So I just watched Batman vs Superman last night, and while I enjoyed the movie I was disturbed by the rational of Lex Luthor (and apparently I'm not alone. A fact I discovered as I searched for the clip online and got a BUNCH of reactions coming up as well.) Now I know he's the "bad guy" in the film and therefore isn't necessarily supposed to be the voice of good conscious, but still. I have a feeling more than a few people resonate with his words. Before I go any further, allow me to offer a link to the clip and I speak of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuwNhed4ObU
"The problem of You Above All--because that's what God is."
"God is tribal, God takes sides."
"If God is all powerful, he cannot be all good, and if he is all good, he cannot be all powerful."
Allow me to work backwards through these assertions. First, I would like to point out that no Human is "all good." We all make mistakes, we all fail at some point. We are all to one degree or another, selfish. Which makes sense if you think about it. We were all born helpless. We couldn't feed ourselves or protect ourselves. We had one thing we could do--make noise to alert someone else to our needs. All we know how to do is want. Kindness, compassion, love, selflessness, these things come later. We learn them (hopefully) through the influence of those around us. As we grow, we develop a degree of self sufficiency, but even in that, people need people. Look at the degrading effects of solitary confinement! We need community. We need others. It is a beautiful thing, but it is also a limiting thing. If I need others, then I have needs I cannot in and of myself fill so there is a risk that I may not get what I need. So sometimes I become selfish because I'm focused on my own needs or I prioritize them over other's needs. Now let's look at God. If He is all powerful, then he is self-sufficient. AKA he doesn't have needs he cannot fill. Actually, he doesn't have needs at all! Therefore he will never be in a situation where he will want or be forced to look to his own needs at the cost of someone else. He will never have a time where he will try and fail. He's all powerful! So I would like to propose that BECAUSE God is all powerful, He is ABLE to be all good. He's the only one strong enough.
Now part of me would love to go on a tangent and deal with the definition of good, but at the risk of this becoming too long, I will refrain. However, this does bring me to the next quote, "God is tribal, God takes sides." I see how this would seem logical. Christians and Jews believe that God CHOSE Abram (Abraham) to be the father of many nations: "They will be my people and I will be their God." However, if you were to read the entire Old Testament (or Torah and the Law and the Prophets if you prefer,) you would find that God sometimes "allied" himself with "pagan" nations AGAINST Israel, or had mercy on the "heathens" against the request of "His people." So why would he do this if he was "on their side?" I would like to propose that the truth is God is on God's side. I realize this may not be a popular thought. We want God to be on our side. We like to think of him as choosing teams, or states (God Bless Texas!) or denominations, or political parties. But while God may care, he doesn't align himself with us, he aligns himself with... himself. Which brings me to the last quote: "The problem of You Above All--because that's what God is."
Well... to put it succinctly: Yes. And this is a problem for many people. God is not a being that can be controlled or manipulated. He is all powerful. He's above that kind of thing. (Which is actually really good! Look at what happens to Superman! He's not all powerful, and because of that, Lex Luthor is able to manipulate him!) But God is all powerful and therefore above all. For some, that's scary. For some, it invokes envy. In America, we especially don't like having something over or above us. But I believe we fear this because we don't put in that third truth: He is all Good. A. W. Tozer reminds us that God is all of himself all of the time. He doesn't set aside his Goodness to be All Powerful, he's both. God is above all, all powerful, all good, and all on his own side.
If this is true, the question becomes, whose side are you on?
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