Is God an Egomaniac? Part 2

There are passages in the Bible that trouble some to the point that they walk away from the faith. They see God has an egomaniac. They take offense at the self-exaltation of God.

In the March 30, 2003, issue of London’s Financial Times, Michael Prowse wrote:

Worship is an aspect of religion that I always found difficult to understand. Suppose we postulate an omnipotent being who, for reasons inscrutable to us, decided to create something other than himself. Why should he . . . expect us to worship him? We didn’t ask to be created. Our lives are often troubled. We know that human tyrants, puffed up with pride, crave adulation and homage. But a morally perfect God would surely have no character defects. So why are all those people on their knees every Sunday?”

So Erik Reece says, “When Jesus commands us to love him more than we love anyone, he is acting like an egomaniac,” and Michael Prowse says, “When God commands us to give him adulation and homage, he is acting like a human tyrant with character flaws.”

And yet, this is precisely what the Scriptures view God as doing. For example:

For my name’s sake I defer my anger,

for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,

that I may not cut you off. . .

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

for how should my name be profaned?

My glory I will not give to another. (Isaiah 48:9–11)

That kind of language is as self-exalting as one can imagine. And it comes in many forms. Different people have stumbled over different ways that God expresses it. One can easily see how some can be offended by this. Is it true that God is an egomaniac?

End of Part 2