Is God a Cosmic Killjoy? Why God Has So Many Rules

The Bible has a lot to say about how to live your life, and many people hate that. At best, they think God is a cosmic killjoy, sucking all the fun parts of life. At worst, they think God is oppressive, demanding strict obedience according to some arbitrary standard.

There truly are many do’s and don’ts in the Bible, leading many to wonder why God has so many rules in the first place. Some of them make sense, but others don’t. Overall, it doesn’t seem to be a great sell. Why should we consider Christianity when there are so many rules throughout the Old and New Testaments? Wouldn’t that take away from what life has to offer?

Motive Matters: The True Purpose of God’s Rules

Let’s consider the 10 commandments from Exodus 20: These would include the commands to honor God, honor your parents, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat on your spouse, don’t be jealous of your neighbor’s stuff, etc. Looking at this list, you might initially think it’s just another one of those frustrating lists of dos and don’ts. But ask yourself: what would happen if everyone followed these commandments? Would the world be in a better place?

It’s not a trick question. God provides laws for His people because He knows what is best for us, showing that God’s commandments for our good are designed for protection rather than restriction. As Moses said in Deuteronomy 10:13, “Keep the LORD’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good” (emphasis added).

The Parental Parallel: Boundaries Born Out of Love

All of us understand that loving parents set rules for their children, and sometimes those children really don’t like them. But parents understand the world better than their kids do. In fact, in many ways, parents understand their kids better than their kids understand themselves. This shouldn’t surprise us. Parents have been around longer. They’ve experienced how the world works. So, in love, they set boundaries for their children, knowing that kids’ natural desires might otherwise lead them to hurt themselves or others.

God has been around a lot longer than we have. He knows more about this world, and even more about ourselves, than we understand. Sometimes his ways don’t make sense, but that’s expected, given how God’s knowledge extends far beyond our own.

It may help to think of all the different ways people ruin their lives… drug abuse, cheating, anger, pornography, betrayal, unforgiveness, unrestricted sex, etc. People don’t fall into these behaviors because they want to ruin themselves, but because they followed their own instincts and chased their own desires, only to watch it all implode. That is why God is so motivated to show us the way of life. He knows how frequently our own desires betray us.

Is Christianity Restrictive or Is It True?

We have seen that God knows what’s best for us, and that his commandments are for our good. But in most cases, our hesitation to trust in these commandments of God misses the point. In today’s society, we often approach religion by picking and choosing the parts we like, creating our own blend of spirituality. When you’re in the driver’s seat, it makes sense that you would only take the parts of Christianity that satisfy your desires and ask whether Christianity is restrictive by design.

But if Christianity is true, it changes everything. If Christianity is true, then we are not in the driver’s seat of our lives, and it’s simply wrong to approach religion and spirituality for our own self-fulfillment. Rather, the true purpose of life is to know Jesus as God, king, and savior of our souls. If Christianity is true, whether we like God’s rules becomes irrelevant.

Finding Value Beyond God’s Rules in Philippians 3

Not only that, but if Christianity is true, then God is worth it. Consider what Paul says in Philippians 3. First, he provides a seriously impressive list of personal accomplishments. It’s everything a devout religious Jew like him would desire. But then, he says this:

“But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:7–8).

This passage teaches that nothing we could want or desire in life compares to the reward of knowing and following Jesus. Nothing. So to reject God by saying “I just want to live my own life” is a huge mistake.

If Christianity is true, then Philippians 3 is also true. So, rather than weighing whether we like God’s rules, how about instead we weigh whether Christianity is true? Ultimately, that’s the only question that really matters.

Who Do You Trust? Exploring the Evidence for Christianity

We have seen that the challenge we have with God comes down to trust. Do we trust that God loves us and knows what he’s doing? Ultimately, our challenge comes down to whether Christianity is true. That is why we must use humility and wisdom to explore the big questions of Christianity, rather than trying to measure it by our own preferences. My encouragement is for you to explore this website where we tackle issues such as the reliability of the Bible and the resurrection of Jesus. Personally, I have found the evidence for Christianity deeply compelling, giving me the trust I need to accept that God is real, that he loves me, and that he knows what’s best for my life.