Poll: Is God All-Good?

[PearlSeeker]

The immanent aspect of God can be attributed as benevolent. In creation itself there is metaphysical, physical and moral evil.

 

[Workman]

If you say that a God was the creator. I always go to the question, "Where did God come from?" To which the usual answer is something like, "He was always there"
Well I stop one step backwards, I cut God out of the equation and assume the universe (or singularity) was always there.
I'm very happy with that, I put my trust in science to eventually explain it; probably not in my lifetime though.

there it is....

if you always go to the question, then what was your GIVEN answer? And from who? Would it be in (A) cause for your being of happinesses(your given answer)?


I do not blame you for stopping..it was by ‘Promised’ to free-will(choices)...
Hence why ones living is a ‘Lie’...
Oh..Yes! It is true, if one does not believe in God, then one will become ‘The Lie’..
can you not see? With the amount of Lies that is living among you all?

Science CANNOT know God..and thus be A Great Lie within ‘The Living’ your in.

I will keep you in my prayers friend, you’ll be surprised of what a lifetime might be...

With all the best to you, friend.

God-Bless

 

[Altfish]

there it is....

if you always go to the question, then what was your GIVEN answer? And from who? Would it be in (A) cause for your being of happinesses(your given answer)?


I do not blame you for stopping..it was by ‘Promised’ to free-will(choices)...
Hence why ones living is a ‘Lie’...
Oh..Yes! It is true, if one does not believe in God, then one will become ‘The Lie’..
can you not see? With the amount of Lies that is living among you all?

Science CANNOT know God..and thus be A Great Lie within ‘The Living’ your in.

I will keep you in my prayers friend, you’ll be surprised of what a lifetime might be...

With all the best to you, friend.

God-Bless

Why the threats of 'Becoming the lie' - whatever that means?
Do not pray for me, prayers are proven to be worthless - do something useful instead, feed a homeless person; read a science book, volunteer for a charity. Time spend praying is time wasted.

 

[Workman]

Why the threats of 'Becoming the lie' - whatever that means?
Do not pray for me, prayers are proven to be worthless - do something useful instead, feed a homeless person; read a science book, volunteer for a charity. Time spend praying is time wasted.

Alright then, I’ll leave you alone.

Just to add on: why should I read a science book?
Does science explain how DNA work? As in ‘How It’s formed’...science can only express of what they can observe...but they cannot actually KNOW from what is to how it..BE!
Well!..I CAN!...I know all ‘THE WORKS’ I know how they are formed exactly where there from..science however doesn’t.

 

[Samantha Rinne]

Where's the 'God doesn't exist' option?

I had two of 'em. But they contingent (one was that God doesn't exist cuz he'd have to be all-good in order to exist. And the other was weird).

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Supposedly, God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent (all-good).

Since we're focusing on the last one, there's supposedly the problem of evil for the last one.

My church is splitting due to the whole gay thing. My cat is probably dying (no eye in one eye, blurry eyed in another, can't eat much and stumbling around). And despite spending money advertising and despite being pretty okay in terms of skill with self-employed gig, I can't seem to break through (most calls I do get about computers are either solicitations to phish for my info, calls that are for problems completely out of my depth like making actual glass for the computer, or people who call when I'm visiting family for Christmas).

I'm not gonna discuss how much of this I could probably fix, but rather use it as an object lesson for the study of whether God is all-good or not.

To me, I'm pretty certain God exists (not only from the personal changes in my life, but also because of philosophical reasons), but right now I'm only not sure how good he is. In fact I'm pretty mad at God.

Which version of God are we talking about?

You mentioned that your church is splitting up over "the whole gay thing;" can I take it that we're talking about the version of God proclaimed by the Methodist denominations?

 

[Samantha Rinne]

Thanks. If I have not stopped believing yet I probably won't, because barring some serious physical illness, I have probably seen the worst of it, knock on wood.

