There are numerous questions asked about God. Does He really exist? Does He really care? Is He really interested in us in a personal way?
Certainly each of these questions should be examined carefully and prayerfully. The one question I want to answer today is the one raised in the title. Namely, is God left-handed?
The short (and, I believe, rather obvious) answer is, “What a silly question. Of course God is left-handed. I’m surprised you’re even thinking that He might be otherwise.”
We could stop there, but it’s foolish to make unsubstantiated claims about God. After all, in our world, He gets credit and blame for many things He chooses to have no control over. God is on every side of a war (just ask the combatants). He is responsible for disasters (insurance companies speak frequently of “acts of God” which are not covered by the insurance company). He is responsible for great things (“I won the lottery! God heard my prayers!” Never mind the fact that virtually everyone who buys a lottery ticket is seeking God’s intervention on their numbers, too).
So, rather than simply state with unreserved confidence that God is left-handed, let’s turn to the evidence. We’ll begin with scientific observations and then consider Scriptural proof.
The Science of God’s Left-Handedness
Researchers have shown that the left part of the body is controlled by the right half of the brain, and science has shown that the more creative side of the brain is located in the right hemisphere. That’s why so many creative people are left-handed. I won’t make the list of creative lefties, but there are more artists, writers and others who are left-handed.
The creativity of the right brain points to God. After all, is there one more creative than He? He is the creator of all things seen and unseen. He makes the beauty of our world and our universe. Knowing God’s creative bent, that leads us to see that science supports the idea of God being left-handed.
The Bible Supports God’s Left-Handedness
If you are fortunate enough to know a left-handed person, there is something that will become quickly evident. Every time a lefty sees another lefty, it will be pointed out. “Hey, he’s (or she’s) left-handed!” Left-handed people notice other lefties and we are proud to point out the lefties among us.
God does the same.
In Judges 3, the people of Israel cry out to God for a deliverer. In v. 15, it says, “Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and He gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite.” God wants us to be aware of the unique qualities of this extraordinary man. His left-handedness was instrumental in the way God uses Ehud to deliver Israel from Moabite oppression.
Sadly, there are some who use their left-handedness not for good but for evil. Also in Judges, there is a group of Benjamites who are singled out for their left-handed ways. “Among all the soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were let-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and never miss” (Judges 20:16). Regrettably, these stellar soldiers were involved in supporting a tribe that had done wrong, and, ultimately, they paid a heavy price. Still, it is significant that these left handers were noticed specifically in this telling. (By the way, in reading the chapter and of the events surrounding the battle, there is no further mention of the lefties who fought for the Benjamites. Could it be they had no part in the final battle? Probably not.)
Another way Scripture supports God is left-handed is that He has made relatively few left handers. We only make up about 10% of the world population. (Yes, I did write “we.” I am a proud member of this class of people.) This is significant because of a verse that concludes a parable of how only a relatively few people will be brought to salvation. The parable is about a wedding and how one guest, unfit and unprepared for the wedding feast, is cast out. The concluding verse states, “Many are invited, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).
While these passages suggest God’s wanting to point out the left-handed people as is the wont of a left-handed person. But a more convincing passage of the Bible that lets us know God is left-handed is found in the New Testament, in the parable of the sheep and goats found in Matthew 25:31-46. The central point of the parable is that Jesus teaches that ministry to the least of society is the equivalent of ministry to Him. But there is also a hidden lesson and that’s found in the placement of the sheep and the goats.
In the parable, God places the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. As the parable unfolds, it is revealed that the sheep are the ones who have ministered to Christ by ministering to the less-fortunate. The sheep are rewarded for their faithfulness and compassion. To the goats on the left, however, they are represented as those who refused to minister when the opportunity came. They are shown to be oblivious to the needs of those around them. The goats are cast out.
How does this prove God’s left-handedness, you ask. Again, if you have ever hung out with left-handed people for any length of time, you will realize that the lefty wants to sit in a place where his or her left hand will be unencumbered by someone who might cramp their left-handedness. It seems rather obvious, then, in the reading of the parable that God got rid of the goats on His left in order to give Him free room at the table without the risk of bumping elbows with anyone to His left.
So, with this irrefutable evidence, it becomes very clear that God is, indeed, left-handed.
What Can We Learn from All This?
If you’ve gotten this far in the reading, you have probably rolled your eyes more than once and thought, “He’s finally lost it.” I assure you, I have not lost it. All of this was written with tongue in cheek, so to speak.
Years ago, I was pastoring a church and talking with one of my church members. We got on the subject of being created in God’s image. My church member understood this to mean our physical appearance. He believed that God is a physical being, and that we are made in His image in that manner.
But the reality is that God is not a physical being. When Jesus was speaking with the woman at the well, she raised the issue where to worship God. Jesus’ response is, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). God is spirit, and being created in His image means that we, too, are spiritual beings. But it also means that God, being spiritual, is not a physical being, and therefore is neither left- nor right-handed.
What we learn from this paper is, first, that the Bible can be used to “prove” just about anything, no matter how far-fetched. Many cults have arisen out of the misinterpreting of the Bible to justify the slanted view of God and His will. It’s dangerous to pick and choose verses in the Bible to “prove” something.
Second, it’s exceedingly foolish to read into the Bible that which is not there. The idea that the parable of the sheep and goats proving God’s left-handedness is a classic example of reading into Scripture something that just isn’t there. Yet, many people will look at a verse or a passage and see more than it says. They will take this “hidden message” and run with it. It is a danger that leads to much misunderstanding and non-Christ-like actions and words.
Third, while the Bible has a great deal of humor in it (read Aaron’s explanation of how the golden calf was formed for wonderfully funny verses in Exodus 32:21-24 or Adam’s alibi for eating the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3:12, where Adam lays the blame in part with God), for the most part the Bible is to be taken seriously and reverently. When we approach Scripture, it must be done with a fervent desire to let the Holy Spirit lead us into understanding, letting Him tell us what the Bible is saying.
Conclusion
We must never come to the Bible with preconceived ideas or motives. Otherwise, we discover all sorts of things that aren’t really there, and we wind up only getting ourselves in trouble.
So, while I’d like to think that God is left-handed, the truth of the matter is that there is no mention of it in the Bible, and it really is irrelevant. Still, I think He is. But that’s just me.
© 2018 Glynn Beaty