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why must God be good?

Eddi

Eddi

Christianity
Premium Member
Why exactly do people insist that an essential characteristic of God is goodness?

If we're talking about the God of the bible then he doesn't seem all that good to me

I think that at the very best he is morally inconsistent

When talking about God or Gods, what does goodness even mean?
 
Eddi

Eddi

Christianity
Premium Member
vulcanlogician said:
A malevolent God is a scary thought.
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What makes me wonder is if God is bad then does that mean Satan is actually good?

I'd be interested to know the exact nature of the disagreement that supposedly occurred between God and Satan that lead to Satan being cast out of Heaven, I think we've only heard one side of that story

Not that I believe in either anymore. Well, not the Abrahamic God of the bible anyway.....

godvsatan.png
 
B

Bthoth

Well-Known Member
Eddi said:
Why exactly do people insist that an essential characteristic of God is goodness?

If we're talking about the God of the bible then he doesn't seem all that good to me

I think that at the very best he is morally inconsistent

When talking about God or Gods, what does goodness even mean?
Click to expand...
1..... Because the writers make the claim and yet, if you do bad.... OMG end times is next.

2.... depends on the god. I get a bit weird when folk claim worship is what god wants. It makes me think of an Ozzy Osborne 'last tour' concert.
 
Heyo

Heyo

Veteran Member
Eddi said:
Why exactly do people insist that an essential characteristic of God is goodness?

If we're talking about the God of the bible then he doesn't seem all that good to me

I think that at the very best he is morally inconsistent

When talking about God or Gods, what does goodness even mean?
Click to expand...
It means whatever is considered "good" at the time and in the culture the god was invented in. In a culture where slavery was ubiquitous and nobody thought of it as "bad", a god condoning slavery could still be "good".
 
YoursTrue

YoursTrue

Faith-confidence in what we hope for (Hebrews 11)
Reading a few comments here, I'm thinking I'm glad I was born. I don't like suffering. But I'm still glad I was born. I'm going to leave it there for the moment.
 
B

Bthoth

Well-Known Member
Heyo said:
It means whatever is considered "good" at the time and in the culture the god was invented in. In a culture where slavery was ubiquitous and nobody thought of it as "bad", a god condoning slavery could still be "good".
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The strangest rendition is when a person claims 'god is love'.. Where does that come from?
 
Heyo

Heyo

Veteran Member
The Hammer said:
What drug? At that moment I was pretty damned sober :)
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It's not always drugs, at least not always drugs from outside the body. The body can produce some interesting stuff itself. Some religious practices help in that way, dancing, fasting, meditating/praying can induce the production of endorphins, endocanabinoids and other good stuff. Anyway how you get it, "spiritual experiences" are often described in the same way as trips are.
 
The Hammer

The Hammer

Skald
Premium Member
Heyo said:
It's not always drugs, at least not always drugs from outside the body. The body can produce some interesting stuff itself. Some religious practices help in that way, dancing, fasting, meditating/praying can induce the production of endorphins, endocanabinoids and other good stuff. Anyway how you get it, "spiritual experiences" are often described in the same way as trips are.
Click to expand...

Ah..but I've always noticed a huge difference between drug induced. And "natural" mystic states. With the latter being much more intense and noetic. While the former might be interesting, it's hardly life affirming.
 
sun rise

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Bthoth said:
The strangest rendition is when a person claims 'god is love'.. Where does that come from?
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Experience. Of course when I was an atheist I would have dismissed that out-of-hand. And by experience I don't mean an emotional high that people can get in various ceremonies and practices. Beyond that all I can do is to reflect those who have had that experience such as this:

“Anyone who has had a truly “spiritual” moment, a moment of breaking through our day-to-day reality and touching the divine, knows how difficult it is to communicate that experience to others— or even to recapture it later for ourselves." - Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
 
S

Sargonski

Well-Known Member
Eddi said:
Why exactly do people insist that an essential characteristic of God is goodness?

If we're talking about the God of the bible then he doesn't seem all that good to me

I think that at the very best he is morally inconsistent

When talking about God or Gods, what does goodness even mean?
Click to expand...

Your last question is a good one... as What is light without the dark. What is cold without warmth .. what is good without evil ?

In order for reality to exist ( for God to exist) there must be relative comparison ... as Einstein said .. everything is relative.

We can't say that God created the Universe .. but what we can is that would God have created the universe .. he can not have created Good without also creating Evil.

Now .. this is a different question from that of which side God favors .. Good - or Evil .. and a different question yet on whether or not God would act to assist one side or the other shold God favor a certain outcome.. as opposed to being a good scientist and letting the experiment go to fruition without intervention.

Assessing the world - we can thus deduce that in general God does not intervene .. should God favor one side or the other.
 
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