"DEAR GOD, YOU SURE DON'T ACT LIKE YOU'RE ALIVE" - Day 19

Day 19 – fair and just?

Every individual...recognizes something in him that tells him that he ought to do the thing that is right morally and ought to shun the wrong.  –HENRY M. MORRIS

God is moral. He is the author of the Moral Law that is written on our hearts. He gave us this Law as a compass. He expects His Law to be followed. This much we have discerned about God by looking at the Argument from Fairness.

The next question follows immediately: Is God also fair? The answer is not readily apparent. A quick survey of the state of the world would seem to give mixed signals. The wicked often prosper at the expense of the righteous. The innocent are ravaged by disease and death. Is God, the Author of right versus wrong, also the Judge who will right every wrong? Is God fair and just?

Since God is moral, four possibilities loom before us: 

    • God could be moral but not fair. He
        could have given us the Moral Law,
        expecting us to follow it, but have no
        interest in setting things right when
        we break it. Fairness may not be a
        part of His character.

•  God could be both moral and fair but unable to act. He could be eager to set things straight but be unable to do so because He lacks the power.

•  God could be both moral and fair but unwilling to act. He could be the Author of the Rules and possess the power to intervene when they are broken but, out of lack of compassion or concern, decline to do so.

•  God could be both moral and fair but waiting to act. He could be able and willing to right the wrong but may have chosen to postpone the day of justice until He deems it best.

I believe strongly that God is fair and just and waiting to act. I believe that He is fairer than we have ever imagined and will one day make things right. I believe that even now He is working out His plan toward that end. As a Christian, I believe that justice was served the day Jesus died on the cross and waits now the day of its final consummation. But I am not at this time going to argue this point further. I will wait and deal with it in the days ahead. For now, I will state only that God is the giver of the Moral Law and that He expects us to follow it. He is a moral and righteous God. Whether or not His morality is coupled with divine justice is a question that will be postponed until Day 39, when again we look at the Argument from Human Characteristics.

Before we forge ahead, we need to consider one thing more that the Argument from Fairness reveals to us about God’s nature. This will be the topic of next week's post.

Daily Quotation

Quoted in Mark Water, The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations, 678.