DOES GOD DECEIVE?

 


Ultimately, God gives us what we want. However, many skeptics claim that “God deludes His unbelieving victim so that they will believe what is false so that God can condemn them for it.” To support their claim, they cite:

•    2 Thessalonians 2:9–12 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

While it might seem that God had directly partnered with Satan to delude those who “refused to love the truth and so be saved” and “had pleasure in unrighteousness,”  it is unlikely:

•    Those who were deluded had already committed themselves to self-delusion and had rejected the truth.
•    This passage doesn’t specify whether God had made a deal with Satan to delude those who had already rejected the truth or had simply allowed the deluded to have what they wanted.

The Bible tells us that Solomon built the Temple. Instead, he didn’t hammer a single nail or carve a single stone but had conscripted thousands to build it. However, indirectly, he did “build” the Temple. Likewise, God had only indirectly allowed those who hated the truth to have what they wanted. In this way, He did indirectly “deceive” these lovers of the darkness (John 3:19-20) simply by allowing them what they wanted.

Similarly, God had ordained a thorn in the flesh from Satan to afflict Paul to keep him humble (2 Cor 12:7-10). He didn't need to coerce Satan to do what Satan was already glad to do for his own evil purposes. He merely had to remove His protection from Paul, and Satan happily did the rest.

Likewise, God only needs to allow the rebellious to go their own way to achieve His just purposes:

•    Romans 1:24–28 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

Consequently, God doesn't unjustly deceive anyone but surrenders them to their own chosen and stubborn self-deceptions as a last resort. Instead, He wants all to be saved:

•    2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

But didn’t God directly confer with Satan to afflict the most righteous man—Job—or was this a matter of anthropomorphic language (baby-talk) so we’d understand it?

Evil cannot enter God’s presence without God destroying it. Consequently, God the Father couldn’t be with Israel lest He destroy His Chosen People. Therefore, He sent the Angel of His Presence to lead them out of Egypt and throughout their sojournings:

•    Numbers 20:16 And when we cried to the LORD, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt…

•    Exodus 33:3, 14 “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people…My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Likewise, the Apostle Paul didn’t have to confer directly with Satan to torment those who the Church had excommunicated:

•    1 Timothy 1:19–20 …By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Could Paul have had a conference with Satan? Hardly! Paul meant this for salvation; Satan meant it to torment and to destroy (also see 1 Corinthians 5:5). There could have been no basis for a deal between the two! Besides, we are not to have any dealings with Satan. Instead, it seems that those who are excommunicated merely become fair-game for Satan. In light of this, when Paul directed the Corinthian church “to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:5), he was merely asking the church to excommunicate him rather than to the church collaborate with Satan.

This understanding agrees with the revealed righteous nature of God. It also agrees with a host of other Biblical revelations. For example, Paul had argued against divorcing an unbelieving spouse:

•    1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

Jesus had also taught that for those who would receive His evangelists, a godly peace would surround them (Matthew 10:13). As the Church is a conduit for divine blessings and the Lord’s protection for the surrounding world (Genesis 12:3), so too is the believing family.

My interpretation might be incorrect that God merely allows the rebellious to have what they want. There might be a third interpretation that better fits the Bible. However, I am convinced that the skeptic’s interpretation of a malevolent God cannot stand scrutiny.