Why is God so mean and so controlling?

[guanophore]

God was a huge control freak. You dare question God once and you go to hell like in the rebellion of Korah.

The better question might be, why is mankind so rebellious and hostile to God?

Those who participated in the rebellion of Korah had plenty of warning and redirection. God is our Creator, and we are His creatures, and He can manage the boundaries around us any way He chooses.

God seems to be trigger happy with his punishments like when Moses did one bad thing and then Moses can’t go to the promised land.

There are consequences for our behavior - especially hubris. The problem was Moses attitude and the state of his heart. The misbehavior was a reflection of this, just as it is for us.

Aside from incorruptibles and a few other miracles like the Eucharist God is asleep on the job now unlike the Old Testament.

Such a statement could only be made by a person who does not walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, and thus, does not experience the Life of the Kingdom within and around oneself.

In the Old Testament God is over strict, now he’s asleep.

Perhaps the state of being “asleep” better describes the person who is perceiving, rather than the perceived? No one who lives, moves and has their being in Christ could make such a statement. It reflects the experience of a person who is not conscious of God at work within oneself.

It makes me suspicious about incorruptibles. If god is perfect then why does he make mistakes: case in point the devil.

I have not read the thread, so I am sure there are some good answers already to this, but the fundamental point is love. God created everything and everyone out of His Love. Love frees the object, so He created the angels and the people with sufficient freedom to reject Him. This is not a “mistake”, it is the consequence of love.

 

[Seagull]

“My 12 yr old son has this question - as well.”

You may have a brat on your hands
And YOU ? have the same question, as well ?
You don’t live up to the name you have -
Happy2becatholic1 ?

 

[guanophore]

He often thinks punishments are unfair. Later on after much ado he’ll get that he is wrong. It is very hard raising a special needs child. Part of the run is that he constantly thinks he is equal to us.

In that case, the concern is not so much what he is thinking and doing, but what YOU are thinking. If what you wrote in your OP reflects your own mindset, this is a much more critical problem.

How does one get to the point where one believes that God loves them, without question, as sure as they know 2+2=4?

This is something that can only be experienced in relationship with Him. It does not come from following commandments, or religion, or even participating in Sacraments. It comes from knowing who He is, and who we are in relation to Him.

One cannot know someone without communication. It begins by listening to what He has said to us.

“ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ" ~ St. Jerome

 

[Gorgias]

So did I since the line of questioning is posed as an unbeliever would ask…

 

[PennyinCanada]

When a person is learning how to drive, he has to study a book. He has to learn the rules of the road, what the signs mean, follow speed limits, stop at red lights. Lots of stuff before he can even get behind a wheel, and then he needs a driver to teach him before he can be licensed. Why go through all this trouble?

1. Because it’s a privilege to be able to drive.
2. Because you are sharing the road with a LOT of other people. The safety of other people depend on you. Even still there will be times when the road is icy, when visibility is poor, when something goes wrong.

So it is with our faith. It is a privilege to be a son or daughter of God. To have God as our father! A tremendous privilege bought by the blood of Jesus on the cross.

We will share this life with a lot of other people! There will be times when things go wrong, when there’s pain and suffering. We can bring the love of God into these dark places. It’s our privilege to do so. Our calling. We are the salt and light in this world where things go wrong every day.

May God guide you and strengthen you with wisdom today. We are indeed in a battle.

 

[PennyinCanada]

When he says that God is asleep, have you sat with him and gone through the story of Fatima? An incredible moment in history and not that long ago.

 

[PennyinCanada]

Moses did one bad thing and could not go into the Promised Land.
There is so much we could say about Moses and how he’s a type of Christ, pointing forward to when Christ comes. Are you familiar with this? It’s awesome. It’s a great teaching to pass on to your children before they are too old and tune you and the scriptures out.

When a guy wants to be a police officer, he has to do a lot of training. Study, training, pass tests. The reason is because he is going to walk among all kinds of people, be in all kinds of situations, dangerous situations. He is going to fire a gun and kill someone. He is going to enforce the law among lawbreakers. A challenging job. Frightening really. If one day he’s coming back from a party and had too much to drink and wrecks his car on a tree, it will be found out that he had too much to drink. He was driving drunk. How does this reflect on him being a law enforcement officer? He will be handled very harshly. It will not go well for a person who’s job it is to enforce the law to be breaking the law and putting innocent people at risk. For someone who is given much, much is required.

So it was with Moses. He spoke with God and was a witness to incredible things. Although it seems harsh to us, it is hard for us to comprehend the incredible things that went on in those days for Moses. Much was given, much is required. And so it is for us as well. We can be grateful for the mercy extended to us because of Christ on the cross.

