Will the Judge of the Earth Do Right?

Christians like to talk about how morality comes from god and without god there can be no morality. They are convinced that their god is morally blameless. In fact Gen 18:25 says: “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (NIV) This verse used to give me much comfort especially in those areas that the Bible is silent:

What happens to a baby when it dies? I don’t know but won’t the Judge of all the earth do right?
What happens to someone who never heard of salvation through Christ? I don’t know but won’t the Judge of all the earth do right?
Why did god allow that tragedy to happen to that wonderful person? I don’t know but doesn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?
etc.

It never occurred to me to question this Bible verse. In other words, “Does the Judge of all the earth do right?” By any human standard the answer is no. Here is just a very small list of Biblical “justice” (A more complete list can be found here – Biblical Atrocities by Donal Morgan):

1. Because of one act of disobedience by one man (and one woman), every man, woman and child who were ever born were cursed with death (Gen 3). The magnitude of this injustice cannot even be fathomed, especially when you consider that Adam and Eve were acting exactly as their maker created them. To get just a little taste of the implications of this “justice” consider a man killing his entire family, his entire neighborhood, and his entire country because one of his children disobeyed him.

2. God is so unhappy with how his creation is living that he decides to kill all life on the planet except for the few aboard Noah’s Ark (Gen 6-9). What did the animals do to deserve this? I suppose all the infant children where horribly evil too?

3. Because of the sins of Pharaoh, who by the way god hardened so he would not repent, the Egyptian people were punished including killing all first born sons (Ex 7-12). Yup, that’s justice all right. A ruler sins so the people are punished.

4. God commands “in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded” (Deut 20:16-17, NASB). A little extreme don’t you think?

5. Achan sins but to please the Lord not only is he put to death but his sons, daughters, oxen, donkeys and sheep are also stoned. (Jos 7:19-26) Justice?

6. “The LORD to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.” (Jos 11:20) So God blames them for something that he forced them to do. Justice?

7. David sins by committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband killed so god serves justice by killing David and Bathsheba’s child. (2 Sam 11-12) The parents sin so the child is killed? Is this justice that you could accept?

8. Lest you think this is just an Old Testament phenomenon, the ultimate injustice is committed by punishing men, woman and children eternally for finite sins. Especially when the Bible clearly states that the faith to repent is given by god and it is impossible to come to him without it (Jn 6:44, Eph 7:8-9).