But I do question why some people have to suffer so much more than others.
I do not think suffering has anything to do with being rich or poor, it is a psychological state and mostly related to genetics, childhood background and present life circumstances, which are not under our control.

Recently I read a scientific article and it said that happiness is only 40% under our control, not that I care about happiness, I am happy just not being depressed.

We have 3 houses and 10 cats so shoes will drop, it is just a matter of time.
I am just grateful for every day they stay on my feet.

My experience with Jesus caused me to run across A Course In Miracles, which basically asserts that human beings have a mind state that colors their world.

It's like this. You pick up an ordinary glass of water, and drink it. Your mind state is either positive (tastes sweet/refreshing), neutral (tastes like water), or bad (probably tastes like poo). This goes for everything. You're in a suck mood, you have trouble connecting with friends, your family nags about your behavior, etc.

Part of why I'm not only Christian but also Taoist, is because I've been on this rollercoaster a few times.

You see the problem. A depressed person typically is difficult to rouse from such a state, because the one thing borhering them infects all others. That is, they were actually sad then the cat got sick, etc, etc. Self-reinforcing. This is probably our last cat, they say, because she has been around 20 years. While I'm grumpy about all this, I just got in a fight with a RL best friend Kara on Discord, on account that she thinks I should put her down (her definition of mercy is not ours, and we've decided to let her rest and feel comfy as long as possible).

I think this is why ppl pray, to kind of change all this negative energy to positive. But damn if it doesn't make you upset in the mean time. On a related note, I'm pretty thirsty but not drinking much water.

And yup, Methodist. Already seen this split for Episcopal, cuz I used to go to my parent's church. I feel like a kid who goes through one divorce thinking that mom is at fault, only to later find out about dad's messing around when his second marriage goes south. Don't care about homosexuality, I think the One Church thing was best, except they had this tiny clause in there that "all churches under this plan accept that homosexuality is not sin" which you simply can't get ppl to accept, as 1 Corinthians 6 and Deuteronomy says otherwise (it's what they say after that matters). What I care about is proper theology and a united church. As things stand, I'm not sure I have a church to return to. If they vote to split (maintaining traditional Biblical stance, except for the idea of punishment, which is also claused wrong as it is too harsh) they are no longer a United Methodist Church. If they vote to remain, they admit something that is not Biblical (current stance is that "LGBT ppl are to be loved, welcomed, and accepted but that gay marriage is sinful", traditional stance moves away from this by punishing gay marriage, One Church has two votes really and declares it not to be sinful, and the other has it switch to gay marriage for all, which not all churches could stand behind). As in there was no, "Can we NOT vote in this, and simply have gay people have weddings done by the state and be regular attendants?" Nope, we have three bad options that cause a divorce of perfectly healthy church from other churches.

 

[Samael_Khan]

Supposedly, God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent (all-good).

Since we're focusing on the last one, there's supposedly the problem of evil for the last one.

My church is splitting due to the whole gay thing. My cat is probably dying (no eye in one eye, blurry eyed in another, can't eat much and stumbling around). And despite spending money advertising and despite being pretty okay in terms of skill with self-employed gig, I can't seem to break through (most calls I do get about computers are either solicitations to phish for my info, calls that are for problems completely out of my depth like making actual glass for the computer, or people who call when I'm visiting family for Christmas).

I'm not gonna discuss how much of this I could probably fix, but rather use it as an object lesson for the study of whether God is all-good or not.

To me, I'm pretty certain God exists (not only from the personal changes in my life, but also because of philosophical reasons), but right now I'm only not sure how good he is. In fact I'm pretty mad at God.

You should read Frankenstein, the Modern day Prometheus by Mary Shelley and Paradise Lost by John Milton if you havent already. Also read Job in the Bible. Their novels explore this issue and the writers were influenced by the bible to write them.

