is God good ?

[Quahom1]

Good Luck Bad Luck!​

There is a Chinese story of a farmer who used an old horse to till his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer's neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?" A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, "Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?"

Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?"

Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg, they let him off. Now was that good luck or bad luck? Who knows?

Everything that seems on the surface to be an evil may be a good in disguise. And everything that seems good on the surface may really be an evil. So we are wise when we leave it to God to decide what is good fortune and what misfortune, and thank him that all things turn out for good with those who love him.

Author Unknown

When my mother died, I cried. Then I looked around and saw all of her sisters, their kids, us five, my dad, friends, people I haven't seen in years, my aunts and uncles...and I thought "this is good". She brought people together that would never otherwise look at each other on the street. God is kind, and He brings people together...as it should be.

v/r

Q

 

[Courage]

That particular shepherd made both the sheep and the wolves.

Sharks, alligators, rattlesnakes and ebola virus too.


So now what.

No, it is an analogy in which the wolves are the wolves because they decide by their own free will to victimize the sheep.

 

[shawn]

No, it is an analogy in which the wolves are the wolves because they decide by their own free will to victimize the sheep.

Looking at the history of organized religion it has been mostly wolves dressed up as shepherds.

 

[Amergin]

Please end the nonsense guys. This is not even a religious matter- you can't ask questions like ""do rectangles really have 4 sides?" It's just word salad.

Is God good is also a nonsense question. God does not have any input to his defence. Everything that is written about God such as the Jewish Torah, Christian Bible, Koran, Zoroastrian scriptures, Hindu scriptures and the numerous beliefs told in oral form for many thousands of years. Not all scriptures give the same story.

In Hindu, Buddhist, Celtic Pagan, Wiccan, and Neo-Pagan religions, God is good because he does good things and does not do bad things.

In the Torah, Bible, and Koran God appears bad. He uses trickery and deception to sting Adam and Eve to sin. He floods the world killing millions of men, women, and children in addition to a million million non-human animals. That is clearly unjust and evil. He orders Israelites to unprovoked attack peaceful Canaanite Cities that at the time lacked Egyptian military protection. He orders them to kill men, women, children, and babies but keep virgin girls for their own personal use. That is evil. But is that the real God?

What is to say that one of the more positive religion defines the real God as good?

The problem is that we have no direct testimony from God to the entire human race. Each major ethnic, racial, and geographical group seems to have a different God. However, those Gods are all based on hearsay and authority not on facts.

It certainly appears that humans have invented their own gods consistent with their cultures, possibly reflective of a past War Lord or Prophet/shaman. God's vary because War Lords and Prophets vary.

The tendency seems to be that Gods invented by Desert Tribes tend to be mean. The Gods created from the woodland tribes tend to be more nature based, planting and harvest based.

Maybe living in a dreadfully hot and sand stormy lifeless desert produces belief in a nasty god. While Britons awaiting the Sun beam at Stonehenge, plant seeds and help the calving of livestock in the lush green hills of Britain may think of God as protective rather than antagonistic.

Amergin

 

[iBrian]

It certainly appears that humans have invented their own gods consistent with their cultures, possibly reflective of a past War Lord or Prophet/shaman. God's vary because War Lords and Prophets vary.

Indeed, we have the dual forces of humans describing their own unique landscapes which inevitably are described in divine/religious language - then we have figures which become personifications of these and later become mighty gods in themselves, as we see in the evolving story or Romulus and Remus of the Romans.

Ultimately, any description of God is a limited cultural project, using attributes expressed locally and historically.

 

[NeoGnostic Pantheist]

Reality is too complexed to be personnal, and good is a personnal idea. If a super natural form of divinity exist, I think it's of a neutral nature.

 

[citizenzen]

Ultimately, any description of God is a limited cultural project, using attributes expressed locally and historically.

Exactly.

My hope is that within the discussion to look beyond the cultural differences to see a common vision.

We do have a tendency to get hung up on the differences though.

 

[shawn]

We do have a tendency to get hung up on the differences though.

Its only natural.
Takes maturity to get past that.
And open mindedness.
Unfortunately there are so many who play upon those very prejudices so as to keep us all divided and at each others throats.(very common in the media).
[youtube]qfrvlFQStkg[/youtube]

 

[Eclectic Mystic]

Is God good is also a nonsense question. God does not have any input to his defence. Everything that is written about God such as the Jewish Torah, Christian Bible, Koran, Zoroastrian scriptures, Hindu scriptures and the numerous beliefs told in oral form for many thousands of years. Not all scriptures give the same story.

In Hindu, Buddhist, Celtic Pagan, Wiccan, and Neo-Pagan religions, God is good because he does good things and does not do bad things.

In the Torah, Bible, and Koran God appears bad. He uses trickery and deception to sting Adam and Eve to sin. He floods the world killing millions of men, women, and children in addition to a million million non-human animals. That is clearly unjust and evil. He orders Israelites to unprovoked attack peaceful Canaanite Cities that at the time lacked Egyptian military protection. He orders them to kill men, women, children, and babies but keep virgin girls for their own personal use. That is evil. But is that the real God?

I am not an expert on the matter, but I still know that the message of Jesus is contrary to this.

What is to say that one of the more positive religion defines the real God as good?

The problem is that we have no direct testimony from God to the entire human race. Each major ethnic, racial, and geographical group seems to have a different God. However, those Gods are all based on hearsay and authority not on facts.

It certainly appears that humans have invented their own gods consistent with their cultures, possibly reflective of a past War Lord or Prophet/shaman. God's vary because War Lords and Prophets vary.

The tendency seems to be that Gods invented by Desert Tribes tend to be mean. The Gods created from the woodland tribes tend to be more nature based, planting and harvest based.

Maybe living in a dreadfully hot and sand stormy lifeless desert produces belief in a nasty god. While Britons awaiting the Sun beam at Stonehenge, plant seeds and help the calving of livestock in the lush green hills of Britain may think of God as protective rather than antagonistic.

Amergin

Unfortunately, to really discuss One Almighty God, none of these points should be relevant.