“What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion but on God, who has mercy.”
Romans 9:14-16
Recently, I was reading about “Christian Deism,” which teaches that some god created the world but is indifferent to it. But according to Paul’s words, based on something God told Moses, as stated in Exodus 33: 19, God is very much involved in human affairs.
Paul makes the case that God, having decided who will receive His favor or mercy and who will not, is not unjust or unfair. Having quoted God’s words to Moses, Paul demonstrates that God and only God determines who will be shown mercy and compassion according to His will.
Another way of putting it might be that God retains the right to give His mercy to whomever He wants. He’s not obliged to do anything for anyone, so God choosing some for mercy and not others cannot be unfair in the negative sense that word most often means. The most “fair” thing to do is withhold mercy from all people; mercy is a benevolent form of “unfair” treatment. The simple truth is that none of us deserve His mercy and compassion.
Because Deism is the belief that the existence of God is based on reason and nature alone, God’s statements to Moses would be considered irrelevant and non-existent. Which, of course, leads us down the road of reason and nature. Reason: the personal empowerment to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic, which gives us the cause, explanation, or justification for an action or event. Plus, we let nature explain to us the why of our existence.
I choose to believe that God knows what’s best for me and my life.