By: J.M. Green – 12/16/23
The Muslim’s Quran says so. And many in the Christian church believes He is unjust in many ways. With this said allow me to give you my view, taken from the Scriptures themselves.
I was reading in Job this morning and I read this: “Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their (own) transgression” (Job 8:3,4 NKJV).
Take time to look up the two words that Brildad used:
Subvert: [note: other versions use pervert (v.3) rather than subvert, used twice].
According to Strong’s Concordance, subvert and pervert come from the very same Hebrew word (#579), meaning: (avath) “to wrest, (make) crooked, falsifying, overthrow, deal perversely, pervert, subvert, and turn upside down.”
We ask, does God do such things with judgment/justice? Job, under great duress accused God of being unjust. “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul… I loath my life… why have you set me as your target…” Read Chapter 7.
The question is, “Does God subvert/pervert judgment?” I’ll be honest, I have acted like Job a time or two when under great duress/stress. How about you?
Job’s accusation was against the LORD’s cardinal dogma of Divine righteousness. God’s judgment was in question. Job’s children had died along with other loss (read chapter 1).
Why did God permit Job’s household to perish? Is God unloving, uncaring? Bildad tells Job, “If thy children have sinned against Him, and He have cast them away for their transgression” (Job 8:4). Were their sins worthy of death? Obviously they had died. Were Job’s sons sinners? In strictly monastic terms allows death to follow sin.
All this questioning brings us face-to-face with theodicy. Multitudes have questioned God’s justice – “If God is good, why does He allow evil?”
Before we look at this, “Does God subvert judgment… pervert justice?” (Job 8:3).
Deuteronomy 32:4 tells us, “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteousness and upright is He.” Then Moses continues with, “They have corrupted themselves… because of their blemish: a perverse and crooked generation…” (v.5) when the Lord deals with people, He deals justly. He does not punish the righteous, but the unrighteous. 2 Samuel 22:31 tells us that God’s “way is perfect; the Word of the Lord is proven.”
Why does God permit evil? In Job’s case, even he said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts…” (Job 1:5)
Job 34:10-12 tells us, “Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: for be it from God, that He should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that He should commit iniquity. For the work of a man shall He render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his (own) ways. Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.”
We can agree that God does not perform iniquity; He allows it. There is no injustice nor corruption in God’s rule. While I was in Razor-wire Estates, aka, Hell’s Hotel, aka N.M. State Prison, I wrote articles on the theodicy question: God’s sovereign rule in both good and bad; the attempt to show that He is just and to argue that He can be sovereign and good despite the world’s wickedness and sufferings.
“God,” in Greek = (theos); “Justice,” in Greek = (dike). If one researches “theodicy,” one will find a ton of resources to look at. Actually, theodicy does not answer every question. I’m not a Bible expert/theologian, but I can understand many principles put forth in the Bible. I will not call God “A Bully God” or “A God lacking love” because there is evil in the world and some people are very evil. I know God allows/bestows “free will” to all men: what they do with it is up to them, not God.
[Note: one may want to examine Isaiah 45:7 – take note of the word “evil” (in certain versions), which means in Hebrew (ra) “calamity”, “natural evil”, never “moral evil”].
Evil = good? According to Genesis 1:31, ALL that God created he called “very good” – this was before men sinned; thus “moral evil” entered the world after they sinned.
“Evil,” i.e. “moral evil” is never mentioned its origin. How ME slipped into God’s perfect moral Garden to tempt His first two created beings – male/female – remains a mystery. Some believe it came into existence “ex nihilo” = out of nothing. The Bible tells us WHEN evil came into being, but not HOW. I have to be content with Deuteronomy 29:29.
Let me end this short article with “if there is no HELL, there is no JUSTICE!” Hell exists precisely because the LORD has committed Himself to solving the problem of evil, as one author has written. I agree.
Did Job’s sons deserve Hell? Death? Job candidly expressed his doubts and fears, honestly but out of ignorance (Job 7:11,16, 20). You see, God uses pain to get our attention “… He opens their ears in oppression… out of dire distress” (Job 36:15,16). Job was afflicted, both physically and mentally. Job, in the beginning of his painful trial, could not see nor hear what God was doing – but in the end Job said, “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5,6).
Good ending!