Do Christians Know God?

"...Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself" (Gal. 4:14).  

"But we do see Jesus..." (Heb. 2:9).

"...[T]his mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27).

This is a loaded question and depends upon your definition of terms.  One may know a lot about God by virtue of doctrinal acquaintance, but be wet behind the ears or very naive in his experiential knowledge.  The Bible does say that in the age to come, no one will say, "Know the Lord," for everyone will know Him. They will know the rules or the ways of the Lord and actively put them into practice.  Jesus is the Way and they will know Him.  This obviously refers to having a relationship with the living God and growing and or maturing in it--faith is not static, but alive.

"We walk by faith, and not by sight," (2 Cor. 5:7).  This means we have to venture out in step and take that leap of faith like Abraham did, even not knowing where he was going.  No one gets saved without taking this journey of faith.  Paul said to the Galatians that it was like this:  "And now that you know God--or rather are known by God" (Gal. 4:9).  It is much more vital that God knows us!  Anyone who loves God is known by God (cf. 1 Cor. 8:2).  Those who God doesn't know will be cast into the lake of fire and are cursed:  Jesus will say unto them, "I never knew you."  This kind of knowledge is of having a personal relationship with the Almighty.  The elect are known by God for sure:  "For whom He foreknew [in the sense of having a relationship with and loving], He predestined..." (Rom. 8:29).

No one should want Christ to pronounce this to them at the judgment--to make sure that God knows you! (cf. Gal. 4:9)   By this I mean make sure you are saved!  This is not to satisfy idle curiosity, but a command in 2 Pet. 1:10 says:  "...make every effort to confirm your calling and election."  Your spiritual growth is stunted without 100 percent assurance.  You can't just hope you are saved, but must know it.  "For know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12).  "...whoever comes to me I will never drive away" (John 6:37).  Eternal security is not a biblical term, but eternal salvation is:  see Heb. 5:9 talking about God giving eternal salvation (not provisional or temporary salvation) to all who obey Him.  Heb. 9:12 says that we obtained eternal redemption by His blood.


Knowing you are saved is the first step to making sure you know God because everyone who is saved knows God--some just have a childlike familiarity with Him and haven't reached maturity yet.  Be assured of this:  If you are saved, you do know God--it is just a matter of how well.  Now that you know God (or rather that God knows you, cf. Gal. 4:9) you are to grow in the knowledge (2 Pet. 3:18).  "Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Col. 1:l0).  This is a mandate in the Word--to grow--it is not an option for so-called Jesus freaks or fanatics: Jesus has little tolerance for lukewarm Christians who have lost their first love or are indifferent or disinterested in spiritual matters.

To know Him is to love Him.  "Acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace, and thereby good shall come unto thee" (Job 22:21).  God hides Himself:  "Truly, you are a God who hides yourself" (Isa. 45:15).  Job wondered:  "Oh, that I knew where I might find him" (Job 23:3).  He will be found by those who diligently seek Him, not triflers. He finds us first:  "I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me" (Isa. 65:1).  The trouble with the world is that no one is looking for God--"There is none that seeks God" (Rom. 3:11).  They are seeking the gifts without the Giver, the benefits without the Benefactor. Pascal said that he would not have found God, had not God first found Him.  "I was lost but now am found!"  This is the beginning of our relationship with God:  The main business of the Christian life is to seek God and His face.

God's pet peeve or controversy with Israel is that they don't know Him.  (Hos. 4:1)  "There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land."  The exhortation to Israel: "Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD" (Hos. 6:3).  God wants a relationship with Him: "For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice [religiosity], and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings [going through the motions]" (Hos. 6:6).   Psalm 14:3 and Rom. 3:11 say that no one seeks God--they seek the benefits, not the Benefactor; the gifts, not the Giver.  Knowing God is the business of the Christian life a well as always seeking Him. "And this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3).  If you want to boast, do so about knowing God!  "But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD ..." (Jer. 9:24).

The book of Daniel is a good example for us.  Daniel dared do great things in God's name, he demonstrated great energy for God, he had great thoughts of God.  What will the people who know their God be like?  "But the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action" ["shall firmly resist him" (the enemy), or "be strong and do exploits"] (Dan. 11:32).  In other words, spiritual strength and boldness come from knowing the Lord.  We are commanded to "grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord" (2 Pet. 3:18).  Col. 1:10 says, "Bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."

Even Paul didn't claim to have laid hold of it yet and to have arrived:  "I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection" (Phil. 3:10).  We never stop learning and growing in our knowledge of God and the finite cannot grasp the infinite as they say.  But we have the mind of Christ and have the unique capacity to have a relationship with God.  We have the mind to know Him, the heart to love Him, and the will to obey Him, because we are in the image of God (imago Dei). We are the literal ikons of God and reflect His glory:  we are made to glorify Him (Isa. 43:7).

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) says that "the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." We are unique creatures and living beings:  Animals are oblivious to God and have no capacity to know Him--they are indifferent to spiritual things and don't even wonder if there is a God--you will never see a simian building a chapel, even in a trillion years of so-called evolution!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Our Marching Orders

"And do this, understanding the present time:  the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed"  (Rom. 13:11).
"Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?" (1 Cor. 14:8).

KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING!  DON'T MAJOR ON THE MINORS!


The church today is sidetracked with many foci that are not commissioned by Christ--personal agendas and political causes, for instance.  The church was given the Great Commission and this should be the focal point of its ministry.  All other ministries are secondary and should be relegated to the lesser degree of importance--they are not of paramount value compared to the number one goal of achieving the calling given us to spread the gospel and make disciples of all nations.  This commission, by the way, is not any one person's burden, because no one person has all the gifts, but it is the shared burden of the church at large.  We need to do our part as an individual, as well as corporately as a church.

What we have today is the social gospel where churches are into causes so much that they are derelict of their evangelical duties (not just for evangelists--Paul exhorted preachers to do the work of an evangelist).  You might say they are turning stones into bread or of multiplying bread to feed multitudes and attracting crowds, not converts.  People are being converted to the cause, not to Christ.  Bleeding hearts are into the church and taking over because they see it as a social vehicle for change--an opportunity to spread their agenda. They have no interest in Christ Himself and no love for Him, but if He is not the center of church life they feel right at home because they have a concern for the betterment of society and to usher in their idea of peace on earth--and the church is only a vehicle for change.

The priority of the church is the Great Commission and if this loses emphasis the people never get converted to anything other than a cause. They are, in reality, converted to a program, not to Jesus Himself.   The Great Commission includes making disciples (not just converts--they must be followed up and mentored or trained in the Scriptures), and in taking part in spreading the good news first at home (teaching members how to spread the good news too is implied), then elsewhere via missionaries, etc.  There is no limit to the amount of impact one obedient church can have, and this does not depend on its size, because Christ was more interested in quality than quantity.

Today, with all the so-called mega-churches, we see attention given to size as what is impressive, and what most of them are is really crowds, not families;  a church is a local body of believers who function as a family in Christ, not strangers who just happen to worship together.  The order of growth is to believe in Christ, to belong to His body, the church, and to grow and become what He wants for you in Christ.

Until Christ comes the marching orders for the church are not to sound the alarm as doomsayers as some today are wont to do, (we are to be ready, yes, but not to predict or act as if we know some secret revelation from God Himself as a latter-day prophet would),  but to occupy the land or you might say do business as usual, in obedience; to proclaim the Lord's death till He comes; to purify ourselves in holiness and sanctification; and to watch the signs of the times (be ready saying every day, "Lord, will this be the day?"), so that we can judge for ourselves whether we feel the time is near and as we do to not forsake the assembling together of ourselves (Heb. 10:25); and most of all to worship God corporately and personally.

We are not to have an agenda of being prophecy nuts or of warning people of the coming of Christ and of coming judgment as if we are unbalanced or fanatics (what we need are more clear-thinking interpreters of the times who understand the Christian worldview, not self-appointed ministries claiming indirectly to be prophets or to be prophesying).