I assume you are Christian because you go to a church, and the Bible pretty much lays out Gods sense of morality so you should look at that book. Whether you accept the Christian Gods view as moral and therefore good is your choice. His idea of what is good might be different from your idea of the issue.

If a God does exist I cant hold him to my human moral standard because he isnt human. Humans dont even create animals but we (most of us) dont view it as immoral to kill them and make them suffer. So why should we view him as equal and hold him to our standard? We are as ants to him.... and we as humans dont even think twice about stepping on ants.

 

[Samantha Rinne]

I'm a syncretic Christian. As in, I have a lot of Eastern Asian ideas mixed in.

I essentially don't have a church, because nobody believes as I do. So I ideally go to church for a sense of being part of a whole, a body of Christ. Secondarily, I go to worship God.

Though lately, yeah I'm sorta WTF God?

 

[Altfish]

Alright then, I’ll leave you alone.

Just to add on: why should I read a science book?
Does science explain how DNA work? As in ‘How It’s formed’...science can only express of what they can observe...but they cannot actually KNOW from what is to how it..BE!
Well!..I CAN!...I know all ‘THE WORKS’ I know how they are formed exactly where there from..science however doesn’t.

Science tries to explain the natural world. You wouldn't be corresponding via the internet if it wasn't for science.
I would of course argue that God cannot know what it is to BE.
You are either lucky or deluded if you think you know all "The Works" (what's that??)

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

Reading through threads like these, with a lot of the "woe is me" sentiments (sentiments that are quite popular these days, I will grant anyone that), it makes me realize just how much easier it is to simply not believe. There is then no one to blame for your problems. Sure you may be able to blame yourself for a few (or more) of your own issues, but in the end, I don't ever wave my fist at the sky and say "How could you?!" Things that happen simply happen, and my entire focus is on how to deal with it and get back to good. My entire focus. In my opinion that is a much stronger place to be working from, rather than taking some moments to try and mentally/emotionally punish something that most likely isn't even there.

It's sort of like the equivalent of spiritual passive-aggressiveness. I feel that because we're being told from so many directions that we're supposed to "love" God, many are reticent to actually lash out directly at him, and so asking questions like "why me?" or lamenting the condition that "God put you in" serves as a stand-in. Passive-aggression. The really strange part being that you can't even know that the target of your frustrations is even there in the first place - to the point that even direct aggression is nonsensical.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

And yup, Methodist.

Okay. If we're talking about the Methodist version of God:

- I do think that this God has at least some evil elements.

- If my only choices are "God exists" and "God does not exist," for this particular God, I'd certainly be much closer to "God does not exist" than "God exists."

 

[Bob the Unbeliever]

Supposedly, God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent (all-good).

Since we're focusing on the last one, there's supposedly the problem of evil for the last one.

My church is splitting due to the whole gay thing. My cat is probably dying (no eye in one eye, blurry eyed in another, can't eat much and stumbling around). And despite spending money advertising and despite being pretty okay in terms of skill with self-employed gig, I can't seem to break through (most calls I do get about computers are either solicitations to phish for my info, calls that are for problems completely out of my depth like making actual glass for the computer, or people who call when I'm visiting family for Christmas).

I'm not gonna discuss how much of this I could probably fix, but rather use it as an object lesson for the study of whether God is all-good or not.

To me, I'm pretty certain God exists (not only from the personal changes in my life, but also because of philosophical reasons), but right now I'm only not sure how good he is. In fact I'm pretty mad at God.

I am so very sorry about your kitty-cat. Seriously. I think losing a beloved companion--regardless of how many feets he or she has?

Is one of the hardest things to experience in life. Furry family members live too short, IMO.

I, for one, would not be here-- were it not for the love and companionship of my furry family members.

As for the god thing? The only way it works, given the evidence, is that this god isn't Omni-anything.

And it may well be doing the best it can, given there are approximately 8 billion of us now.

 

[Bob the Unbeliever]

Alright then, I’ll leave you alone.

