My God Is Better Than Your God(s)

As Arnobius turns his attention from the pagan gods to the temples and rites,  he makes the case that deity should be marked by attributes greater than the most noble of men: i.e., perfect virtue personified (The Case against the Pagans, Book VI, cap. 2).  He breaks these up into the following main points beginning with the positive: how gods should be.

For we think that [deity] should have all the virtues in perfection: should be wise, upright, venerable, strong in virtues within themselves, and should not give themselves up to external props, because the completeness of their unbroken bliss is made perfect;

Every conceivable good should be found in deity without blemish.  Nothing external would be required or added as if that one is somehow insufficient.  Of course the apologist's case-making example is the source of all goodness to mankind:

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:20-26)

should be free from all agitating and disturbing passions; should not burn with anger, should not be excited by any desires;

Turning now to the negative, deity is not to be capricious.  Everything accomplished is of deliberate intent anchored in self-control and long-suffering with an eye to demonstrating Christ's act of redemption.

The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation. (Num 14:18)

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? (Rom 9:22-24)

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Pet 3:9)

should send misfortune to none, should not find a cruel pleasure in the ills of men; should not terrify by portents, should not show prodigies to cause fear;

At this point, Arnobius begins making statements that appear to run contrary to scripture.  Did not God state plainly that he sends adversity?

I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the Lord, who does all these things. (Is 45:7)

While this is so, Arnobius is comparing the steadfast nature of God to the fickle nature of passion-driven men, making his point that the pagans are incorrectly assigning their own corrupt, sinful natures on their conception of gods.  These points are made to turn the pagan from that goal.  Arnobius has not specifically turned their attention to the God of the Bible.  YHWH does not act maliciously for the sole intention of watching a man suffer but instead works all things that they might seek him (Acts 17:26-27).

should not hold men responsible and liable to be punished for the vows which they owe, nor demand expiatory sacrifices by threatening omens;

The Lord disciplines the one he loves (Heb 12:6), so he will hold us responsible for idle intentions, however he does not do so threateningly, demanding certain sacrificial acts or gifts to turn his anger.  What he sends is for our good (Rom 8:28).

should not bring on pestilences and diseases by corrupting the air, should not burn up the fruits with droughts;

The Lord promised Israel that if they turned from him, they would be punished with pestilence and drought (Deut 28:20-24), but as before, this would not be as a result of mood-swings or mutability as the pagan gods were wont to do.  Rather the threat was to put the fear of the Lord in the people, giving them added incentive to not turn away from his abundant blessing which he had already promised.

should take no part in the slaughter of war and devastation of cities;

People look at the conquest and slaughter of Canaanites by Joshua to be the result of worshiping a bloodthirsty God.  Rightfully so, this is an abhorrent notion when left there.  Omitted is that the people being conquered were vile and needed to have judgment enacted on them (Gen 15:16; Deut 29:17).

should not wish ill to one party, and be favorable to the success of another; but, as becomes great minds, should weigh all in a just balance, and show kindness impartially to all.

God is no respecter of persons and deals with all according to his nature and revelation as part of his providential care.

For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matt 5:45)

He does not show favoritism but responds justly in reward and judgment.  For those obedient to the gospel:

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.  If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Cor 3:12-15)

and for the unrepentant:

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. (Heb 10:26-27)

In conclusion is the God we profess to follow a caricature or projection of ourselves with fleeting character given to whims and tantrums, or do we follow the true God as revealed by the apostolic witness and demonstrated by Jesus Christ, God incarnate?