Question: If God exists, is He fair? I have been doing a lot of thinking about this lately; a lot of research, analyzing, and rationalizing on the matter. My answer: the Christian God that I believe in is not fair!
If God is fair, why on earth are some nations so blessed with relative peace and prosperity, while others seem so utterly cursed to constant conflict and poverty?
If God is fair, why does so much evil on earth go unchecked without any consequence to the perpetrators, while good people and deeds get overlooked and even punished?
If God is fair, why are there so many corrupt and incompetent leaders in the world who bring on so much suffering, while the most honest and competent are ignored or persecuted?
If God is fair, why doesn’t everyone get what they deserve?
The “fairness of God” is a concept that many unquestioningly accept – after all He is God and knows what He’s doing. At the same time God’s “fairness” as defined by humanity causes anger in some for the lack of justice and the pain and suffering they experience or see around them.
About 45 years ago, I remember watching Saturday Night Live and listening to a Comedian, George Carlin, and his take on God’s administration of fairness:
“Think about it. [Christian] Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do.
“And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ‘til the end of time!
“But I want you to know something, this is sincere, I want you to know, when it comes to believing in God, I really tried. I really, really tried. I tried to believe that there is a God, who created each of us in His own image and likeness, loves us very much, and keeps a close eye on things. I really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realize, something is [messed] up.
“Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption and the Ice Capades…Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the resume of a Supreme Being.”
As he continued, I thought Mr. Carlin did make more insightful comments about the question of whether God is fair:
“I’ve often thought people treat God rather rudely, don’t you? Asking trillions and trillions of prayers every day. Asking and pleading and begging for favors. Do this, gimme that, I need a new car, I want a better job. And most of this praying seems to take place on…His day off. It’s not nice. And it’s no way to treat a friend.
But people do pray, and they pray for a lot of things, you know…and I say, ‘Fine.’ Pray for anything you want. Pray for anything, but what about the Divine Plan? Remember that? The Divine Plan. Long time ago, God made a Divine Plan. Gave it a lot of thought, decided it was a good plan, put it into practice. And for billions and billions of years, the Divine Plan has been doing just fine.
“Now you come along and pray for something. Well suppose the thing you want isn’t in God’s Divine Plan? What do you want Him to do? Change His plan? Just for you?
“Doesn’t that seem a little arrogant? IT’S A DIVINE PLAN. What’s the use of being God if every run-down shmuck with a two-dollar prayer book can come along and [mess] up Your Plan.”
Those who embrace the Christian religion believe that God has a divine plan, but is it fair? Is what He is working out in the affairs of mankind fair? Is He fair? And what is “fair” anyway?
The fact of the matter is that “fair” is a concept devised by human beings. Consider, if you will, that when something does not seem fair to you and me, we might have processed as follows:
· We may have reasoned that you or I have not got what is deserved or had coming to us – and that’s not fair.
· We may have concluded that we did not receive what someone else did, though we were entitled – and that’s not fair.
· We may have resented that others were rewarded and we went seemingly unrewarded in the same circumstance – and that’s not fair.
Whatever way we process it, my estimation is that this human concept of “fair,” or it’s opposite, “unfair,” is the underlying reason for much if not all the world’s ills:
· Unfair is why people and groups of people have fought and warred and conquered from the beginning of our existence: their motivation is entitlement to what others have.
· Unfairness is crime and corruption that affects us; it may account for sickness and disease afflicting some and not others; it is accidents that affect the lives of the innocent, and not others more “deserving” of them.
· Unfairness is when good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people – death, loss, poverty or misfortune of any kind.
As the world defines “fair” and “unfair,” we would have to agree that there is a lot askew on earth today. And if we believe that God is responsible for administering fairness, we must conclude that He has not done a good job and therefore, He is not fair.
So, if God is not fair, what could He possibly be? I would propose that He is JUST! Since we are scrutinizing the “Christian” God, it is appropriate that we look at how He is just from the Holy Bible.
At this time of year in the Jewish religion, there is a celebration for great deliverance of perhaps three million or more Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. A song was written about the salvation of those souls at that time in Deuteronomy 32:1-4, 43:
“Listen, you heavens, and I will speak; hear, you earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, His works are perfect, AND ALL HIS WAYS ARE JUST…
Verse 43…”Rejoice, you nations, with His people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants; He will take vengeance on His enemies and make atonement for His land and people.”
Moses, the greatest of the Hebrew prophets, proclaimed God’s “just ways” in this song and foretold that all nations would be pleased to see that justice for God’s people AND those who have mistreated His people!
That was the “old part” of the Bible, some might say, but the same “song” with the same theme is found in the “new part” as well – Revelation 15:1-4:
“Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.
“And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.
“They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! JUST AND TRUE ARE YOUR WAYS, O King of the saints! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your Name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been manifested.”
The “song of Moses,” with the same idea that God is JUST, is rehearsed in two different eras millennia apart: back in Exodus from Egypt and then again when the kingdoms of this world will have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. It will then be evident that God’s divine plan is supremely JUST!
And what is that just divine plan?
· God is interested in all nations and will save them and they will come and worship before Him.
· There is vengeance upon those who harm His people, though His saints are allowed to be harmed and even killed earlier.
· Salvation from annihilation and extinction, along with eternal life are available to all people of all nations.
These are His ways – and they are JUST!! The difficulty we have is we want justice to be administered now, or “it’s not fair.”
In the end, I have concluded that when it comes to dealing with each of us individually, God is not fair, but He is just. More broadly, God is not fair when it comes to the state of nations in this world and all persons within, but just are all His ways.
