ANSWER by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM on June 17, 2004

Dear Rosette: Well, frankly, if God's law were arbitrary, and it is not, but if it were an arbitrary, "because God says so", that would be enough for us humans to obey. God is God. He is the Creator of the universe and of us. He knows more about what is good for us than we know what is good for ourselves. Do not parents make rules for their children out of love and caring for their well-being? So does our Father in Heaven and these rules are not arbitrary or contradictory. I must begin by correcting something you said. God does NOT "tell" us what to do. We are free agents and can do whatever we please. God does not force anyone to do anything. But, the fact of nature and the cosmos is that for every action their is an equal reaction; there are consequences for the actions we perform. Often people bemoan God and His rules in ways that are about the same as a thirteen year old -- out of immaturity, a desire to go what they please without being held accountable to the consequences. To avoid the consequences of our actions is impossible. God's "rules" provide us with a road map to a Godly life. Rules are a teacher, not a taskmaster. They teach us the way we should go if we wish to remain in God's friendship. God's "rules" do not prevent us from doing what we want to do, but by nature itself, we WILL have to accept the consequences of our actions whether we like it or not. We can choose to jump off a cliff if we want. The consequences of that action is immediately apparent. Why does your boss tell you how to do your job? Because learning your job will get the job done and maintains employment. Why does the professor tell you how to be an engineer, or doctor, or whatever one's major is in college? Because you need to learn the subject in order to be educated and to work in your chosen field Why do parents tell their children how to live? Because children are not mature enough to be wise in their decisions and must learn how to be civilized human beings and people of God. Why does God tell us how to live the Christ-Life? Because we were created to live the Christ-life and when we act in the way that is consistent with how and why we were created, we will be fulfilling our role in life and maintaining friendship with God. Why does God tell us how to live? Because when we follow His teaching we will not be confused. As for your examples from the Old Testament the problem is that you are misinterpreting the Bible passages. There is not one single law given by God in the Old Testament or the New that is arbitrary and just because "God said so". There is a reason for all the teachings, laws, and rules that God gives us. The law concerning avoidance of pork probably had to do with the cooking technology at the time that would have been dangerous, and the reasons you gave for camels and rabbits. The primary reason, however, is spiritual. Such laws taught the Israelites to stand apart from the world, to discipline themselves as people of God, and to become holy. Holiness can never be achieved unless we stand apart from the world. These laws, and the various laws about ritual cleanliness, were all laws teaching the primitive peoples of Israel to be set-apart for God. The Israelite conquering and killing the Canaanites was not a violation of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments prohibits murder. This was not murder. The Israelites were commanded by God Himself to kill the Canaanites. The reason God commanded this is because God judged the Canaanites as He did the people of the earth before the Flood, as He did at Sodom and Gomorrah. In those previous incidents God used a Flood to carry out His judgment on the earth in Noah's time, He used fire to carry out His judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah. This time He used the Israelites to carry out His Judgment. When Moses came down from the mountain to give the Ten Commandments to the people, he found them in an orgy of idolatry and perversion. Moses called out to the people to repent. Those who would repent stood with Moses, those who would not were killed, not my Moses' command, but by God's command. The Tribe of Levi carried out the sentence of God's judgment. Because the Tribe of Levi carried out God's command and judgment they were made a tribe of priests. God can judge each of us or the entire human race. He is a just judge and NEVER judges us unfairly nor decides a penalty that is unfair. If God judges a whole people in such a manner that the penalty is death -- like at the Flood, and at Sodom and Gomorrah -- then He was the right and the wisdom and the power to do so. He can use whatever He chooses to use as the instrument of His justice. He can use the nation of Israel just as easy as using a Flood to judge a nation and a peoples. Your words are not blasphemous, Rosette, just immature, uninformed, and prideful. Similar feelings have been expressed by people in the Bible. Consider Chapter 38 in the Book of Job when we puny humans dare to question God and His ways that are perfect and holy: 1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind: 2 "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. 4 "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 "Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth from the womb; 9 when I made clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10* and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, 11 and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed? 12 "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, 13 that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? 14 It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed* like a garment. 15 From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken. 16 "Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? 17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? 18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this. 19 "Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, 20 that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home? 21 You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! 22 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, 23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? 24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? 25 "Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt, 26 to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man; 27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass? 28 "Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? 29 From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven? 30 The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. 31 "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? 32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? 33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? 34 "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you? 35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are? 36 Who has put wisdom in the clouds, * or given understanding to the mists? * 37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, 38 when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cleave fast together? 39 "Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 40 when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert? 41 Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food? Who are we indeed, to question the ways of God. There is NOTHING that God does that is arbitrary and all that He does is just, charitable, wise, and perfect. If we do not understand why God did something, that is because we are ignorant. We can KNOW that what God did, even if it looks bad to us, is good and perfect because God is God and is good and perfect. There is no contradictions in God. The Bible is part of God's revelation to us. It helps us to understand, in our limited way, the nature of God and our relationship to Him. If there "seems" to be a contradiction in religious truth written in the Bible, that contradiction is a product of our limited minds and not an actual contradiction. God created us and He wrote the owner's manual. ALL of His laws serve to help us to be the human beings we ought to be. If we misuse our selves and our bodies then we are not being what we were created to be and thus we suffer. If we offend God by our rebellion then we lose friendship with God. The choice is ours. We can do whatever we want. But, whether we like it or not, the universal law of nature is that actions have consequences and we will suffer or rejoice in those consequences according to the nature of our actions. Nevertheless, God does not expect us to obey Him, "just because He said so". He has given us the Ten Commandments, the Bible, and the Church to explain the whys and wherefors of His teachings. Jesus said that we shall know the truth and the truth will set us free. In order to gain that freedom we must search for and accept that Truth. Then if we love Him, as Jesus said in the Gospel of St. John, we WILL follow His teachings because His teachings are Truth. With that said, even if God did say "obey me because I say so", that would be good enough for me since God is God afterall and where was I when God created the Universe to be so arrogant as to think I know better than God? We will be in prayer for you to resolve this confusion. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary