The President of the Philippines paraphrased his version of the Adam and Eve storyinto his speech, after which he was bluntly colorful in his criticism of God.After he laid out how Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, the presidentstipulated that God basically set them up for failure. How? By putting in thegarden dangerous elements such as the Serpent and the tree of the knowledge ofgood and evil that would eventually tempt them to sin. Then, there is thecommandment itself. Why would God give such a command? With these questionshanging unanswered, the President concluded with a question, “How can yourationalize a God like that?”

As a believer, I have to at least try to provide an answer.

First, allow me to tackle the president’s criticism aspect on God’s being. This whole episode reminded me of another person who was critical of how God handledthings. His name was Job.

Job was a wealthy man, considered “blameless” and “upright” according to God. One day, the devil came before God where He boasted about Job’s goodness, but the devil argued that Job is good only because God had favored him extravagantly. After some cajoling by the devil, God allowed the devil to put Job to the test to see if after the devil’s torment, Job would turn and curse God. Job passed the first test, when after losing his business to marauders and all ten of his children to a devastating catastrophe; he still blessed God in his prayers. But then the second test was when the devil inflicted upon his body with horrible debilitating skin sores. At first, he seemed to accept his circumstances, but after having a lengthy poetic discourse with whom he thought were his friends, he bemoaned the injustice that God allowed evil people to prosper while he suffered. Job wanted to confront God and complain. Now, it would seem that Job may have gotten the upper hand of the argument, but God had a big lesson for him.

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said, “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” [Job 38:1-4]

So, what is the lesson for us? I don’t know about you, but if God decides to come to correct me in the midst of a whirlwind, there can only be two logical ways for me to face him, with fear and humility. Why? Fear is easy enough. Anyone capable of controlling the weather is worthy of fearful respect. As the Bible says, ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…’ [Proverbs 9:10] As to humility, the question that God brought up about where was Job… or that matter, where were I or you… when He laid the earth’s foundation… well, you have to see the logic. It is arrogance for any of us to be critical of God, especially when first you don’t have His power and lack the experiential knowledge of Creation. Fortunately, Job learned his lesson and he was blessed beyond imagining.

Meanwhile, there are many people who still wonder whether God erred and why we are paying for it? We will tackle this in Part 2.

Until then blessings to you,

-Johann Quisumbing