Many errant preachers have presumptuously predicted the coming of Christ and have been wrong (i.e., William Miller on Oct. 22, 1844, called the Great Disappointment because Christ was a no-show).  The last hour was announced by John (cf. 1 John 2:18) over 17 million hours ago and Paul rebuked believers who jumped to the conclusion that the coming was near and refused to even work.  It should be comforting and encouraging that Christians will be finally delivered ("Therefore comfort ye one another with these words").

In summation, the sole emphasis of the obedient and model church is the Great Commission, and any other ministries are only secondary as they only should serve to unite the body and to reach out and spread the good news as a body.  Liberal causes are rampant in the church and the church has no business getting into political causes or the so-called social gospel, which is a misnomer, and should stay focused on the gospel. The great inquiry and judgment on that day of judgment will be whether we did our part in this Commission.  Causes are not taboo, but the church's function is not that; individual believers can be involved in them, but this is their own business and calling in life as they see fit.  The church can give out bread, but only if it also gives out the gospel first. What we need is a wake-up call to the church, not an alarm to the world at large!  Soli Deo Gloria! 

Sharing Ignorance At Bible Studies

What is a Bible study but to increase in our comprehension of the Word from someone who knows the Word?  I have been to LDS Bible studies and know where they are too, and I have attended many church Bible studies through my more than 40 years as a believer in many churches.  We don't just share our ignorance but must have someone who assumes leadership because all things are to be done decently and in order as in a church.

Contemplate your goal:  do you just want to be a better person with more virtue (any religion will do), or do you want to know the Lord?  Hosea says that the people perish for lack of knowledge and that a people without discernment perish.  God's pet peeve against them is not knowing Him--not lack of being religious or doing the requirements of the law of Moses.  Part of the appeal of cults and sects is that they seem to make good and virtuous people that have it together:  "You're a good man Charlie Brown."  The goal should be to know the scoop, the lowdown, the skinny, or to be in the know spiritually speaking, which will improve our relationship with Christ.

The application is important, but it is not everything.  The ultimate goal is to apply the Word to us, but God wants to know Him and the Word teaches us about Him. "If thy Word had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction," says Psalm 119:67.  "O how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day long," says Psalm 119:97.  As we apply the Word we grow in sanctification and Christ-likeness.  There is an intrinsic reward in knowing and loving the Word per se and meditating on it by memorizing it.

Some Christian Bible studies are no different than Catholic, JW, LDS, or Unitarian Bible studies!  Anyone can study how we are to be more honest and develop integrity and general virtue, for instance.  How do you get filled with the Spirit would be foreign to them, because they aren't--they're just good people and as I have mentioned before, Jesus didn't come to make bad people good, but dead people alive.  Teaching about walking in the Spirit, or developing the fruit of the Spirit are Christian and nonsectarian.

It is alright sometimes to be non-denominational but Bible studies should be willing to take doctrinal stands and not just ignore them for the sake of the Bible study or unity.  I am not ecumenical or interdenominational and do not believe we should just cooperate with each other for common goals.  I believe in the autonomy of the local church--no outside authority can dictate dogma or policy.  The more the members of the Bible study can agree in the Spirit, the more the Spirit can bless them and they can enjoy His presence.

In summation, if you go to a Bible study and realize that you could have learned this at a Mormon or Jehovah Witness study, then it is not what you need, even if you enjoy it and it is good company or fellowship for you--you may need fellowship then!  Teaching is a gift and not everyone is qualified to teach a Bible study; that means members don't share their ignorance and by virtue of that they can teach.  CAVEAT:  WHAT HAPPENS WHEN NO ONE KNOWS SOUND DOCTRINE!  Soli Deo Gloria!

A More Accurate Way

"Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature: (1 Cor. 14:20). 

Some people are merely content to be correct theologically, not availing themselves of the abundant life and relationship with Christ.  But we also come across sincere believers who are wrong and need to be shown the light, as it were.  I  believe we should tactfully edify them and explain the Word more accurately in a gentle way, so as to be offensive.  I contend that it is not sufficient to be sincere, one must also be right to please God.  Should we straighten out our brothers or let them go on in error?

