God’s Mistakes?

A man in a line at one of apologist Frank Turek’s events asked a leading question. He took some time to list what he considered mistakes God made. He created the world and humans, then decided it was all a mistake that had to be wiped out by the Flood. He was sorry He’d even made man. Then He chose Abraham and in this guy’s estimation, “started over again” to produce a better group of people. But the Israelites failed God, so that was a mistake. Then He sent “another dude,” Jesus, to start yet again, but that hasn’t turned out that well. The Church has had all sorts of infighting, heresies, has gotten too involved with politics, etc. So these were all God’s mistakes. The guy concluded by asking, “So when is God going to finally get things right?”

I was reminded of something the famous atheist, Christopher Hitchens used to say all the time in his talks and debates. He said the Andromeda Galaxy seems to be on a collision course with the Milky Way, which will wipe out both galaxies. Hitchens said that was obviously a huge mistake, so how could Christians say we serve an omniscient, omnipotent God? There are lots of other so-called “mistakes” God has made, according to lots of skeptics. For example, some say the eye was created in a way that is backwards, with the rods and cones (light receptor cells in the retina) facing backwards. A real genius would’ve made them better. And why do we have an appendix, why does the body break down, have defects? And on and on they go. I want to take a stab at answering these sorts of questions.

First, I have to point out that even if these things are mistakes, they are far beyond anything we could ever even get close to producing, in terms of power and genius. If you think Andromeda crashing into the Milky Way is a mistake, well, where are the galaxies you’ve created? As far as I know, no human being has ever “created” anything, even a grain of sand. Not ex-nihilo (from absolutely nothing), anyway! Until you can produce an eye with all the features and capabilities our eyes have, I think you’d better shut your arrogant mouth! I just had an eye doctor appointment yesterday and was discussing my glaucoma. The fact that these organs are pressurized to hold them at just the right size and shape to refract light, they have nerves in the back that sense the light and send signals to the brain and that brain then interprets them so we see, all this and more convinces me that the God who created them knows a whole lot more than any human being, no matter how smart they may think themselves to be!

Besides, when it comes to Andromeda, our Bibles tell us this present creation is only a temporary set-up, a sort of “prop” for the drama God is working out in this phase of existence. They were meant to be put away when the time comes, to usher in the new heavens and new earth we will dwell in forever. (Heb. 1:10-12) So much for Hitchen’s arrogant criticisms!

As for the stuff the guy asked Turek, let’s think about this a moment. We’ve already established that, all our criticisms aside, none of us could produce any sort of world, period. But God obviously has. And what sort of world or universe has He produced? It is obviously a vast universe, and it is obviously populated by vast hosts of beings, both physical, material beings like humans, as well as hosts of invisible (to us) spiritual beings. That’s why one of the names or titles for God we frequently read in the Old Testament is “the Lord of hosts” (Yahweh Shavaot). There are myriads of spiritual beings the Bible calls rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over the present darkness, spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). God obviously has hosts of good angels who continue to serve Him as well. From places like the Book of Daniel we know there are even “princes” who apparently rule over whole geographical regions of the earth, and there are powerful angelic beings who war over these areas on behalf of and in opposition to God. We human beings are not by any means the only inhabitants of this universe. We are confined on only one small planet, and though there are billions of us, we are still probably a tiny minority of all the inhabitants that exist.

Now we obviously have free will here on earth. Sure, many would dispute that, both Christians and non-Christians. Some try to say everything is determined in our lives, either by God or by our genes, our heritage, etc. But I think it’s pretty obvious that we can choose to do what’s right or what’s evil. We can buy guns and go into a church to shoot everyone up, or we can go to church and worship the true God. The choice is up to us. We can work hard and try to raise our children right, and we can respect one another and try to build a better world, or we can get drunk or high every day, work for a cartel, steal from people, live off welfare, in short, we can choose what kind of life we want to live to a large extent.

The Bible indicates that the spiritual beings beyond our sight also have the ability to choose. And some of them, before the dawn of human history, chose to rebel against God. They chose to become evil, even though God had created them good. Then these beings chose to invade this planet, where God had placed human beings, and they chose to infect them with evil as well, and to lead them into rebellion against God. Since that time, for millennia now, this world has been a war zone, where people and demons and angels are all making choices to submit or to rebel against God.

This is the world God created, a world of free will. Now people ask, why would He create such a world? Couldn’t He have created a world where no evil exists? Yes, I’m sure God could’ve created whatever sort of world He wanted. But a world where evil choices didn’t exist would also be a world where no one was truly free to choose good either. No one would really be able to love God or others out of a free-will choice. Instead, we would all be like automatons, programmed to do good. That would’ve been a “cleaner,” “nicer,” less chaotic world, for sure. But it wouldn’t have been the kind of world where people could truly be tested and truly choose to follow God and live in harmony with Him or not. And such a world would simply not have suited the purposes for which God created.

