I was born and raised a Christian. I attended a private Christian high school and have studied religion my entire life. That is why I feel it's so essential to share what I have learned lately, because I believe they come into conflict with the Christian God.
I am by no means an atheist. But is the God that is talked about in the Bible the God that Christians believe in? This does not mean that God does not exist; merely that the God that exists cannot be the one portrayed in the Bible.
To begin, quantifying God is a complex task. Most Christians will agree that the God of the Bible is “all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere at once.” They will also tell you that God is both good and lovng, since these characteristics would have to be part of his nature in order for him to be God.
In order for God to be all-knowing, He would need to know every decision his creation will ever make.
This means that He knows both the past and the future. This implies that since he knows what will happen, he has a master plan. This plan must happen in order for the Christian God to be both omniscient and omnipotent.
Since goodness is an essential characteristic of God, the ultimate result of his masterplan must be good. This is crucial to my argument, because the Bible teaches that it is God himself that saves and condemns. Several passages in the Bible confirm this. In John 6:44, Jesus is quoted as saying, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Romans 9 elaborates on this further, suggesting that we don't even have a say in anything. Not only does this chapter discuss how God saves some and condemns others, but it states that God creates some to be loved and others to be hated. It even goes as far as saying, “Who are you to question God?”
Now ask yourself a simple question: Is this good?
Is it “good” of the Christian God to condemn more than half of his creations to hell in order to demonstrate his love by saving a mere few?
To me, this is neither “good” nor “loving.” How can a deity send his creations to hell and still be called either of these terms? It eludes me.
To conclude, 1 John 4:8 says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
It's hard to believe John was discussing the same God as the the Book of Romans.
Send Sean your philosophical inquiries at spmccaul@asu.edu
