2007-08-17 01:15:33 · 16 answers · asked by NHBaritone 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The problem is, this comes down to your definition of "good." I think most Christians say that God is omnibenevolent because their definition of "good" is whatever is within God's will. If he does it, it's good. If it goes against the will of God, it's evil. By these standards, of course God is all-good.
But when we try and impose our own moral standards on God, he's obviously not all-good, especially given some stories of the Old Testament. I think it gets tricky trying to understand the mind and actions of a divine being with our mortal minds, which I believe are limited to an extent. I don't think God is always good, not by our standards at least, but I don't think he *has* to be in order to be God.
I feel the same thing about other qualities we ascribe to God such as omnipresence, omnipotence, etc. I think they're creations of our own minds and we assume that God has to be these things otherwise he wouldn't be in God...but he doesn't necessarily have to be *all* present and *all* powerful in order to be who he is. *Most* present and powerful, yes...but that's pretty far from "omni."
2007-08-17 01:41:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
For: ...
Against: The entire bible, including such highlights as:
- The murder of every man, woman, child, goat, dog, rat... at the fall of Jericho, on God's orders.
- The destruction of all animal life on the planet, cause god was a bit pissed of cause some angels did the wild thing with a few humans.
- God condones slaver, at least if the Old Testament writers are to be believed. My particular favourite is the fact that a man may sell his daughter into slavery (Exodus 21:7)
Too many others to mention, but just the read the book! It's very illuminating
2007-08-17 08:24:18 · answer #2 · answered by dead_elves 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only evidence I see for a benevolent God is the Bible,the only evidence I see for the possibilty of a very unbenevolent God is several thousand years of human history.
AD
2007-08-17 08:23:53 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a tough question to answer. Many Christians will argue that God's actions of the OT, which would seem heinous to anyone reading about them, had some sort of purpose or achieved some goal in God's divine plan. To them, the OT may be their evidence of God's "good" nature.
Personally, I don't see it that way.
2007-08-17 08:26:10 · answer #4 · answered by Sookie 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
God is not exactly all good nor all bad. See the book of Job. Even he can be tempted by the devil to cause harm. He is more human then people give him credit for.
2007-08-17 08:21:26 · answer #5 · answered by PeguinBackPacker 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If God is All-Good and All-Powerful, evil should not exist. Therefore, either God is All-Good but can't stop evil because God is not All-Powerful, or God is All-Powerful but allows evil because God is not All-Good
2007-08-17 08:21:20 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
GOD is a matter of self experience,not evidence,better go within yrself deep and explore HIM
2007-08-17 08:20:17 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
There is no evidence against God being all good.
Religion likes to pretend that God has a judgmental stupid side but I don't believe any of it.
Love and blessings Don
2007-08-17 08:20:17 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋
My favorite evidence for gods omni benevolence is in this link; http://godisimaginary.com/
Be good be nice.
2007-08-17 08:22:35 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Soem people will say that God isn't good because of al lthe people He killed. I should remind you that God is foremost a God of justice not of love...
God does everything for a reason and even if we don't see it as being good...it happened for a reason.
2007-08-17 08:22:12 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