Jehovah​—A Cruel or a Loving God?

“BUT the God of the Bible is a cruel God,” the Japanese man insisted. The missionary standing in his doorway found himself before a person familiar with God’s Word, the Bible.

“What about God’s drowning people in the Flood?” the man continued. “And what about his incinerating Sodom and Gomorrah, not to mention his having the Israelites exterminate the Canaanites? How can you say that God is anything other than cruel? Besides, the God of the ‘New Testament’ is entirely different. Jesus taught about a God of peace and love.”

This perception of the “Old Testament” God as cruel and warlike permeates the thinking of many. Consequently, some people view even the “New Testament” God of love as suspect. How could anyone be moved to serve a God who appears to have a split personality?

“All His Ways Are Justice”

Humans, though, are hardly in a position to criticize God’s actions. Does a child at once comprehend why his father makes him endure the pain of a dentist’s chair? Likewise, we might not at first understand all of God’s actions. “Know that Jehovah is God,” said the psalmist. “It is he that has made us, and not we ourselves.”​—Psalm 100:3.

Is it not unwise, then, hastily to conclude that God’s actions are cruel? “‘The thoughts of you people are not my thoughts, nor are my ways your ways,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” (Isaiah 55:8, 9) Moreover, the Bible assures us that “all his ways are justice.” Jehovah is identified as “a God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice.” (Deuteronomy 32:4) Let us therefore look at some cases in which God has seen fit to execute judgment.

The Flood

“Jehovah saw that the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time.” (Genesis 6:5) Such was the pre-Flood world. Yes, Jehovah God “saw the earth and, look! it was ruined, because all flesh had ruined its way on the earth.” (Genesis 6:12) Some might argue that God should have left people alone, letting them do what they wanted. But there were still honest, morally upright people left on the earth. Would it not have been cruel for God to allow the wicked to exterminate the last vestige of morality left on earth? God therefore arranged for a global deluge to rid the earth of its ruiners.

A cruel God would have made no provision for the survival of man or beast. Yet Jehovah did so. A cruel God would never have warned of the coming cataclysm. Yet he assigned Noah to be “a preacher of righteousness” for at least some 40 or 50 years! (2 Peter 2:5) People could choose either survival or death.

Sodom and Gomorrah

When two angels visited Sodom, the inhabitants soon revealed their perverted nature. The men of Sodom surrounded Lot’s house, “from boy to old man, all the people in one mob. And they kept calling out to Lot and saying to him: ‘Where are the men who came in to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intercourse with them.’” (Genesis 19:4, 5) This was ‘going after flesh for unnatural use.’​—Jude 7; see also Romans 1:26, 27.

God, “who searches the hearts,” saw that the cities were unsalvageable. Their annihilation was deserved. (Romans 8:27) Why, not even ten righteous men could be found in Sodom! (Genesis 18:32) The conduct of the Sodomites posed a real threat to righteous Lot and his family. Therefore, God’s rescue of Lot and his daughters was an act of love!​—Genesis 19:12-26.

Executing the Canaanites

Jehovah promised Abraham that his seed would eventually occupy the land of Canaan. Note, though, that no execution was to take place in Abraham’s day. Why not? “Because the error of the Amorites [the dominant Canaanite tribe] has not yet come to completion,” said Jehovah. (Genesis 15:16) Some 430 years would pass before the wickedness of that nation had reached such proportions that Moses could say: “It is for the wickedness of these nations [of Canaan] that Jehovah your God is driving them away from before you.”​—Deuteronomy 9:5.

Says the book Archaeology and the Old Testament: “The brutality, lust and abandon of Canaanite mythology . . . must have brought out the worst traits in their devotees and entailed many of the most demoralizing practices of the time, such as sacred prostitution, child sacrifice and snake worship . . . utter moral and religious degeneracy.” Nevertheless, the Gibeonites and residents of three other cities were spared. (Joshua 9:17, 18) Would a cruel God have allowed this?

A Split Personality?

However, some insist that the “Old Testament” God underwent a personality change in the “New Testament.” ‘Jesus’ teachings focused on love,’ they say.​—Matthew 5:39, 44, 45.

Yet, the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. came as a judgment from Jehovah, even as Jesus foretold. (Matthew 23:37, 38; 24:2) Further, unrighteous individuals such as Ananias, Sapphira, and Herod were put to death. God had not changed. (Acts 5:1-11; 12:21-23; Malachi 3:6) Nor were Jesus’ teachings about love a new development. Much earlier, the Mosaic Law had commanded: “You must love your fellow as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18) Jesus’ teachings about self-sacrificing love, though, went further than this command. (John 13:34) Remember, too, that he also pronounced strong denunciations on hypocritical religious leaders. Read all of Matthew chapter 23 for yourself and see how powerfully Jesus denounced such ones.

The Bible record thus stands, not as a proof of God’s being cruel, but as evidence of his deep and abiding love for mankind. Thus we are moved to learn more about Jehovah and his loving ways. Our next article can help you to do just that.

