Is God Really Fair?

According to language research, the average teenager uses the phrase "that's not fair" 8.6 times a day. I don't know if that's a fair estimate, but I imagine it's fairly close. Embedded deeply in the mind of teens (and everybody else for that matter) is a basic desire for life, the universe, and everything to have some level of justice, equality, and even-handedness.

And I agree. How can it not be, when life is so full of unfairness? Think about it...if life were fair:

• Acne would be attractive
• Chocolate would be a major food group.
• Parents would pay their kids an hourly wage for being grounded.
• Video games would make guys smarter and cuter to girls.
• Sweat would smell like expensive cologne.
• Total honesty would be requirement to enter politics.

Here's a saying that you can take to the bank...or even to the grave for that matter: Life is not fair, but God is.

That's right - He can be completely counted on to be impartial, judicial, and neutral. Here's what the Bible says:

Read Job 34:12 - "There is no truer statement than this: God will not do wrong. The Almighty cannot twist justice."

Read Psalm 98:9 - "The LORD is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with fairness."

It's just a central part of being God for Him to be just. In fact, an unjust God is no God at all. That's why it has never been and never will be fair to call God unfair.

Yet there are those who do it anyway. Somewhere along the way they got enough misinformation and misguided opinions to convince them of the possibility that He messed up. Most of the accusations against God are just silly, but I will admit there is one nagging issue that gets thrown our way that, on the surface anyway, seems to paint God into the corner of injustice.The issue goes something like this:

• Jesus claimed that He is the only way to heaven, and proved it by dying on the cross and coming back from the dead and appearing to over 500 witnesses. Thus, the only way to avoid hell is to trust Christ as your only hope of salvation.
• BUT...there are billions of people who have no chance to hear the gospel.
• SO...God sends people to hell who had no choice in the matter.

Wow! That would definitely be unfair. In fact, I would say a God like that would not only be unfair, but downright cruel...which puts Christians in a bit of a dilemma.

And it's more than an intellectual concern, because I've been on enough anti-Christian web sites and blogs to pick up very quickly that this is a stumbling block that has tripped up more than a few folks.

Join us this week as we address the question, Is God Fair?

See you at The Refuge!

Special thanks to Dare 2 Share Ministries for resource material used in this week's lesson.