Just to add on: why should I read a science book?
Does science explain how DNA work? .

Oh, yes it very much does. So much so? We can make our own, from scratch-- and we can insert this man-made DNA into a cell that is dead (having had all it's DNA removed-- which kills it) and whatya know? The cell is alive again, in every sense of that word: Eats, eliminates waste, reproduces, responds, etc.

So yeah. DNA is explained pretty well enough.

As in ‘How It’s formed’...science can only express of what they can observe...but they cannot actually KNOW from what is to how it..BE!.

Nonsense. We know how it is formed. That understanding is nearly as old as DNA's discovery. We know what is needed to get DNA from raw materials too-- and guess what: It ain't that difficult.

Well!..I CAN!...I know all ‘THE WORKS’ I know how they are formed exactly where there from..science however doesn’t.

You invoke God, because you don't understand Science.

Gotcha. This is known as Argument From Ignorance, and it's a Logical Fallacy.

Worse: Just because you don't understand something? Is not an excuse to putty-knife God Putty into the gap.

That's not how it works: Because that means your god is an ever shrinking sliver of Unknown.

 

[BSM1]

The system that God designed is biased toward good. But very carefully to follow within free will concept.

Sooo...should we simply disregard Isa. 45:7?

 

[leov]

Sooo...should we simply disregard Isa. 45:7?

Does not say that dark and light created equally. Just theatrical prop. The thing - collective unconscious - works biased to better human souls.

 

[viole]

Supposedly, God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent (all-good).

Since we're focusing on the last one, there's supposedly the problem of evil for the last one.

My church is splitting due to the whole gay thing. My cat is probably dying (no eye in one eye, blurry eyed in another, can't eat much and stumbling around). And despite spending money advertising and despite being pretty okay in terms of skill with self-employed gig, I can't seem to break through (most calls I do get about computers are either solicitations to phish for my info, calls that are for problems completely out of my depth like making actual glass for the computer, or people who call when I'm visiting family for Christmas).

I'm not gonna discuss how much of this I could probably fix, but rather use it as an object lesson for the study of whether God is all-good or not.

To me, I'm pretty certain God exists (not only from the personal changes in my life, but also because of philosophical reasons), but right now I'm only not sure how good he is. In fact I'm pretty mad at God.

if God were all-good, then this could only be the best of all worlds. including what we label as evil. Actually, if that “evil” did not exist, then the world would be either worse or not better than this one, because of the premise.

If I take a gun, and shoot the first child I see, that happenstance would not make the world less good than if I did not kill anyone. For, this can only ve the best of all possible worlds.

So, what we sense as evil is in fact good, or neutral, and we should rejoice at everything that happens. Even thought it could not be otherwise.

Assuming God exists and He is all good, obviously.

ciao

- viole

 

[BSM1]

Does not say that dark and light created equally. Just theatrical prop. The thing - collective unconscious - works biased to better human souls.

???

 

[QuestioningMind]

there it is....

if you always go to the question, then what was your GIVEN answer? And from who? Would it be in (A) cause for your being of happinesses(your given answer)?


I do not blame you for stopping..it was by ‘Promised’ to free-will(choices)...
Hence why ones living is a ‘Lie’...
Oh..Yes! It is true, if one does not believe in God, then one will become ‘The Lie’..
can you not see? With the amount of Lies that is living among you all?

Science CANNOT know God..and thus be A Great Lie within ‘The Living’ your in.

I will keep you in my prayers friend, you’ll be surprised of what a lifetime might be...

With all the best to you, friend.

God-Bless

But why are you stopping with God? If you deny the existence of the IsAll, the creator of God, then you are living within a lie. Can you not see, with the amount of lies that lives among you?

 

[leov]

???

God is interested in beings with good consciousness, as Christ Jesus was an example of, good consciousness accumulates and becomes a norm of humanity, step by step improving individual consciousness, I see this designed by Higher Consciousness.