Overview: Deconstructing the non-sensical attributes associated with God, such as God being a nice guy or mean guy in Heaven. The absurdity of judging God by human constructs of morality.
Is God a “kind,” “nice,” or “loving” Being? Many religious doctrines – especially in Christianity – will have us believe so, although there is less merit to that idea than we might have thought.
God cannot, by definition, be subject to labels and human constructs. The idea of being “nice” (or kind or loving) is relative. What makes something or someone nice? We compare it to its pairs and judge it accordingly. If it’s nice – relative to other people or other paintings, for example – than we regard it as “nice.” There’s no objective definition for nice, other than a judgement relative to its counterparts.
But if there were one thing that has no counterpart and no pairs, it is God. By definition, God is singular and has nothing to be compared to. We cannot compare God to other gods since, well, there are no other gods.[1] As the Creator of the entire world, both good and evil are His and both pleasure and suffering are His creations. It would be unfair to only attribute the good of the world to Him or only the evil of the world to Him.[2] Just as He created the cruelty in the animal kingdom and human suffering, so too has He created the truly pleasurable moments in life. Just as He heals some of the sick, He has other sick people die. Choosing one aspect of His creation over another is selective and unfair.
Instead, God is all-encompassing and beyond any of these limited descriptions that can only apply to our world experiences. Sometimes, like in Tanakh, we will emphasize a specific attribute of His in order to bring out a point– but that doesn’t mean that His character is limited to that specific quality. This is why He is sometimes called “kind” and “merciful” in Tanakh, while at other times He is described as “vengeful” and “angry.” These aren’t contradictions, since He isn’t any of these; rather at times He will act with vengeance and anger and at times with mercy and compassion. He is vengeful to those who do evil yet is compassionate and is patient in executing His punishments for disobedience. This is all how He manifests Himself into a specific quality at a specific time; but His pure character is beyond these limiting descriptions.[3]
Can we judge God relative to other humans to see if He’s a “nice guy?
This wouldn’t either make sense for two reasons. The first simple reason is that humans themselves are diverse and we have evil people like Hitler and good people like Abraham Lincoln. So to whom shall we compare God relative to?! The second reason is understanding the fundamental difference between human relations and God to human relations. Humans are genetically almost identical; they think alike and their shared culture gives them a sense of common morals. Humans are therefore, by nature, usually sympathetic to each other because they understand each other really well. The same cannot be said about God. As the Prophet Isaiah described God “for His thoughts are not our thoughts.”[i] God is completely beyond our imagination, completely beyond our limited comprehension, and completely unfathomable. There is a famous saying, that if we were to understand God – we would be Him. We cannot understand the ways of God or the reasons for why He does things the way He does them. We cannot understand why He created evil and suffering, and conversely, we cannot understand why He created good and pleasure. God is completely beyond our wildest imaginations which are limited to the human experiences.
Some good-spirited people may decide to focus on the “good” of God and love Him as a result, but that is subjective decision and has no play in the objective discussion of God’s character. Conversely, some will decide to focus on the “bad” of God and will hate Him as a result. The point here isn’t to discredit these very legitimate emotions but to objectively interrogate the true character of God. Indeed there is no good answer to the question of why good people suffer (although we discuss it here) and it would be intolerable for someone to attempt to “explain” away the suffering that many people courageously endure.
So what relation can we have with God?
If God is beyond comprehension, then how can we ever develop a relationship with Him? I think the question itself is the answer. Only after understanding that God is completely beyond our comprehension can we begin to fathom His greatness. We can start to appreciate how He is so beyond any limitation and is the greatest Being to exist.[4] Being the “greatest” Being doesn’t mean the “nicest,” rather the most perfect Being that is so beyond our limited existences. We can develop a strong sense of awe of this grand existence. Being “nice” and “kind” are a sign of completeness within the framework of our world; but God’s greatness is so much greater than those labels because His existence isn’t limited to the worldly good qualities of “nice” and “kind.”
There is a human desire to connect with the divine, to connect to the eternal. If we live our lives merely preoccupied with self-enjoyment and self-indulgence we remain in our limited existences: just a sophisticated ape a part of thousands of generations of evolution in which species struggle for existence. Whereas if we connect with the divine and eternal, we are leaving our limited selves and are joining a much bigger and greater picture. And who knows, perhaps one day we will come to appreciate and have a better understanding of the divine (see here for a discussion on the afterlife).
[1] See here for a discussion on the singularity of God.
[2] See here for a discussion on why we emphasize the good in prayers.
[3] If God is infinite then surely His character cannot be described in limited terms. Even if He is isn’t infinite (see here for that possibility), then still we cannot apply these traits to Him since we have nothing to compare Him to, as explained earlier.
[4] That is, at least the greatest Being in our existence (see here).
[i] Isaiah 55:8.
