There are plenty of people who think that the God is harsh, big-headed, mean and dominating. Not to mention a killjoy. Probably because God judges sin, demands obedience, and demands worship.
That's the danger of a man-centered gospel, I feel. When man thinks that he is the center of God's universe, and that God should so love him to send His own son to save him, the image of a benevolent, doting God is conjured. But when they realize that they are to take up their crosses to follow Jesus, God instantly becomes the big bully on the play ground, wanting to have everything 'His way', toying us puny beings around His little finger.
People like to press 'human rights' upon God because they often forget - God is not human. God is God. The creator, the maker of human beings. God is sovereign.
It's just like a potter who makes a vessel using clay. Is it therefore right for the clay to complain to the potter? The Bible says: "You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, 'You did not make me?' Can the pot say to the potter 'You know nothing'? (Isa 29: 16). Can the pot claim to want equal treatments with its maker? And who is man to demand 'respect', demand 'rights', or even demand love from God?
Man has no right for such demand. Should God decide to damn the world He made to judgment in hell for their disobedience (just like potter could destroy hardened clay), who is to say it is not fair? If a judge sentences a murderer to death, or demands a fine from one who speeds on the road - can anyone say that the judge is not fair? And should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right (Gen 18: 25)? The Bible says that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6: 23). Should we not deserve the wages towards a work we have worked a lifetime towards? Is that not fair? Yet God is hated for being fair.
We say it's not fair because our sins are just little things! Not murdering or kidnapping, or nasty things like that. A little white lie here. A little envy there. A little cowardice not to do the right thing. But in the same manner, murderers do not always think they have done wrong! Nor do people who drive past the speed limit. Nor to husbands who abuse their wives. If everything is based on the perception of the crime instigator, law and order is doomed. Who decides what is right and what is wrong? The law. And who wrote the God's law? God did. Who judges? God.
Should not a King deserve to demand loyalty from his subjects? A country from her citizens? A master from his servants? How about God from His created beings? Is God wrong to demand the worship He deserves? Does that mean God is arrogant? Or is it human beings, the created pots who are arrogant towards the potter, thinking that they are on par with Him? Thinking they know better, they deserve better?
The Bible says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whomsoever believes shall not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3: 16). Judgement is deserved, but grace is not. Grace is given because of love. Commandments are given so that we can have life. And Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners, while we were still enemies of God (Romans 5: 10). What a love! What a cost! What an undeserving exchange. For through Jesus, not only our sins are cleansed by His blood (1 John 1: 7), but we are credited His own righteousness (Romans 4: 22-25). We are saved not by the good works we've done on earth, for the Bible says they are but filthy rags (Isa 64: 6). We are saved because Jesus gave us His righteousness.
Should not such a God demand worship? Should not such a God demand love and obedience? Should you not trust in the heart of the God who loved you so?