 

[PetraG]

He has high functioning autism and part of his diagnosis iscthst he doesn’t get hierarchy. He often thinks punishments are unfair. Later on after much ado he’ll get that he is wrong. It is very hard raising a special needs child. Part of the run is that he constantly thinks he is equal to us.

It seems to me that you’re in an unusually good situation to understand God’s side of this question.

Put yourself in God’s place. Is God really unreasonable?

For instance: how is it possible for the One without whom nothing in creation would exist at all to be a “control freak”? Does God not have the right to as much control as God sees fit to have? Is the universe supposed to revolve instead around the unreality of someone who has free will but isn’t wise enough to use it for good instead of for useless nonsense and for evil? What are human beings, that they imagine right and wrong and good and bad ought to revolve around their limited sense of things? Do they not know far less than a little child who shakes his fist at his mother as she tries to teach him how to control himself so as to live a happy life? Can his mother make reality other than what it is so that her little precious can imagine that he really knows best about everything? Does she do him a favor by hiding the truth from him? For how long?

You say, “The LORD’s way is not fair!”
Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair? Are not your ways unfair?
When the just turn away from justice to do evil and die, on account of the evil they did they must die.
But if the wicked turn from the wickedness they did and do what is right and just, they save their lives;
since they turned away from all the sins they committed, they shall live; they shall not die.

But the house of Israel says, “The Lord’s way is not fair!” _
Is it my way that is not fair, house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not fair?
_ Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, all of you according to your ways—oracle of the Lord GOD.
Turn, turn back from all your crimes, that they may not be a cause of sin for you ever again.
Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, house of Israel?
For I find no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies—oracle of the Lord GOD.
Turn back and live!
Ez. 18:25-32

 

[PetraG]

Moses did one bad thing and then Moses can’t go to the promised land.

Someone is forgetting that Moses was there for the Transfiguration. It seems obvious, then, that Moses did more than OK in the end.

 

[meltzerboy2]

The 12-year-old’s (and my) subsequent question based on what you are saying is “why can’t you (my parent) let me exercise my free will the way G-d lets me do?” After all, first you are comparing G-d to a loving parent, and then you say that G-d does NOT demand obedience from us without OUR consent because he doesn’t want us to behave like automata. So which is it? Is G-d preventing us from doing certain things because they are bad for us, or is G-d giving us the choice to do the right thing?

 

[PetraG]

The 12-year-old’s (and my) subsequent question based on what you are saying is “why can’t you (my parent) let me exercise my free will the way G-d lets me do?” After all, first you are comparing G-d to a loving parent, and then you say that G-d does NOT demand obedience from us without OUR consent because he doesn’t want us to behave like automata. So which is it? Is G-d preventing us from doing certain things because they are bad for us, or is G-d giving us the choice to do the right thing?

Well, because you are 12. When Christ was 12, he was obedient to his parents. He gave up being all-powerful in order to be an example for you. It will not kill you to wait until you’re a grown man to do the good as you see fit, like He did.

Whatever obedience and faith God asks of you, Christ has done Himself. He’s not a hypocrite. He knows what He is asking. He was obedient, even to the death. As the Creator, God has standing. As the example who has done what God commands, He has standing. There isn’t room for anyone to give guff about it.

 

[kill051]

The 12-year-old’s (and my) subsequent question based on what you are saying is “why can’t you (my parent) let me exercise my free will the way G-d lets me do?” After all, first you are comparing G-d to a loving parent, and then you say that G-d does NOT demand obedience from us without OUR consent because he doesn’t want us to behave like automata. So which is it? Is G-d preventing us from doing certain things because they are bad for us, or is G-d giving us the choice to do the right thing?

I am the first to admit my analogy is imperfect. However, the difference is a crucial one: it is necessary for the parent to train and discipline the child in order for it to live and grow in a safe and healthy manner, and become a productive member of civilisation. To allow it free reign to follow its own will would result in no child living beyond the age of nine or so, due to illness and accident and kidnapping and any number of other calamities. That does not mean the children are automata, blindly following the parents’ will. It’s a two-way street: if the parent explains, with love and understanding, the reason for the stricture, and the child listens carefully and does its utmost to comprehend, hopefully there will be little love lost and no rancor between the generations. With adults and God, He does us the service of realising that we are autonomous persons, capable of making our own decisions without (hopefully) incurring great catastrophe. The way we grow toward holiness and sainthood as adults is by trying our utmost to do God’s will and to keep His commandments. The child grows toward maturity and good health by following the parents’ dictates, and the adult grows toward union with Christ in Heaven by following God’s commandments. I hope this rather sketchy and incomplete answer has been of some help.