Is God Fickle?

 July 26 2005

Question:

Does God ever change His mind about anything?  I have a friend who says he does, but I don’t see how that can be since He’s perfect.  What would you say?

Billy Graham’s answer:

From our limited perspective, God does sometimes seem to change His mind.  The Bible tells us that God is perfect and all-knowing even when He apparently changes His min, He is actually carrying out what He intended to do all along.  We can trust God with our lives right now.  God loves us and He has a plan for our lives.  No matter what we face in life, He is with us and will never abandon us.  Thank God for His unchanging love!

Jen’s response:

I’m gonna come right out and say it.  I don’t believe in Yahweh (the god of the bible).  Further, I don’t think even if such a god existed that he would be infallible.  And again, where does Graham come off saying that God loves us?  It says over and over and over again that God is jealous.  And this particular God is prone to do spiteful and fickle things as a result of his jealousy.  Like what he did to poor Job.  God basically tortures Job on a bet from Satan.  And, from this, we are to understand God loves us?  Sure, things work out in the end sans all Job’s sons, daughters, sheep, livestock and livelihood.  But this story, if true, raises some very important questions.  If Satan is able to trick God into torturing a man whom God admits himself is his most faithful servant, then how can Graham say that God is all perfect and all knowing.

Ok – lets assume, just for laughs that God is all knowing.  Then, he would know that Job would not renounce him.  So, why torture him to see if he would?  Just because he can?  If that is the case, then God is fickle.  And if God were all knowing, wouldn’t he have expected Satan to show up?  Why would he have to ask Satan what he was doing there? 

Perhaps God wasn’t sure if Job would renounce him or not.  But, if that is the case, then God can’t be all knowing.  You simply can’t have it both ways. 

Wait – you can.  God knew Job wouldn’t renounce Him, but… tortured the poor soul just to have a great story/parable that hundreds of years later he could use to encourage others to not renounce him.  But that makes God really insecure.  Which I suppose fits with the whole jealous thing He has going on.

My advice for everyone out there is to try a belief system that doesn’t require you to engage in mental acrobats just to get by.