deScifa:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. "The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters". Genesis 1 1-2 Meaning before God created he was only a force who was later moving around over the surface of water when he created Heaven and earth, yeah creativity might be part of him but until he created he was not a creator.

Plus who taught my dog how to remove his chain? if we have to go by the kids analogue you gave and how they handle things. Man was not created in no image of God. God is part of everything he created cos from it everything was made.

Yea i think you and i are somehow in the same school of thought here on how God was before creation. In my own school of thought too i believe that the attributes of God- goodness, wrath, mercy, omnipotent, omniscient, ominpresent, creativity etc has been part of him even before creation. When he said he changes not it means those attributes/nature were not something he developed rather it has been part of him. It is a combination of those attributes that makes him God.

Yeah i agree with you on the bold but my argument with him is that he is trying to say that God wasnt a creator but later changed and became a creator. Which means he is not unchangeable as he said(Malachi 3:6). Thats what i am trying to let him know that creativity was part of him. He decided to manifest it when he wanted. It doesnt mean he changed.

chrisviral:

Are you the son!

Perhaps cos we seem to share same thought about certain things....we might be like the holy trinity Macof, deScifa and pagan9ja .

deScifa:

Perhaps cos we seem to share same thought about certain things....we might be like the holy trinity Macof, deScifa and pagan9ja .

Wonderful, I'll kill you three!

deScifa:


Man was not created in no image of God. God is part of everything he created cos from it everything was made.

The bible said we were created in the likeness of God. For me i think it may have to do with his attributes such as we can talk,create, reason, be happy, be sad, love etc like God(but of course with limitations as human) it may not neccessarily be that he is physically like us, with two eyes, two legs and all that. But surely is far more higher and more glorious than us in all.

macof:

So I KILL a witch like ur god said
"suffer not a witch to live"

Kill looses it's "evilness" because God has given permission to KILL a witch

Infact not KILLING a witch is evil. Because it is going against this "God"

Ezekiel 18:3 I do not wish the death of a sinner says the Lord. Do you just do literal translation of the scriptures? I worship God not god. And you think that by referring to him as 'ur God' he is not your God and creator too? You've got another think coming. Your life is just like a breadth friend.

finofaya: I've been wondering what is meant by a good God.




God is good.

Okay.

The problem here is that "good" is meaningless without "evil". In order for good to exist, evil must exist, since a thing can only be good in relation to another thing.

Christians will say that God is good and man introduced evil after the fall. Or perhaps it was the fall of Lucifer that introduced evil. Either way, what it means is that God became good at the point of the introduction of evil. Before then, he was good in relation to what? Nothing. So he could not have been good.

In order for God to be good from the on set, there must have been evil somewhere, from the on set.

Your problem is with the way you appear to define good and evil, which I think is a bit different in context from the bible usage.
In bible's account of creation in Genesis chapter 1, the word good appeared seven times, and each time the contextual meaning was of something fit for purpose. The light was not too hot; the day and night interval was not too long; and the distribution was just good. Gen1:3
The land mass could have been made bigger or smaller, but God saw to it that it was just good. Gen1:9
Next, God saw to it that the plants , the sun and moon, animals and last of all man that he created was good, or fit for purpose.
Good as used in the bible is not relative to something else, it means to be fit for purpose, and God's goodness is absolute, His will is total and His purpose is certain. Any will in opposition to His will is evil and any purpose not in line with his is not good because it is God that sets the standard of good and evil within which we are to work.
So God and indeed us to some extent can tell if an action or creation is fit for the purpose it was made for without having to be evil at the same time.

chrisviral: I think your number 2 points said it all.
Without evil, there will be no good, for something can only be good in relation to another!
We can say an aeroplane is the fastest means of transportation because we are comparing it in relation to cars, animals and foot...

So God is the creator of both Evil and Good.
God even has an evil spirit (or created them, something like that)
1sam 16:14
Now the Spirit of the LORD had left Saul, and the LORD sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear.

Another translation said
Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him.

So I also want to believe that when God was creating Devil, he knew that devil will rebel, for without Devil tormenting us, I don't think we as humans would have sought for God the way we are doing today, Devil was created for a purpose.
Again in Jesus situation, note that he knew Judas was going to betray him but he never said a word, why that the purpose of his coming would be fulfilled.
So yeah God created both evil and good.
Is 45:7
I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.

Last bullet:
Is 45:11

"This is what the LORD says-- the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?

So in other words whether Bad or Evil, never question God!

I think this is it..Atheists and scientists will understand this statement.

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1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

chrisviral:

Well I don't have a son yet, I might as well kill yours!

Oh! wat a shame
Typo.

I meant "Soul"

"when a man sees the truth, and knows it
is the truth but rejects it for his
indoctrinated comfort then he is killing
his soul"

Real Good!
Yeah!
It does irritate me when people compares him to other things especially in songs, like such songs as "All other Gods, they are the works of men, you are the only true God----" etc.
We shouldn't go categorizing and comparing him to other gods. He stands on his own, superior. The almighty. My Jehovah Jireh.

