For various reasons, some people do not like the idea of an almighty God who looks over your shoulders, holding you accountable for all the things you have done or you want to have done. They put forth tests to show the irrationality of the idea of an almighty God or even a benevolent God. For example, if God is almighty, can he create a rock which he is not able to move? This is a typical atheist challenge. They laugh at the idea of an almighty God and by putting forth this challenge, they want to believe that they have disprove the existence of God.
A more subtle challenge usually comes from those who somehow accept the idea of a God. Yet, they doubt his providence. If God is almighty and benevolent, why does he allow people to suffer? Either he is not almighty, or he is not benevolent or even both!
This challenge ends up in disproving the existence of God. Both challenges have been answered long time ago. Regrettably, many defenders and challengers remain ignorant of their solutions and keep bringing them up.
Instead, I am more interested in exploring how believers of God put God to test. Here is an example.
Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple,
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” (Matthew 4:5-7)
Of course, the Devil believes in God. It is typical of him to persuade human beings to test God. What does it mean to test God? I interpret it to mean telling God to do our will, not His; and to play according to our rules, not His.
Take the first immovable rock challenge. According to our rules, if God cannot create such a rock, he is not almighty. If he is able to create such a rock, he will not be able to move it. Therefore, he is not almighty. Bravo, human logic!
However, God plays according to his own rule. To be truly almighty, he chooses to do things he is not supposed to be able to do! God dies!
The almighty-benevolent challenge usually takes up the following scenario.
“for if the righteous man is God's son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.
Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.” (Wisdom 2:18-20)
Sounds familiar? Here is an excerpt of Matthew’s Passion.
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lama sabach-thani?" that is, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "This man is calling Elijah."
And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink.
But the others said, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him." (Matthew 27:46-49)
The Bible is littered with stories of suffering righteous people. These people suffer because some other people want to test God. Would it be unfair for God to test us while we cannot test God? Well, I think testing God is a dangerous game to play. Consider the case of Judas towards whom modern people are sympathetic. Many movies try to defend his motive of betraying Jesus. Greed is simply out of the question. Rather, Judas wanted to push Jesus into the role of Messiah according to the contemporary popular view, to force the hand of God to deliver and elevate Jesus. While other players just wanted to save their skins, e.g. Caiaphas, Peter and Pilate etc. Each in their particular way was doing, however unwittingly, the will of God. The story of Judas is tragic in particular. Even Jesus lamented the fate of Judas.
"The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." (Matthew 26:24)
God is God because he is able to put evil acts into good use. In the suffering of the righteous, God manifests his salvation. He holds the trump card --- resurrection.
“He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” (Matthew 22:32)
Dear Jesus, give us strength to insist on doing Your Father's will. Amen.
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