Is God good?

[simply christian]

Shortest book of Paul's writings. Philemon.

Oh, the book that advocates a slave return to his owner?

I have. It wasn't very interesting or inspiring to me.

 

[Cush]

Why is it that it is in the southern regions of the United States where the anti-abolitionists were the most concentrated, and ironically, that is the most "Christian" portions of the U.S.? Is there some correlation between the two?

People sometimes validate their personal gains with the Bible. Was religion the cause of slavery - is what you are asking? I don't think it was a Christian or religious position to endorse the form of slavery in America that came to be. Whether there is any correlation between being the Christian belt way and slave states... it probably is more to do with the West Indies having the sugar which is off the coast of the South, and the South being dependent upon slavery for cheap labor, so more or less it was due to geographical benefits for them to flourish from such forms of slavery.

Christians were the first abolitionists. But why you asked, perhaps, because the North was not dependent on slavery and they did not need to justify the cruelty to the Africans for their economic success. The South was a agricultural economy that was dependent on cheap slavery. And although it was expensive to purchase a slave, their offspring provided a "limitless" work force.

The southern elite plantation owners were small in number, but they wielded powerful propaganda to make all whites feel superior to the black race. No matter how poor and/or trashy a white person was, they were higher in station and status than the blacks. It is like our pop culture, because someone is rich everyone follows, they keep up with the Jones'. And so the poor whites wanted to emulate the rich whites and so the rich whites stayed in power.

As abolition gained a voice in the North and was trickling down South there was an all out propaganda campaign to justify slavery as being Biblical, and this was preached in Churches, in schools, and in publications.

Shout Glory

 

[Bob Carabbio]

Since I was sent to this forum,

The "Word of faith" form isn't real accepting of serious questions. They don't appreciate folks messing with their little fantasies. I won;t be going back there either - for a while.

I'll ask here. Is God good?

ALL THE TIME!!!!

"I was taught in WoF circles that God is only good and never does evil."
ANd they're absolutely CORRECT about that, of course. WE, however don't really KNOW "Good from Evil" and what the TOXIC WoF folks call "Evil" may be the BEST THING for us - in God's economy. HE IS playing for ETERNAL values, not temporal ones.

Re: ROm 8:28-30

Everybody knows "All things work together for the GOOD of those who love the lord and are the called according to HIS Purpose", and almost nobody seems to be aware that God's PURPOSE< and the DEFENITION of the "Good" is given in 29, and 30.

"But the bible says otherwise. Isaiah 45:7 says he does both peace and calamity. Light and darkness".

And He KILLS and He Makes alive, and Jesus says: "don't fear the one who kills the body - FEAR the one who WHEN He has killed, casts into HELL". it's all part of RIGHTEOUS JUDGEMENT.

YOU (and I) were SINNERS - fallen short of His glory, and subject to a completely RIGHTEOUS termination any time God decided to do it, and that WOULD NOT be evil - it would be Justice. BUt I'm no longer under a death sentence, and neither are YOU if you're Christian. And neither of us deserved anything but hell. That's a GOOD thing.

"God seemed to enjoy smiting people in the old testament."

It would be YOUR assumption that He "Enjoyed it".

"We can say God is holy, he has his own ways of doing things. Okay. But then why do we call him good?"

Because HE's the very DEFINITION of Good, He can't be anything OTHER than good.

"I wouldn't call a man who kills his kids, gives them fatal diseases, poverty, death, the curse, misery and suffering a "good" father. That sounds like anything but."

Except it was US the Caused all that when we gave HIM the "MIddle finger" and sided with satan against Him. We simply reap the fruits of our own depravity.

HE has, however, made a way of escape -

"Perhaps God or religion's answer is that "good" doesn't mean the same thing to God as it does to us."

What was your first clue???? HIS ways are higher than our ways, and he has a plan for the ages which is ON Schedule, and IN Budget.

"Aren't we just playing word games?"

That's what "Religion" is for the most part.

 

[dumpsterdiver45]

Cush is pretty much on target, Simply is a troll. I've seen him post this argument on other theology boards under different names. On those boards that require that only Christians post, he calls himself Chrisitan. His approach is always the same--regardless of the answer to his question 'is God good?', he argues against the idea and plays his view as though it's the only valid one.

Example: Cush brought up Isa 55:8-9, and Simply's typical response is designed to let you know that such answers are beneath his or any other thinking human being's intelligence: "...it's nothing more than a standard religious appeal to try and bring up Isaiah 55:8 and 9" Actually, there are good and reasonable arguments to be made in defense of God's goodness from the concept put forth in this passage and others, but with Simply these are a waste of time. He will dismiss them with offhand remarks and quickly move to another criticism.

He may be a moral atheist or humanist, probably holds to some form of pantheism, but titles aren't important. He dismisses the Old Testament and its portrayal of God, and uses only the most harshly literal interpretations of it in his arguments, and never brings up the huge number of OT passages where God demands good treatment of slaves and those who join themselves to Israel. The OT is highly metaphoric, but sadly, literalism is the same format most Christianity operates in, so he has lots of ammunition. The biggest giveaway is that his stance, one quickly sees, is that of a snarling wolf, driven by his hatred of the thing he wishes others to abandon and his desire to sway others to his hatred.

Those in union with God through Christ will typically respect the OT as inspired Scripture, even if they find its metaphors troubling, out of respect for this union. For example, Bob Carabbio presented the passage, "Everybody knows "All things work together for the GOOD of those who love the lord and are the called according to HIS Purpose".


No such respect is found in Simply's words, only ripping, tearing and denigration.