Diamondpen: @op,

I think you should clearly define what you mean by good or evil because what is good for Mr A might be evil and unfortunate incidence for Mr B. I will give you an example now.

(1) Mr banker is a good loving husband, father and prays to God every morning
(2) Mr mechanics is also a family man praying for daily bread
(3) Mr panel beater is equally hoping to share from God grace
(4) Mr Doctor has spent almost 9 years of his life studying his acts and equally wants to be provided for.
(5) Mr Policeman also has family to take care of, he prays to God for mega bread

An accident occurred and got Mr Banker badly injured and his car damaged. To Mr Banker this is evil
To Mr Mechanics, Mr Panel beater, Mr Doctor, and Mr Police God has done it again.

You can see that what is evil to one is equally good to four and what is good to one can be evil to another four or more.
Meanwhile God is God for all, he must provide sustenance for all.

A good analogy here too.

chrisviral:

I don't think it's really God's plan for his children to burn eternally, that's why he sent his Son.
See God is un-changeable, a feature like that comes with great responsibility, for God to think something and rethink it at another time, is changeable, which he can't do.

I think God thought of Hell and Gbam! Hell appeared for sinners, and he was oh why children, what have you made me do, and he repented why he created Man, that's statement is the bible was an indication that he was bittered for creating Hell for Man, so he sent his Son (he came himself) and showed you a way out to escape his anger, just believe and follow him and Hell will be empty.

Yeah you are right. God doesn't take delight in seeing humans go to hell after the redemption plan he made and his several warnings concerning the consequences of choosing sin. .

Matthew 25:41 says-

1 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Hell is a manifestation of God's wrath. God's wrath was made manifest by lucifers sin and he was cursed. By that curse hell was prepared for lucifer(devil) and his angels(those angels that joined him to rebel against God). Human beings who are going to hell are going there because they chose to follow the path of the devil.

The whole thing is like two roads as Jesus described it. One is the broad way that leads to destruction and the other is the narrow way that leads to eternal life. The road you follow is where you ll end up except you change over before you get to the end of it.

And of course God cannot be happy that people are still choosing the road to destruction after several warnings about the consequences of their choice. He wouldn't be happy that they neglated the escape route he made. He wouldn't be happy that after all the efforts he made to save people from this unchangeable nature of him(wrath) people are still choosing the way that leads to it.

Revelation 13:8 says -

8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

The above scripture shows that God knew that the man he created with freewill can make wrong choice hence the redemption plan he made right from the foundation of the world.

In the light of the above, we can't say that man's fall took God by unawares. So when the scripture said that God repented that he made man it can't really be looked at from the point of someone who was taken unawares and is regreting.

And as I said before, God cannot be happy that people are choosing wrongly.

Nice...I have learned certain things from chrisviral and alexleo, but couldn't understand where macof stands. All the same. WHAT A THREAD.

Gombs: Yeah, I have an idea

Quit using logic on God, it never works out well..even for urself

Is this what they teach people in Nigeria?

No. Freaking. Wonder.

Science has no hope here.

LandLord1: Nice...I have learned certain things from chrisviral and alexleo, but couldn't understand where macof stands. All the same. WHAT A THREAD.

Thanks dear.

LandLord1: Nice...I have learned certain things from chrisviral and alexleo, but couldn't understand where macof stands. All the same. WHAT A THREAD.

When you don't understand the nature of the universe, how can you understand God??

I make my observations and theories from my search and experiences

finofaya: I've been wondering what is meant by a good God.




God is good.

Okay.

The problem here is that "good" is meaningless without "evil". In order for good to exist, evil must exist, since a thing can only be good in relation to another thing.

Christians will say that God is good and man introduced evil after the fall. Or perhaps it was the fall of Lucifer that introduced evil. Either way, what it means is that God became good at the point of the introduction of evil. Before then, he was good in relation to what? Nothing. So he could not have been good.

In order for God to be good from the on set, there must have been evil somewhere, from the on set. There are four ways this could have played out:

1. God is neither good nor evil, he just is. In this case, good and evil only have meaning because we say they do. What we mean when we say something is good or evil is that we approve or do not approve of it. Nothing is objectively good or evil.

2. Assuming that one thing can be both at the same time, God is both good and evil. Good and evil exist objectively, and they are both embodied in God.

3. Assuming that nothing can be both at the same time, God is good, while another entity exists which is evil. This entity would be similar to God, (eg if God has a good personality, it would have an evil personality) in order to be the antithesis of God. Thus it should be sentient. Here, God is not responsible for the evil being. Instead something higher than both God and the evil being is responsible for both of them.

4. Still assuming that nothing can be both at the same time, God is evil, while another entity exists which is good. And something else is responsible for both of them.

Which one is obtainable? I have no idea. I could even be entirely wrong.

Any ideas?

God is good because He gives you air to breath even if you refused to worship Him in spirit and in truth. He does not discriminate despite many unbelievers defiance to acknowledge God. He still allows you to give birth whether you are Christian or follow Islam or Hindu etc. But only the wise finds God in seeking Him.