Priscilla and Aquilla took Apollos aside and explained the Word of God to him more accurately, though he was mighty in the Scriptures, he knew only of the baptism of John. There is more than just knowing the Scriptures, though that is vital:  "Press on, press on to know the Lord," says Hosea 6:3.  Jesus said to the woman at the Samaritan well that those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth.  It is not enough to just be sincere if you are sincerely wrong.  Paul told the Corinthians that he would rather not have them ignorant (the word ignoramus comes from this root).  God places no premium on ignorance and ignorance is not bliss because God holds us responsible for the light we have the opportunity to know, whether we care to learn it or not.  It is ignorance that binds us, not the truth!  "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free"  (John 8:32).

Faith is not blind and ignorant and doesn't ignore our intellect, but respects the mind.  We are not anti-intellectual or anti-scholastic.  Learning has its place and some even have the gift of knowledge (for the edification of the body--the building up of the body of Christ).  Proverbs says that the wise store up knowledge. There is a certain joy in just knowing the Word and in being in awe!  The fool feeds on trash, Proverbs says, but the wise yearn for the truth.   The old principle of GIGO applies (garbage in equals garbage out).  "For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7). We are to "grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3:18).   It is the "knowledge of the truth (doctrine, that is) that leads to godliness," according to Titus 1:2.

Paul exhorts us in Eph. 4:3 to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." How can you have unity if you don't have an agreement?  We are to be in agreement and harmony as much as possible:  Augustine's dictum that we are to maintain agreement:  "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials [negotiables] liberty; in all things, charity."  There are some doctrines that we are to be dogmatic and intolerant of error on such as the deity of Christ and the infallibility of the Word of God.

There are also doctrines or dogma (church doctrine recognized officially) that are negotiable or room for disagreements (we agree to disagree without being disagreeable) such as interpretations of the Rapture or church government.  However, the more we agree and find commonality or common ground, the more the Spirit can bless and unify us. Unity is not uniformity--we aren't all to be clones or imitations of each other, but individuals and different parts of the dependent and needing the rest of the body.

How do you think God tells you the more accurate way, but through the body of Christ and the Word itself?  If we don't want to grow up in Christ and mature we balk at learning the meat of the Word or the things of God in depth we have the wrong attitude and may have not accepted the Lordship of Christ, even if we believe.  God frowns upon willful ignorance and expects us to increase in our maturity and knowledge of the Word.  Paul met this obstacle when he felt that they rejected him because he was dogmatic:  "Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth?"  It may cost to stand up for Jesus, or the truth--remember Jesus before Pilate saying, "For this cause I have come into the world, to bear witness of the truth."  Jesus is the truth incarnate and knowing Him is the way of knowing the truth--the better we know Him, the more we know the truth and the freer we become.

The more enslaved we are in our submission to the Lordship of Christ, the freer we are paradoxically speaking.   Don't resent someone telling you the truth and realize that it is for your own good and you will grow and benefit from it--God doesn't want you to remain an infant in Christ, but to mature and grow in your comprehension of doctrine or teaching.  "All Scripture is profitable for doctrine..." (2 Tim. 3:16).  We are to build each other up, edify each other, and admonish each other and this is done through the Word and our interaction in the body:  We cannot grow by ourselves and need the body--it is a body-building program of truth, so have the right mental attitude!

The more we apply the truth, the truth God gives us, and the more we know, the more accountable we become.  Knowledge in itself, the wrong kind (about God, instead of God), merely puffs up, but love (exercising the fruit of the Spirit, for instance) edifies or builds up,  says 1 Cor. 8:1, and he who thinks he knows does not yet know as he ought to know--we should never think that we have arrived:  "I do not consider myself to have laid hold of it yet" (Phil 3:13) or don't need to learn anymore.

