Why God can be so mean

Images of God’s wrath in scripture are sobering for most of us. For example, when artists depict such gruesome scenes as drowning animals in the story of Noah’s Ark, we wonder why those animals who never did anything wrong had to die. With heavy hearts, we even ask, why did they have to die the way they did?   

In the story of Noah, the biblical among us don’t struggle too much when we read that the evil in humanity had to go; after all, humanity had been BAD; but defenseless defense farm animals including horses, sweet sounding songbirds in the wild, and even man’s best friend facing the end so tragically can anger, bewilder, or dismay us.

“God,” we wonder, “why do you have to be so mean?”

As we approach Father’s Day this coming Sunday, June 16, I think about this mean God. I also think about what I have said and done as single parent to six young children who, as a fact, are aces, gems, stars, darlings, champs, and sweethearts.

You heard me. I’m a single parent of six. This means I’m both good cop and bad cop.

For the record, I can be a really, REALLY good cop. The right lines. The right actions. Roll the camera, let’s have another happy Hallmark movie scene.  

By default, I am also the bad cop. With no other parent onsite, I’m the only one who says, “Put that away.” “You can’t wear that.” “I said no. And no means no.”

In the wee hours of the morning when I write this weekly column, I wish I could be Fred Rogers in the TV show Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Then I realize that, like actors in a Hallmark movie, Fred, an ordained Presbyterian minister, had off-screen moments.

I love my children. That’s not some la-dee-da thing to say. I truly, completely, seriously, and genuinely I love my kids. The deepest love. The greatest love.

This deepest, greatest love speaks each day. This love isn’t just roses and sunshine stuff. This love is also the hard stuff. And yes, sometimes this love is the REALLY hard stuff with the really hard (and sometimes harsh) words in truly challenging conversations.

Why am I mean? It’s because I love my kids’ diet and teeth, and soda and junk food are not usually the option. Why am I mean? It’s because they are too smart to sit in front of screens all day. Why I am mean? It’s because sometimes the immediate no means a good future tomorrow AND in the near or distant future.

Oh, I get why God is mean. God is mean because, as our parent, God loves us and has something SO much better for us. The something better isn’t something we can see in the moment, but it will be there.

In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins refers to the God of the Old Testament as a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser. Journalist Christopher Hitchens aligns with Dawkins when he says the Old Testament contains a warrant for an indiscriminate massacre.

Other critics of Christianity raise similar assaults. God being far from the sweet, gentle Mr. Rogers is often heard very clearly these days.

The issue of God commanding violence in scripture is difficult. However, we should consider that our Father, far from our perfect and/or not-so perfect earthly dads, lives and speaks from an eternal perspective. His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

The Apostle Paul gets it. He tells us God is both kind and severe (Romans 11:22). While it is true that God’s holy character demands sin be punished, God’s grace always extends to those willing to turn anew and be saved.

In Knowing God, J.I. Packer summarizes. “God’s wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil.”

If we are to call God mean, then the meaningful relationship we could have with God is lacking on our part. This upcoming Father’s Day weekend 2024, let this good cop/bad cop father of six speak. I say listen to God through anything horrible, harsh, or hard because God’s intent is not to harm but to heal—and to love—you.