God is Unfair??

God is Unfair??

Recently while having Bible study with my group of buddies, we came across one passage in the Bible regarding Abel and Cain. Now we all know the story according to the Bible:

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Abel and Cain
1 Adam[a] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.[b]She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth[c] a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.


Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.


6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”


8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.


9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”


“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
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We had this one question in mind if :
"Was God unfair to show favor to Abel and not Cain?"

Is God a carnivore? who appreciated meat more than some vegetables? Did he love Abel more than Cain? Why did God look on with favor on Abel and not Cain? We thought since God is a God of Justice, doesn't this contradict directly with His Character that "He so loved the world that He gave His only Son..." The underlying assumption here is that God's Love is unconditional and equal to all.

Before we look at scripture, lets look at some definitions..

jus·tice   [juhs-tis] Show IPA
noun
1. the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, ormoral rightness: to uphold the justice of a cause.
2. rightfulness or lawfulness, as of a claim or title; justness ofground or reason: to complain with justice.
3. the moral principle determining just conduct.
4. conformity to this principle, as manifested in conduct; justconduct, dealing, or treatment.
5. the administering of deserved punishment or reward.

fair[fair] Show IPA adjective, fair·er, fair·est,adverb, fair·er, fair·est, noun, verb
adjective
1. free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice: a fair decision; a fairjudge.
2. legitimately sought, pursued, done, given, etc.; proper underthe rules: a fair fight.
3. moderately large; ample: a fair income.
4. neither excellent nor poor; moderately or tolerably good: fairhealth.
5. marked by favoring conditions; likely; promising: in a fair way to succeed.

Where did the concepts of Justice and equity come about? What is fairness? If we look at the world today, even though we advocate fairness in theory and ideality, in practical terms, TRUE FAIRNESS isn't really existing anywhere. Look at our established civilisation of recorded history of about 5,000 years: Man and Women have unequal treatment right rooted in History, and social discriminations exist everywhere.

1/3 of the world have access to all the riches and resources while 2/3 of the world are locked in poverty. We do not take that long to realise that, in Fairness, we have an unattainable ideal that even as we try we may not achieve. The question of course then, is that: Will God, being the fair judge as described in the Bible be able to uphold a character He supposedly possess?

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The Heart behind Abel and Cain
In the above Biblical account, on surface it would seem that indeed God favored Abel. Was this justifiable? Verse 3 describes as such: "In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,"

From a human point of view in my humble opinion, this 2 verses alone speaks volume about Abel and Cain's reverence of God. Cain was described as taking "some of the fruits of the soil", while Abel was described as taking "Fat portions from some of the firstborn of His flock". We do not know the basis for God's judgement, but we do understand a little bit about the hearts of Abel and Cain: Abel took the best he could offer for God, while Cain, we could argue really, he did the same.

The difference was the response of God and more so, the response of Cain:"but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

We have read about how God desires Mercy and not sacrifice in the Bible, while Pharisees in Jesus' time was concerned with ceremonial sacrifice, their hearts were really far away from God. I would propose that in this case, the Heart of sacrifice mattered most than the item of sacrifice. And this was truly indeed where Cain fell short, became angry and jealous of his brother, when God already told him, if he did right, he would be accepted by God too.

Yet, God's judgement to Cain didn't mean death, instead, we know that according to the Bible, he suffered a consequence being cursed of the ground that will no longer bear fruits for him. God still provided him safety from being killed by others :"But the LORD said to him, “Not so[e]; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him."

We saw that in fact it was Cain's own heart that caused him to sin against God and murder his own brother.

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Jesus' Parable
Fast-forward the story to Jesus, John was referred to as "the disciple whom Jesus loved". Of course this didn't mean Jesus did not love the other disciples. In fact, He loved Judas, the man who would also go on to betray Him.

Jesus of course had an inner circle of disciples, the 12 whom He called the apostles. Was God a God of favoritism? He chose mere fishermen, tax collectors, ate with Sinners and the ceremonial unclean people, people who were outcasted in their day.

In fact, he crystalised the concept of fairness in this parable found in Matthew 20 alone:

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing.6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
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Again, this passage strikes a similar parallel to the Abel and Cain story. In the parable, the owner gave each worker 1 denarius, which was equivalent to a day's wages. This was solely to provide for the workers families, for they had no jobs and were standing by the marketplace, with nothing to do.

The people who went in the morning to work felt unfair because they thought they ought to receive more for the work they did, compared to those that came in the evening, and by the owner's grace, got 1 day's wages, so their families would not starve. Instead of being grateful for the job given freely in the first place, and getting as promised what they agreed to, their hearts turned ugly.

verse 13 sums it up well and puts things into a nutshell:
 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
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Ending thoughts
We often like to bargain and argue with God over how unfair He has been. I have done it before, but I realised at the end of the day, God, as God, He didn't have to care about me in the first place. Although that being said, we still have Grace in our lives, the fact that we are able to live, breathe, enjoy life, being provided for and sustained.

We can look to God and have 2 responses as the 2 illustrations show, but will it always be:
1) God is never giving me enough and hence being unfair
2) God is just and has more than enough given and provided, even though it may not have been as I wanted.

The former makes us follow the footsteps of Cain and those "workers" in the vineyard. But the latter allows us to give thanks, knowing that we would always be accepted if our hearts are right with God. God, as the master of wages and the fair judge IS fair because He judges the hearts of Man, the things unseen more than what the human eye can ever comprehend.

God, is in fact fair and just too. Because Jesus did not have to come to die for our Sins. But for our sakes, Jesus did. If Jesus did not come, surely we be held liable to suffer the consequence of Sin. If He let us go freely, He cannot be upheld as a just judge. But He didn't leave things to doubt.

We are the ones who are found wanting before God. If God isn't fair, why bother crying out to Him for fairness? So many people before us, like Cain has been making that cry thoughout the Bible. Almost like a broken tape recorder on the replay.