Knowledge is not to be an end in itself and a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.   Some people know enough to be dangerous! We are not to get an exclusive mindset and think we have cornered the market on truth!  We are never to be intolerant of those who disagree with us and become contentious, argumentative, or divisive.  No one person has all the truth (sorry Catholics who have faith in the Pope!) and we all must learn from each other as we discover our niche or job in the body.

In summation,  we are our brother's keeper in the sense of being responsible to show him his error and restore him to the light.  We are responsible for the light we have, but that doesn't excuse us and give us the right to be ignorant (God frowns upon ignorance).  "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32).  A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and we are never to think we have all the truth or have cornered the market, being exclusive or arrogant.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Concept Of Biblical Fairness

"I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten...You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied"  (Joel 2:25,26).  [E.g., God making it up to Israel and attempting to even the score.]

"... No one can stay His hand or say to Him, 'What hast thou done?'" (Dan. 4:35).  

There are three possibilities for defining fairness:  the people's subjective opinion, the dictionary, or God Himself.  Who or what defines it becomes the highest standard and is in effect deified. There are no laboratory conditions to test the concept: all things being equal is a hard test and there are multiple variables and givens that can't be measured, but may be relative--only God sees and knows the whole story.

There is no doctrine of fairness in the Bible, but corresponding and related words might be goodness, righteousness, and justice.  The Doctrine of Fairness was a network TV policy for political ads in the 70s.  Actually the word "fair" is not biblical  (it should be pointed out that our very concept of fair play came from God Himself and is often cited as one proof that He exists!) and we all have our own idea of what it means (usually a concept we picked up at age 7) and often the first complaint in life we have is that something isn't fair.

God defines what fairness is (He defines what everything is because He is autonomous or a law unto Himself subject to no higher laws), not us. The word is highly subjective and everyone has their own idea of what it means like the concept of beauty being in the eye of the beholder.  The Bible doesn't mention the word but comes close in referring to being right, just, and good. Note that God is not righteous, good, nor just because He obeys some outside law, but He is intrinsically that way by nature.  We must be careful not to call good evil, or evil good (Isa. 5:20).

If God is required to be gracious, it is no longer grace--a form of nonjustice (passing by of justice for whatever reason and offering grace or mercy), which is not injustice (doing something evil or wrong).  Case in point:  If a parent disciplines a more mature son, and withholds discipline or punishment from the younger one (having a reason and not being arbitrary), is the parent unfair?  Or does he have the right to reserve to punish or not to punish?  "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and harden whom I will harden."

 God cannot be accused of evil, though He can use vessels of dishonor to accomplish His ultimate will.   God can be accused of no wrongdoing (N.B. recall that "in all these things Job did not accuse God of wrongdoing").  God is holy and never does what is wrong, but always what is right.  Abraham said, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"  He is our judge and not we his.  Looking the word up in the dictionary, it says that fair means showing no favoritism or prejudice and also playing according to the rules.

God is certainly "no respecter of persons."  By virtue of these definitions, God is not unfair in saving us, nor in making Jesus our Substitute or Vicar, who did it voluntarily and joyfully.  We have no claim on His favor, mercy, or grace.  God didn't save the angels who sinned and didn't have to save us to maintain His deity.  When we say that God is unfair we are holding Him up to our standards of right and wrong and making ourselves the moral center of the universe.  If God does something, it is fair; it is not that he does something because it is fair.  God always acts according to His nature and cannot be God in contradiction to Himself.  "Who can say to God, 'What hast thou done?'" (Dan. 4:35).

One important concept we all misinterpret is that we believe fairness equals being equitable--parents are accused of not treating their children the same.  Is the parent unfair because he wasn't equal?  They would always feel under condemnation because that is an impossible goal. God decides what fairness is, not us.  What can be construed as unfairness is being arbitrary, whimsical, or capricious?  God always has a reason for what He does, and His ultimate glory is the end result--"Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," says The Westminster Shorter Catechism.  God thought this was more important than going according to our rules and subjecting Himself to our standards.

