All of us grew up watching and enjoying the antics of Donald Duck. Laughing as he slowly but surely lost control of a situation, and then finally, in an impotent rage, threw a temper tantrum. Sometimes, it was his nephews Huey, Dooey, and Looey who drove poor Donald to the brink and beyond. We can all relate to Donald because often we too are faced with a situation that is beyond our control no matter what we do. After all, we are finite beings. However, when Donald Duck finally comes to the end of his rope and throws a destructive temper tantrum, he is displaying three important traits:
1) His impotence in the face of great difficulty.
2) His utter lack of self-control.
3) That he can be manipulated by others and by circumstance.
When Huey, Dooey, and Looey continue to disobey Donald despite all his warnings, all he can really do in the end is throw a fit and destroy things in his impotent rage. In this, Huey, Dooey, and Looey demonstrate their control over their Uncle Donald. They can push his buttons until he can no longer respond to the situation in a rational or constructive manner, and his mindless rage takes over. Donald has been successfully manipulated and shown to be impotent. For one is truly impotent when one can no longer respond to a situation in a constructive manner or maintain composure and self-control, and can only rage and destroy. As humans, we can relate to this. It reminds us of our own finiteness, and our own foibles.
However, when we read about this same behavior being displayed by the supposedly omnipotent and omniscient god Jehovah in the pages of the Bible, it should give us instant pause for thoughtful analysis of Jehovah. Jehovah is pushed by humans, over and over again, beyond his ability to respond to a situation in a constructive, rational, or self-controlled manner.
Just as Donald Duck throws impotent destructive rages because he can no longer respond constructively or rationally, so does Jehovah. In the pages of the Bible, humans disobey this supposedly omniscient and omni-competent god over and over, until he finally throws a destructive temper tantrum. He kills everyone on earth with a flood, sparing only a handful. He sends plagues upon Egypt because the Pharaoh of Egypt won't obey him. Jehovah kills all the firstborn sons of the Egyptians. In his impotent wrath, Jehovah again and again destroys vast multitudes of the Israelites because he can no longer find a way (Despite his supposedly omniscient, omnipotent, and omni-competent nature) to respond in a meaningful, constructive, self-controlled manner to their disobedience. Impotent, destructive rage is always the Final Solution that Jehovah is pushed into.
We can laugh at Donald Duck's behavior because we see our human finiteness and foibles portrayed onscreen. Yet, when we find such behavior attributed to a supposedly omniscient, omnipotent, and omni-competent Jehovah we should be horrified and repulsed. Why? The real God is infinitely beyond us in intelligence, power, and wisdom. That God is not subject to our human finiteness and foibles, being superior to us, not inferior as Jehovah is. The True God is always able to find a meaningful, constructive way to respond to any situation. The True God could never be manipulated and controlled by finite creatures as Jehovah is. "Huey, Dooey, and Looey" (the human race) would never be able to exhaust the True God's mental and emotional resources and push it over the brink into impotent destructive rage.