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Was Jehovah just in sending the Flood, in destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, and in executing the Canaanites?

Jehovah​—Awe-Inspiring but Loving

“TO WHOM can you people liken me”? asked Jehovah God. Even the loftiest of language could never fully convey God’s incomparable power and glory. He himself invites us to consider the expanse of the heavens, saying: “Raise your eyes high up and see. Who has created these things? It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one of them is missing.”​—Isaiah 40:25, 26.

The thousands of stars visible to the naked eye are just a fraction of the some 100 billion stars that make up our galaxy alone! Yet Jehovah has numbered and named all the stars in the entire universe! Consider, too, the massive volume of energy locked up in all of this matter. Our sun has a central temperature of 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius). What “dynamic energy” Jehovah must have to have created billions of these nuclear furnaces!

Understanding Jehovah fully is therefore beyond our limited capabilities. Said Elihu: “As for the Almighty, we have not found him out; he is exalted in power . . . Therefore let men fear him.” (Job 37:23, 24) Jehovah, however, wants more than just our awe or fear. “You must love Jehovah your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your vital force,” the Bible commands. (Deuteronomy 6:5) But can we love someone we cannot fully understand? Yes, for though Jehovah’s dwelling is high in the heavens, he deals lovingly with imperfect humans and allows them to gain at least a partial understanding of him.​—Compare Psalm 113:5-9.

His “Eyes,” “Ears,” and “Face”

One way in which Jehovah helps us understand him is by allowing himself to be described in human terms. The apostle Peter said: “The eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous ones, and his ears are toward their supplication; but the face of Jehovah is against those doing bad things.”​—1 Peter 3:12; compare Exodus 15:6; Ezekiel 20:33; Luke 11:20.

Of course, these are metaphors, not to be taken literally, any more than when the Scriptures call God “a sun,” “a shield,” or “the Rock.” (Psalm 84:11; Deuteronomy 32:4, 31) ‘But does not the Bible say that we are made in his “image”?’ reason some. (Genesis 1:26, 27) Yes, but claiming that God has a literal mouth, nose, and ears creates serious problems. Would an almighty God’s hearing, for example, really be limited by what sound waves would carry to literal ears? No, for the Bible indicates that God can “hear” even voiceless expressions made in the human heart. (Genesis 24:42-45) Nor does his ability to “see” depend upon light waves.​—Psalm 139:1, 7-12; Hebrews 4:13.

Perfect man thus mirrored, not physical features, but God’s qualities such as love and justice. Especially do Christians manifest such qualities as they heed the counsel of the apostle Paul, who urged: “Clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it.”​—Colossians 3:10.

Visions of Glory

In ancient times, certain servants of Jehovah had the privilege of receiving inspired visions of Jehovah’s heavenly glory. Ezekiel was one of these individuals. (Ezekiel 1:1) What he saw in vision defied description! Ezekiel resorted to metaphors and similes, often stating that what he saw was “something like” familiar material things. For instance, the prophet said:

“There was something in appearance like sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne. And upon the likeness of the throne there was a likeness of someone in appearance like an earthling man upon it, up above. And I got to see something like the glow of electrum, like the appearance of fire all around inside thereof, from the appearance of his hips and upward; and from the appearance of his hips and downward I saw something like the appearance of fire, and he had a brightness all around. There was something like the appearance of the bow that occurs in a cloud mass on the day of a pouring rain. That is how the appearance was of the brightness round about. It was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah.”​—Ezekiel 1:26-28.

What glory Ezekiel described! The apostle John had a similar vision of Jehovah, and he wrote: “Look! a throne was in its position in heaven, and there is one seated upon the throne. And the one seated is, in appearance, like a jasper stone and a precious red-colored stone, and round about the throne there is a rainbow like an emerald in appearance.” (Revelation 4:1-3) Although Jehovah is represented in such grandeur, he is not depicted as a cruel God. Rather, the setting is calm, peaceful like the rainbow.​—Compare Genesis 9:12-16.

The fact that God allowed even such limited views of his heavenly majesty shows that his intentions toward mankind are peaceful. Surely, then, those who love God can confidently approach him as the benevolent “Hearer of prayer.”​—Psalm 65:2.

The man Job said of God: “Look! These are the fringes of his ways, and what a whisper of a matter has been heard of him!” (Job 26:14) There is, indeed, much to learn about Jehovah God, who has blessed his servants with the prospect of living eternally. (John 17:3) But even “time indefinite” will not be enough for us to “find out the work that the true God has made from the start to the finish.”​—Ecclesiastes 3:11.

What honest-hearted ones do know or learn, however, can motivate them to love and obey Jehovah. (1 John 5:3) Are you one of such individuals? Obeying God is not always easy. But when you have truly come to know Jehovah God and his loving ways, no effort seems too great. Are you determined, therefore, to know more fully this awe-inspiring yet loving God?

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Men such as Ezekiel and John had visions that give us only an idea of Jehovah’s awe-inspiring glory

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God’s creating and naming the stars give us some idea of his limitless power