In defense of God's morality

I wrote this for my English class; another person in the class had written a paper arguing that God was immoral, and while on the way comparing the relationship between God and man to that of a father and child. He implied that he now had the moral standing to judge God, which is what prompted this particular argument against that paper.

My six-year-old brother Jarett loves to play games on the computer. Before doing so, he is required to obtain permission from my mother. Of course, he frequently flouts this requirement and plays whenever he can. When caught, he protests with a complaint like “That’s not fair!” or “You are wrong, mister!” To an adult, this situation is fair, and my mother is not in the wrong, but explaining these facts to Jarett is fruitless. He simply does not (and cannot, until he is older and more mature) fully understand the morality of the situation. He does not know everything that my mother knows and thus is not in a position to judge her actions. He does not realize that not only does the computer not belong to him, but his parents have the right to limit his access thereof for his own benefit.

So it is with humanity’s relationship to God. We are His children, with emphasis on the childlike aspect. We have not yet developed the spiritual strength and maturity to understand God’s adherence to a strict moral code, just as my younger brother has not yet developed the mental faculties and maturity to understand why he is not allowed to use the computer. Nor do we even have access to all the information God has. Even if we did, we would be unable to comprehend it all.

Those who rail against God’s perceived moral flaws suffer from a vital misconception—since they are physically adults, they must have the moral and spiritual right to judge God. But we are all still children in God’s eyes. None of us has developed the perception or acumen that He possesses, and none of us has His boundless knowledge. We cannot presume to judge God on our limited knowledge and weak conception of eternal morality. To do so is equivalent to Jarett’s announcing to my mother that she has “a million hundred thousand forty-seven minutes [of time out].”