The Sims and the Programmer

Tough Questions for Christians #27—God’s Lower Standard
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AZ points out some of the atrocities that God has been accused of: He has killed people, he has killed children, and He has the power to feed millions, but he chooses not to. So actually, AZ says, God isn’t merciful at all. If he were a human being, we’d protest against his heartlessness. So, AZ asks, why do we hold God to a lower standard than we hold humanity?

Have you ever played The Sims? It’s a popular computer game in which you try to try to encourage or manipulate these computer people to live a descent, good life. Or you could play it like my son did, and occasionally kill off characters for no particular reason (It’s really easy to do. Just encourage them to go swimming and then take away the ladder of the pool. Eventually they’ll drown.) But more than likely, you’ll play it like my wife did, successfully. You will try to get them in a place where they will live well with each other, have children and raise them well.

This doesn’t mean that it’s easy. These Sims, although they are just a computer program, have a will of their own. There are times, especially when they are too tired or too hungry or whatever, that they refuse to do what you tell them. This is why, in the end, you can suggest something to a Sim, but you can’t force them to do anything. And even though you know it is to their benefit that they exercise or that they talk to this one person, you can’t force them to do so. All you can do is make suggestions, manipulate the context and hope for the best.

I would joke with my family, who were all really into this game, that they are playing at being God. But the fact is, it is more than a joke. Our use of the Sims is similar to how God uses us.

Let’s say that God is this ultimate computer programmer and the program that He created is called The Universe. And He spends a lot of time in one small corner of his program, creating this complex system called Earth. And then He programs these beings, a lot like Himself, to be in charge of this program, and develops them to make their own decisions and to change and mature over time. And He programs them to listen to His guidance, to help them make of Earth the best it could be. But when the programmed beings begin to interact with the Earth and each other, one of the first things they decide is that they would rather listen to themselves than the Programmer. They think they know better how to use the program better than the Programmer. Because the Programmer takes his creation seriously, and his promises to them, he allows them to do so, but with constraints so they don’t destroy his carefully made program completely.

Over time, some things work well, others not so well. The programmed beings are far too interested in meeting their own felt needs rather than being good rulers of the world. The Programmer knew that would happen, but rather than take them out of the program, he tries to do as little as possible, allowing the beings to manipulate the program at will. Every once in a while, the Programmer would take out a person or a group of people who are causing great damage to the Program as a whole. And if any of the programmed beings would ask the Programmer for assistance, He’d be glad to acquiesce, but it happens all too infrequently. Most of the time, the programmed just go their own foolish ways. The Programmer would make suggestions, even give them rules, for the good of the Earth, but the beings ignored the Programmer more often than not, and would even use those rules to abuse each other. This saddened the Programmer, but they were in charge.

One of the most frustrating things for the Programmer was that many of the beings blamed Him for the problems they created on the Earth. They said, “Why did you allow this to happen to me? Why did you allow all this suffering? Why didn’t you save us from these problems? Why didn’t you make the program differently?” It hurt the Programmer that they would blame Him for the fact that they decided not to listen to Him or to accept His suggestions. All he wanted was a smooth running program. All he wanted was for the Earth to work together for the benefit of all the programmed beings. Sure, He could have programmed them to do exactly as He commanded, but the program wouldn’t run as smooth that way. Sure, He could have created a different kind of being to run the program. But that would be tantamount to blaming the Programmer for allowing them to exist. Is never existing better than existing? If one never existed, how would one know what one was missing?

Or they might blame the Programmer for the actions He did to make the Earth run better. How the Programmer caused this people to disappear. As if He had no right to take them away. Well, sure, if they got rid of their fellow beings, then it would be wrong. But if a Programmer wiped away part of the program, how is that wrong? He’s the Programmer. He is supposed to do such things.

You see what I’m talking about. We don’t hold God to a lower standard. Instead, we hold Him to a different standard because He is Creator. Justice is still justice, but how God does justice is different than how we do justice. And if He chooses to manipulate creation, He can do that, He’s the Creator. And it may seem unjust from our perspective, but we don’t have His perspective.

This isn’t a cop out. If we think God has done some injustice, we can call Him out. That’s what Moses, Jeremiah and Job did. Nothing wrong with that. But most skeptics just want to blame God rather than having a discussion with Him. They want to point to His injustices rather than seeing how they could be changed. They would rather continue in their foolish way rather than getting God’s help making the Earth a better place to live. Damn, we are so stupid.