Meditation 326
Our Right to Judge
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Thomas J[1] wrote in Debate & Discourse:
We, being imperfect beings, have no right to judge God being that God is The Perfect Being.
I'm not sure that the logic of the above statement holds up even if, for the sake of argument, the premise of a Perfect God's existence is accepted. Why can't the imperfect judge the perfect? Is it not a judgement to deem something perfect?
I will admit, much of what I have written here, at least on the surface, does criticize God. And that in itself would seem to be illogical. After all, the criticism is directed at something I consider highly unlikely to have existence.
But when I criticize God, am I really criticizing God? Or am I criticizing claims by other people about God?
Let us hypothesize the existence of a perfect God.
Suppose then, it is written[2] that this perfect God said:
21: And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
22: I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate.
If I say this is an evil threat, if I say the punishment is not commensurate with the sin, if I say it is wrong to punish the child for the sins of the parent, am I really criticizing God? Or am I criticizing the person who claimed that a supposedly perfect God actually uttered this grotesque threat?
If someone claims the whole book from which the above passage was extracted is the inspired and inerrant word of a perfect God, and I reply that the image of God presented by the book is inconsistent with a perfect God, am I criticizing God? Or am I criticizing the person who claims the vicious tyrant of the Bible to be identical with that hypothetical perfect God?
Perhaps I should carefully frame my sentences so as not to criticize God - after all, I'm not a believer. But I will criticize claims made about God by individuals, particularly claims that are not consistent with a perfect god. After all, that it is just one supposedly imperfect being judging another.
Footnotes:
- I have to thank Thomas J. He has inspired two Meditations this week.
- Leviticus 26: 21-22