It seems obvious that God was dealing with a cosmic rebellion when He created our world and human beings upon it. He made us in response to that rebellion, and we are part of a demonstration of some kind. The whole world is like a giant stage, a prop, on which God is working to demonstrate the superiority of His way and produce a new people who will love and serve Him. It is a place He made to refute the lies and distortions of those who originally rebelled against Him. For His cosmic demonstration, God had to have a place of free will, where both humans and angelic hosts could interact and God’s truth could be revealed.

In creating such a world, God has taken a great risk. He has to allow all the beings He has created to make their own choices. That is absolutely huge! It means some will choose to love God, but many will not. It means some will take heroic action to do what is good and right, but many more will do horrible things that cause untold anguish and harm, and that grieve both God and humankind. It means people will be exploited, raped, murdered. It means dictators will oppress multitudes of people. It means there will chaos and hatred and violence and suffering.

But such a place of free will also allows God to demonstrate His love by sending His Son to dwell with us and even to die for us at the hands of violent oppressors and murderers. It is a place where choices really count for something, where heroism can really be displayed, where self-sacrifice and self-control and humility and love really exist. The Bible clearly says, for example, that the Christian Church, God’s people of this age, are actually meant to be a cosmic display for the whole universe, including fallen angels and evil spirit princes, to demonstrate God’s wisdom and love, to show who He really is and why His way is best (Eph. 3:10).

So what about these so-called “mistakes” God has made? Is it really true that God didn’t know what He was doing, and has been trying to figure things out over these millennia? How foolish! No indeed! Instead, God has been working throughout history (His- Story), working with human beings of free will, not coercing us, but drawing us, giving us not too much, but just enough revelation and understanding of Himself that we might search for Him and find Him, though He’s not far from any of us (Acts 17:27). As people have made wrong choices, God has had to respond. Yes, He did destroy all mankind in the Flood, not due to some supposed “mistake” He had made, but because of the terrible choices human beings had made. To display His grace and mercy, and yes, His power, He saved one family, Noah’s out of that disaster and continued working toward His purposes with him.

Yes, He chose Abraham out of all the peoples of earth at that time and worked with him. Not because everything before had been a mistake, but to demonstrate His grace and develop His plan. Yes, the Israelites as a nation failed Him, but they still served His purpose, bringing in the Word of God, and in time, the Messiah Himself. Not only that, but there was always a remnant that truly sought God and served Him, albeit weakly and imperfectly. Daniel in Babylon, for example, or Ezekiel, Elizabeth and Zacharias, Mary and Joseph, countless others through the ages.

God has not made mistakes, but we humans have made a ton of them! The delays, the failures, the backsliding, they have all been on the human side. But through all of the chaos and failure, God has been at work. He has revealed Himself to people, drawn them to Himself, brought them into a relationship with Him through faith. You might say He has had “both hands tied behind His back” just to make it fair, but has still been able to defeat the powers of darkness and accomplish His purposes in this fallen world, working with fallen, weak human beings.

When His Son came, the war really heated up, but Jesus won every single battle He was involved in. He bound the “strong man,” Satan (Matt. 12:29), and began stripping him of his spoils, saving people, forgiving them, healing them, delivering them. He began opening eyes and turning people from darkness to light (Acts 26:18). When He died on the cross, the evil ones thought they’d beaten Him, but He actually used their malice to overcome them. The devil bruised His heel on that cross, but Jesus crushed that serpent’s head at the same time. Satan didn’t know what was going on until it was too late! (1 Cor. 2:8) Then, on the Day of Pentecost, God poured out His Spirit on a chosen group of people, and since that time, He has continued to break down the very gates of Hades, bring the captives out, and display His power, wisdom and love.

Because He has had to work with fallen human beings, sometimes progress has been very slow. But “no power of hell, no scheme of man” can ever thwart God’s purposes. He has promised us that the very gates of hades will not prevail against the church, and He is leading us in triumph against the powers of darkness. Mistakes of God? You gotta be kidding! He doesn’t make any! We do, but He allows that, because He loves us that much. We truly have free will and can choose to love God or not. Even mistakes we make can be redeemed by our omniscient and omnipotent God. But He Himself knows exactly what He’s doing! I’m so glad He got me out of the clutches of the devil and his lies. I’m on His side, and there I’ll stay. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” (Josh. 24:15) I have total confidence that God Almighty makes no mistakes in anything He does!