Is "good" defined by God and if so shouldn't we change our definition of it?

Question

So many of the things God did in the Bible, especially The Old Testament, were exactly opposite of how modern man defines "good" as an adjective. Of course everything God has done must be considered "good". So don't we have a problem with semantics? How about adding a new, more applicable definition of the word to Web's Dictionary?

good- what is considered of God's will and all his actions without regard to human empathy or one's own innate notions of right and wrong

Last Ent- you're obviously not familiar with the OT

Tikva- I like your answer. So you agree? Nice.

gismo- I'm referring to "original meaning". So why do you take issue?

Answer 1

The definition of "good" is not black and white, which is part of what God was attempting to teach Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Upon eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve became "self aware." This awareness included a sense of suffering. That suffering could come from something as simple as rain. Adam and Eve became aware that, when it rained, their naked bodies became wet and perhaps cold. That wasn't comfortable and they didn't like it. Did that mean the rain was bad? They judged it as bad--but the rain sustained the garden and made life possible. So it's not so much that a thing is "good" or "bad," but the judgment of the thing that is "bad." For every event, there are far too many perspectives to label the event purely "good" or "bad." Only God has a true perspective and understanding of an event to know its true standing as "good" or "bad." That's why the Bible teaches us not to judge--because only God can truly judge.

We don't know the mind of God, so we have to trust his judgment and remain in a state of "Sabbath" or resting in our trust of him.

Answer 2

I detect just a little bit of bitterness in your question. Just because things don't go well for us all the time is no reason to change the meaning of a word, but to change ourselves into its original meaning..

Answer 3

So you want to apply your subjective and flawed morality onto to a perfect God, dismiss Him for it, and then create your own morality?

Congratulations, that's called idolatry.