Possibly Heretical Musings

Job 40:8 "Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?"

Is God held to the same standards that He holds men to? Psa 50:21 "These things you have done and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes. "

Obviously in some cases the answer is no, such as in worship, but should the answer always be no?

In no way do I seek to discredit the Holiness of the Most High, but instead I wonder if our view of His Holiness is a distortion, a limitation. Do we judge God the same as we judge men? Is there always in the back of our mind the idea that "God would never do that because such an act is inherently 'evil'?"

Can we let go of our finite understanding of right and wrong as it applies to God to try to understand Him, and while doing so still be Biblically sound?

I want to propose a few predicates:

God is the Creator of all, in effect all things are His property. Psa 24:1 The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.

The owner of property has exclusive rights over his property.

God always acts to achieve the most perfect goal.

The most perfect goal is the most amount of glory being attributed to His name.

Based upon these predicates, I would like to begin a discussion of the actions of God and why we sometimes struggle especially with His old testament actions. Please post your comments along with mine. I wouldn't even mind if someone just said I was rambling and should delete this post.

Ultimately though, we must all come to a point in our lives that we proclaim as Balaam and Job did:

Num 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? "

Job 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD and said, Job 42:2 "I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. Job 42:3 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' "Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." Job 42:4 'Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.' Job 42:5 "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Job 42:6 Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes."


(All references from http://www.blueletterbible.com/ -NASB version, emphasis added)