Why does God do things we consider immoral, evil, and contradictory to the teachings of Jesus?

The naive answer:

We cannot judge God.

The problem with the naive answer:

We can judge any being by their actions. Humans inherently judge others when choosing who they want to spend their life and time with, and who they want to interact with.

The scholar’s answer:

Each of God’s actions must be considered independently. You can’t declare a being moral or immoral. Every being performs both moral and immoral actions, as well as amoral actions. Ask yourself, when God performs this action, did God have the power to convey the same message in any other way?

Here are a few examples of God’s immorality:

  • God will send people to be tortured for eternity for the simple crime of not worshipping him.
  • 2 Kings 2:23-25 God sent two bears to kill forty-two boys for teasing Elisha.
  • Matthew 21:18-22 Jesus curses a fig tree to die because it did not have fruit when he wanted some.
  • Numbers 31:17-18 God commands the Israelites to kill all the male boys and every girl that is not a virgin, but to keep the virgin girls for themselves.
  • Leviticus 25:44-46 God tells the Israelites they may purchase and own other people as slaves.
  • God demands his followers worship and fear him and threatens them with eternal damnation if they fail to do so.
  • God created world, knowing he would kill everyone with a flood.
  • God creates people with faults then blames them for having faults.
  • Details about God’s kills God kills often. He killed millions with a great flood. He killed thousands of Egyptians with plagues.
  • God enjoys sacrifices of animals and people made to him.
  • Exodus 9:12 Pharaoh did not want to prevent the Israelites from living Egypt. Therefore God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh would try to stop them.
  • God condones and encourages the treatment of women as property. If a woman is raped, the crime is not against the woman, but against the man that owns her.
  • Why does God need to be worshipped? Why does he need so much praise? Why did he create a race of billions of being with the sole purpose of worshipping him?
  • Why would God allow Hitler can go to heaven, if he accepts God before his death, but not allow a good person such as a young child that is unaware of him to enter heaven?
  • Why does God hold us accountable for the sins of Adam and Eve? He created them and knew what they would do.
  • Psalms 137:9 - Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!
  • 1 Samuel 15:3 God orders Saul to kill the entire Amalekite nation (men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats). When Saul spares some goats for a sacrifice, God punishes Saul.
  • Amos 3:6 God is the source not only of good, but of all evil. Also in Isaiah 45:7.
  • God allows infant children to have painful brain cancer.

Logically, we can conclude God performed hundreds of immoral actions as recorded in the Bible.

Some references for further research: