The book of Genesis begins with " In the beginning God" It did not seek to explain the creation of God or the pre-existence of God, this is because this God of the Bible is a God that has to be revealed and discovered by those and to those who diligently seek him.
Every society and culture of this universe has come to believe that there is a Greater being. Paul talks about this with the pagans of his time hence he said "I see you have many gods even an altar to the unknown God" and he went on to testify about Christ. Romans chapter one tells us that the things that are seen, the created things testify to that fact that there is an unseen Entity that created all things. Paul moved on to say that God has placed eternity in the hearts of men. God has placed in our hearts the laws of what philosophers call the laws of Absolutes. That is the eternal knowledge of right from wrong, Good from bad. Atheists cannot accept this law and C.S Lewis address this issue in his book "men without Chests.
We were never taught the laws of fairness, or the distinction between good or bad. That was in us since we were born. God has to put it in us. To disagree on the absolute laws of morality we deny the reality of God.
Most people have come to believe in a malevolent god. A god who sits with a big stick waiting to punish us when we do wrong. when This god or gods get angry they punish us with natural disasters . In order them keep them happy we must offer sacrifices or good works to appease them or him.
Some cultures offer pigs, goats and some Christians offer good works. The ultimate sacrifice to appease god is human blood. that's why some circles sacrifice or kill children because of the innocent blood required to appease the gods. Innocent blood is the ultimate price. in Jewish circles they used to offer a young lamb. Abraham understood this that's why he didn't find it strange when God asked him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. He didn't understand God was providing him insight to the future of how he was going to redeem mankind. (Abraham was a type of the Father God offering Isaac a type of the Son Jesus for the remission of sin)God was showing Abraham how He was going to redeem the world.
This malevolent God is not only expressed in pagan circles, but rather it is in the Christian Church. shocked? look around, look in the mirror. we are all saved by grace but we walk around trying to maintain our salvation through works. Its not by works of righteousness but by Gods grace alone. We try to pray, read our bible and if we don't we feel guilty or afraid that God is going to get us. Without God we wont know how to pray or do anything good. When bad things happen to us we think its because we are not praying hard enough. We get the Job syndrome. "Though He slay me yet will I praise him".The question was it God slaying Job or was it the devil? The God of Christian scriptures is not malevolent. The God we are called to express in culture is not malevolent.
God only allows us to suffer the consequences of our actions or sometimes He allows evil to run its course. This is its kingdom. This is the mark of the beast revealed in revelation. 666 that's the symbol or number of man that symbolic language of the thinking of man and his kingdom that's why it was in the head. It was in the hands as well to show that the evil work of mans hand will dominate this world.
The God of the Bible is a Benevolent God. God is Good. His total reality is Good. His entire make up is Good. He has no inclination to evil. Evil is any condition where the presence of God doesn't dominate. God is light. He is the light of the world in Him there is no darkness. God shines His light into the darkness of our hearts and His light penetrate us and we become transformed in his spiritual image. Genesis tells us the earth was dark and void.That was the condition of our hearts before we were saved. It moves on to say God said 'let there be light'. and that is the same Word He speaks into our life as we accept him into our lives. The theology of Redemption started in creation. Genesis was God redeeming the world to himself. the Greeks in the bible sought knowledge the Hebrews sought light. Paul puts it this way that God has called us into his marvelous Light that we might Know him and the fullness of his Grace. He included everyone. The existentialist lives for the present the Utopians lives for the future and the traditionalist lives for the past but only CHRIST has and can infuse all of History with meaning through his goodness. That's why he can say for as often as you do this do it in remembrance of me.
God is Good He Loves us . loves us enough to redeem us. It was Gods love that Compels us to get saved. some scholars calls it the Hound of heaven chasing us. God searches us at our lowest point like the woman with the lost coin. God so loved Adam and human Kind that He kicked him out of heaven in order to save him. If Adam was left in that fallen state in heaven he would have eaten from the tree of life and mankind would have stay in sin forever. Jesus wouldn't be able to come in human flesh and die on the cross because man would live forever. It was Gods love that compelled Him to curse the ground in his anger because if he has cursed Adam where would we be? Gods love for the human race is beyond words. He loves us more that we love ourselves. David penned it this way " what is man that you are mindful of him? even when I walk through the valley of the shadows of death You are there with your rod to correct me and your staff to guide me .His goodness and mercy comforts me. it is out of our love for him that we pray to him to commune with him to love him to relish him with curiosity and to be in his presence . its is not out of religious legalism. we praise Him and give Him adulation because we are loving Him back .He is the lover of my soul, He is my Ethiopian woman in songs of Solomon. I walk up and down the city streets looking for my lover if u see Him let him know I am looking for Him. Read the songs of Solomon and see how he describes his lover and the passion he experiences as he communes with Him. Lets love Him with all our hearts. Jesus reveals the character and power of God. Goodness is the Essenes
and character of God .
God is good. If we want to know Good then we have to know God and the truth of His Character. Character is the inherent group of attributes that determines the
moral, ethical, actions and reaction of God or the person being evaluated.
We have to be careful not to evaluate God with humanistic standards and
expectation. God is good all the time, regardless of what the
challenges are in our life . Don't ever misjudge the goodness of God
based on the flaws and poor decisions exercised by our depravity as humans.
God's goodness is expressed in His Holiness and His love.
His holiness is separated from all that is evil. He cannot be
identified with evil which is a condition that rejects God's sovereign authority.
It is because of that Goodness that He is able to love us sacrificially.
Love is the ability to give.God is entirely good his love allows him
to seek us that is evil sacrificially. With love and kindness has called us.
God sends us agent of His love. To reach out to a lost and dying generation. To
extend his love and redemptive power regardless of our sinful nature and act.
He is using us as an expressive agent of his love and kindness. A
response to their cries of their prayers .
God loves the sinners and transgressors redemptively
The goodness of God is clearly revealed in the redemptive nature of God.
by Kairos Expressions.
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