How do you know God is really good?

[Ken-1122]

I was making "good > evil" more of an axiomatic belief. But anyway, at what are we supposed to look when deciding whether good is better than evil? At what's in your best self-interest or at whether that particular thing helps other human beings, for example? But to answer your question, yes, I believe, even given the present world, that good is better/greater than evil and preferable to it.

When I asked if good was greater than evil, by greater I ment; having more of an influence upon people.
So to answer my question; do you feel good has more of an influence upon human behavior today than evil?

Ken

 

[Ken-1122]

Yes I believe good is better than evil. Love is better than hate.

When I said "greater" I ment; "more influence" I was not trying to determine which is better.
So to answer my question, do you believe good has more influence upon human behavior than evil?

Ken

 

[razeontherock]

When I asked if good was greater than evil, by greater I ment; having more of an influence upon people.
So to answer my question; do you feel good has more of an influence upon human behavior today than evil?

Ken

Entirely up to the individual. If you wanted to sum up the Bible in 4 words or less, it would have to be "choose good over evil." (Free moral agency)

Note that your question is eerily similar to Jesus' question: when the Son of man returns, will He find Faith on earth? (Yeah, it's basically synonymous despite the different lingo being used)

 

[birdie29]

God is good and God loves us, otherwise we would have ceased to exist hundreds of years ago. We are the only creatures that God has given the ability to choose. That is because he wants fellowship with us and he wants us to return the love he already has for us with INTELLIGENCE. He steers us along as we make mistakes and he keeps us from getting off on some really destructive tangents. We are the only creatures capable of mass destruction... unfortunately that comes from intelligence and choice... He wants so badly for us to get it right... that's why he sent his son to die for us and that is why his son excepted the responsibility for our sin... pure love and the pure desire for us to do well. It's not his fault we make bad choices... it's ours.

once upon a time God destroyed the earth and all but one family with a flood. It hurt him so badly to do so that he vowed that the next time earth was destroyed mankind would no longer exist afterwards... at that point we would be "changed" heavenly beings or destroyed.

There is a time when God will say enough is enough, but God already knows when that will be and he will do what he can to get us all right with him before that day happens. He also loves us so much that he allows us to say hateful things to him and about him with no recourse.... THAT IS RESTRAINT. If I were God, and someone lashed out at me, I would behave much differently. That person would probably not survive my wrath.

When you doubt God, think of the times when you messed up and things should have gone really wrong but instead they seemed to work out anyway. That is god's intervention. If it happens once or twice it can be attributed to coincidence but if it happens often enough then it has to be divine intervention. To me that is evidence enough that God is good.

I know that God is more faithful to me than I am to him.

 

[birdie29]

just another note... people were created in God's image... And in the garden of eden man chose to know the difference between Good and Evil. (took a bite from the tree of knowledge) we struggle with the desire to be intelligent when in God's eyes, Intelligence is not the important thing... and to that I might add is totally irrelevant to whether or not we choose to love him... The Dog in the analogy does not love the human because the human is flawless, the dog loves the human because dogs are capable of loving unconditionally and are often willing to take abuse from someone whom they consider to be superior (thier alpha).. I don't think it has anything at all to do with how smart the dog is.... I think it is just how they respond to those whom they consider to be family. They overlook shortcoming and they forgive, not because they are too stupid to do otherwise, but because that's how they are wired.