God is our judge and we cannot judge Him.  No one has a case against God or "can say unto Him, 'What hast thou done?'" This is the mystery of salvation:  God is both just, and the justifier of the ungodly.  God found a way to preserve His divine nature and to forgive and justify us.  God knows what He is doing with His universe and His thoughts are higher than ours, "as the heavens are higher than the earth" (Isa. 55:9).  Life seems unfair but basically, we reap what we sow-- there is no karma as many believe, because we often get what we don't deserve, and don't get what we do deserve.

Don't envy the wicked who "receive their portion in this life" (Psalm 17:14) Some people die and leave their reward behind, others die to go to their reward in heaven! God is good to all: to the elect unto salvation (special grace), to some in all ways, to some in some ways, but to all in some way (common grace).  But God's goodness is an attribute we can be assured of:  "God is good to all, and He has compassion over all that He has made" (Psalm 145:9).  As they say, "God is good all the time; all the time God is good!  Learn this and find out for yourself!   Even if we pay the ultimate price in martyrdom, God will reward it to us and make it up in all eternity--He sees the Big Picture!  When the psalmist saw their "latter end" he was assured of God's justice.

God is just and that is a legitimate doctrine. He is unjust to no one and only withholds justice from His elect--that is not a form of injustice, but of nonjustice.  Jesus willingly paid the price of His own volition and wasn't forced to go to the cross to die on our behalf.  One cannot say it was unfair that he suffered for us: He said, "Weep not for Me, but for yourselves."  We don't have a claim against God and God owes us nothing.  We have no case against God and that very thought is near blasphemy.  Jesus said that Satan "has nothing against [Him]."  John Milton wrote Paradise Lost, his epic and classical poem, to "justify the ways of God to man."  We stand trial and not God--just think about how God didn't answer any of Job's questions, but only revealed Himself to Him.

When we open the door to questioning God's attributes or character it ultimately leads to heresy and then can lead to apostasy and a falling away. When we say that it is unfair that Jesus went to the cross we are saying that God was arbitrary, or showed favoritism and/or prejudice, not karma. Jesus went of His own volition and volunteered for the mission--He did it the joy set before Him!

To say that it is unfair that we get saved when we deserve to go to hell is to malign the justice of God and impugn on His nature--there is no injustice with the Almighty.  Grace is a form of non-justice, or of withholding justice, but it is not injustice per se.  We were not elected unto salvation and faith because of our virtue or merit, but because "of His own purpose and grace" (not according to our works of righteousness which we have done" i.e., He did not save us out of favoritism nor whim, but His own glory.)  We do indeed deserve to go to hell and God is withholding justice from us, but that is not a definition of being unfair.

God tempers His justice with mercy (cf. Hab. 3:2) and  Aristotle said that justice itself is strictly just giving one what is his due dessert (reward or punishment) for what he has done and is culpable or responsible for.  God "has mercy on whom He will have mercy" (Rom. 9:16) and it is God's prerogative to decide whom will get mercy, not us. He reserves the right to demonstrate grace, or it wouldn't be grace it would be justice.  God is not obligated to be merciful or gracious just because He is to someone else or not anyone! God doesn't owe us anything and we have no right to demand justice or mercy.

According to Wayne Grudem, famous Reformed theologian,  "God's righteousness means that God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right." (If there is a standard higher than God then He is not God.) We all have an inner sense of "oughtness" and being unfair is one of those.  Moses says, "All his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he" (Deut. 32:4).  God Himself says, "I the LORD speak the truth, I declare what is right" (Isa. 45:19).

"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (cf. Gen. 18:25).  God is the final standard of what conforms to His nature, which is what is right.  In Job, it says, "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?...Will you even put me in the wrong?  Will you condemn me that you may be justified?"  (Job 40:20,8).  We, as creatures, cannot judge our Creator:  the clay cannot say to the Potter, "Why have you made me thus?" God isn't accountable to us and is too deep to explain Himself to our finite minds. We are on the hot seat, as it were, not God.  There can be no standard higher than God, or that standard would be God.   Soli Deo Gloria!