Is God good
· What do we mean by “good”?
o God is the final standard of good; all that He is and does is worthy of approval
· Does evidence exist to suggest that God is good?
o Common grace
§ The rain falls on the just and the unjust. (Matt. 5:44-45)
§ Creation
§ A sense of morality, so that we don’t annihilate each other
§ Growth in knowledge
§ Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed
· Does evidence exist to suggest that God is not good?
o Is all that He is and does worthy of approval?
§ What about evil? Did God create evil?
· Yes – then He is not good and is not worthy to be trusted, worshipped or followed.
· No – then if God is good and loving, then why does evil exist?
· Why does evil exist?
o God is perfectly loving
§ He chose to not exercise complete control over our lives, to give us choice.
§ He hoped that our choice would be to choose to love Him.
o Therefore, we are morally free creatures
§ Love must have choice or it is not really love.
§ Choices must have logical consequences or they are not really choices at all.
o So why did God create us knowing that we would fall? By giving us choice, didn’t He force this on us?
§ Yes—then God is not good at all. He set us up for disaster. He is not to be trusted and we should avoid Him at all costs.
§ No—God’s complete foreknowledge does not mean our steps have been determined. When your parents had you as a child, they foreknew you would grow up and one day break their rules. Of course, their foreknowledge is not perfect like God’s. But the main point is that your parents don’t force you to break their rules, just because they know you will. And God doesn’t force anybody to break His rules. The choice is ours. God simply knows what we are going to choose, because He is God.
§ Without choice, God is inconsistent because He gave Adam and Even a command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then made them break that command.
· Now that evil exists, why doesn’t God do something about it?
o Doesn’t He know that it will happen?
§ No—then evil determines what God will do in response to it; God is not in control or in power—evil is.
§ Yes—then why doesn’t He do something?
· He wants to do something, but He can’t because evil is too strong.
o If this is true, God has problems enough of His own. He can do nothing about His own problems. Praying to Him is futile.
· He can do something, but He may not want to.
o Praying is hit and miss. He may want to one day and not want to another. Why bother?
· He cannot do a thing about evil; besides, if He could He might not want to anyway.
o He is powerless and fickle. Avoid Him!
· He wants to do something about evil, and He can.
o Why doesn’t He?
o Why does He hide himself?
o Why is He silent?
· Israel in OT
o God spoke in signs and miracles
o God spoke to prophets
o He led the nation of Israel with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night
o God punished Israel’s enemies
o God was present, gave signs of His presence and was not silent.
§ What did that do for Israel’s faith and obedience?
§ They may have had more obedience than faith; even then, they may have obeyed more because of His awesome presence and out of fear than because they truly loved Him.
§ Their story is one of continual disobedience.
· How would our existence be changed if God eradicated evil?
o Choice is gone
o Freedom is gone
o Love is gone—no other options exist
o You would not be you—you would be a robot
o Plus, if God did not exist, if evolution were the only viable theory for existence, and if the universe has existed for eternity, then obviously, evil should have been gone already because it should have evolved out of our existence.
· Why, then, would God allow evil?
o However backward it may seem, evil allows us to experience the character of God; we truly can understand good and evil
o Had all of our choice been taken away, we would have been robots without the capacity to love, living imaginary without fear of consequences or pain
o Pain and evil allow us to experience God as comforter, friend, healer, our rock and our fortress
o Pain and trouble grows us in our faith
o Since we are not robots, God has truly allowed room for us to be who we are and who we want to be
