God in His wisdom does not already know that some deaths are also in the best interest of the person who He takes…we often look at death as the ultimate end, but if the God of Christianity exists as I believe He does, then death is more of a beginning than an ultimate end.
God’s Prerogative and The Canaanites
The killing of the Canaanites is one of the favorite subjects of atheists and skeptics when they want to discredit the God of the Bible. If we answer them with just: “It’s His Perogative” we’ll likely not just find that they are unsatisfied with their answer, but more than likely they will believe even more strongly in their own position… no matter how true it is. It sounds like a cop-out and it just doesn’t feel right as an explanation of the events.
Next time I’ll discuss the killing of the Canaanites buy the Israeli armies as they took over the promised land. How could God order such atrocities in His name?
Until then, I hope your New Year is shaping up to be a dandy!
One last thought…
If God has no obligation to let us live long and comfortable lives here on earth…He also had no obligation to send His son to bridge the gap and enable our broken relationships with Him to be reconciled.
But He Did.
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