Belling the Cat

Archibald MacLeish observes in his play J.B. that “If God is God, he is not good. If God is good, he is not God.” MacLeish intended by this challenge to conventional theology to lay the question of evil at the feet of a supposedly omnipotent and benevolent God. These discombobulating words from the play lose some of their mystery when MacLeish’s different uses of the word “God” unfold. He made “God” refer at one time to that without which nothing can be or be conceived, and at another to a name God goes by (in some people’s minds). Substitute a popular name of God into MacLeish’s sentences and you’ll see his meaning more clearly. “If God is Jehovah, he is not good. If God is good, he is not Jehovah.” No reading of the Old Testament can make Jehovah out to be good. Just ask any Canaanite or Philistine. The God MacLeish had in mind was the literarily appealing God who, to settle a bet, permitted Satan to inflict all manner of harm on the good man Job. But Job was only a character in an old folk tale, so as interesting as he is, we should not take literally the story told about him (although there’s much to be learned from the huge body of work analyzing the tale).

Theologians have cleverly adapted to the reality of evil by inventing and invoking free-will as a way to absolve God of the sins committed by human beings. The story goes that God, who gave us the power freely to choose goodness, cannot be guilty of our transgressions. That sleight of mind will not, however, free God (if he is Jehovah) of the evil nature he displayed toward the Canaanites and the other tribes who, in different Old Testament stories, he murdered as a favor to the Hebrews. That God, if he is in fact God, is by no stretch of the imagination good (not even if you happen to be a Hebrew).