God is truely everything!!!!!

doubleDx:

Amos 3:6-7 (KJV)

Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.


Proverbs 16:4 (KJV)

The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

God is any one of the two?

chronique: You can never know how much or how good God is,until you stop/are almost not breathing. Only the dead can answer that properly cos if given a chance,I'm pretty sure they'd choose to live again,despite all the troubles and chaos in the world. God is too good for you to know how good He is.

Which dead people? The ones going to heaven or the ones going to hell?

See, I don't mean any blasphemy, but God is not too good for us to know how good he is. Otherwise, how do you know that he is too good?

Billyonaire: In absolute truism, there is no good and evil. Everything works towards singularity. Think about earthquake, for victims of the cataclysmic natural tectonic re-alignment it is evil, but within the cosmic creativity, its core goal is the alignment of the san adreas fault, a sequence that can only make the planet better.

So in essence, Cosmic Infinity codenamed God by religion is neutrality. Both good and bad is of same source. That source is what you call God....2 sides of the same coin.

Yeah. I'm not sure that there is actually anything good or evil.

Lolosky: He's ''WHO WAS , WHO IS, AND WHO IS TO COME''. So He has bn good, nd He is good and will continue to be good. Get used to that mann.

That's a comforting thought, until you start to wonder just how much control God has over evil

patostation: Look out: perhaps there may be someone who will carry you off as his prey through the philosophy and empty deception according to the elementary things of the world and not according to Christ (Colossians 2:8. Compare Act 17:18, 1Cor 2:13).

Everything that is not according to Christ is an elementary thing of this world? Is that not too narrow?

You can't function properly in this world using only the bible as a guide to your behaviour.

kadas01: The Truth is very simple but man has chose to complicate It!


TRUTH IS: The "Immeasurable Goodness" of GOD ALMIGHTY brought "everything created" into "being"!


And "THE ALMIGHTY CREATOR" Said....."Let There Be Light"!!!.......


The above testifies that THE GREAT CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH "does not and would never know evil"!! There is "nothing" like "evil" existing around "THE ALMIGHTY HIMSELF"!


HE is, and remains "Goodness" Personified!


Shalom!

That he may be. My issue is where the evil that made him good was.

exactly u neva can fathom God wt ur Head.so,u'r wrong

colly227: Go watch "Mega mind" I think that's the perfect answer to your question.

No one will be crowned a champion without defeating an opponent. In other words "in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God"

Now looking at that you will understand God was just there and was bored that he had to create all for fun or to keep busy. Now if you read further you will understand everything was heavenly but if there was no evil how will Adam and Eve understand that God is good and the Almighty since there no one rebelling him? If you go further you will wonder what the forbidden fruit was doing in the Garden of Eden if it wasn't there to fool man and for those who thinks the forbidden fruit they ate is sexx please read this

Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold ... lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever

Now it really makes me wonder why the tree of life was created. I personally think it was designed for Adam and Eve to eat so they could know even thus understand the greatness of God else they would have been forgiven.

What I'm saying is that there is no good without evil. If God was good before adam and eve, then there must have been something that we compare him to in order to conclude that he was always good.

shigoslim: @OP God created both Good and Evil.

Evil can only befall man if disobey the will of GOD, this evil is created by God to punish man for his disobedience .

Good can only befall man when he start keeping, obeying the will of GOD , is then man will realize that GOD is good.

Evil befall king Nebunezacky and turn to animal eating plant for good seven days because he disobey the will of God. In other words the picture is clearly shown that God create both and good and bad (evil) for man to justify that God exit, and to keep his will. Though man is band by flesh, but God gave us sufficient grace that is Jesus Christ.



I will relate it to preaching of BIBLE, did your know that evil befall the Israelites when they disobey God, but were later relief when they came to GOD.

Look at it this way; if God is omnibenevolent, he could not have created his omnibenevolence any more than he could have created his omnipotence. So if God is omnibenevolent, the good was not created by him, and neither was the evil by which we consider him good.

finofaya:

What I'm saying is that there is no good without evil. If God was good before adam and eve, then there must have been something that we compare him to in order to conclude that he was always good.

The premise of your argument is wrong, something can be seen as good without comparing it to evil.
Without evil you can still tell at what point the ladder you are making will be good enought to scale an obstacle.

tjones007: in the beginning when man was created. I don't think they could distinguish between good and evil. Even when they where naked they felt no shame. And God instructed them not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. After the fall of man. This is why when man is born we could distinguish what is good from what is bad.

And you asking if God is Good and Evil. Even when job questioned God. God showed up and said "who is this that darken my counsel with words without knowledge" job 38:2.

Now every readers embrace yourself and answer these question.

Where were you when good and evil when created?
What purpose was good and evil created for?
Where were you when the tree of knowledge of good and evil was planted in the garden of eden?

To the op who am I to question God about good and evil.
All I know is he can do all things and no plans of God cannot be thwarted

I stand in the awe of God

I'm not questioning God. However, how do you know that he is what he says he is? Remember that there have been more than a thousand Gods in the history of man. Whose word are we to take?