Sacred Musings ~How Good Is God?

How good is God? I grew up believing that my every breath came from God and it was the same for all his creation. God had proclaimed, at one time anyway, that all of His creation was good. I also believe the bible says man is fearfully (miraculously) and wonderfully made I also believed man fell from grace and fell head long into sin. I believed we needed to be saved from our own evil hearts. I also believed God gave us free will to choose him or not. If we didn’t believe him the consequences were disastrous, hell and all it's tortures forever and forever.

So, I am wondering did God goof when He gave us free will? Was it His plan to test His human creation? In His omniscience didn't HE ALREADY KNOW! Was it His plan to allow His creation to blindly plunge head first into eternal fire?

According to my early theology those unbelieving humans had freely chosen ETERNAL FIRE, FLAMES AND TORTURE, the consequences of not confessing faith in Jesus.

Does this make sense to any of you? I am just trying to understand with my finite understanding, how a gracious, all loving, kind and good God could leave the ETERNAL DESTINY of men’s souls in finite man's own spiritual limitations while giving man supreme power of choice? It seems the deck is stacked against us. Consider those born in foreign lands that have a religious heritage built into their culture. It isn’t easy to believe in a Christian view of God coming from such a different perspective. If you think not, try seeing yourself as a Buddhist or as a Jew. It isn’t a fair question you say because they have it all wrong, 'you say'. What about the kid growing up in the inner city of Detroit? The outlaw gang might very well be his family if you are born in the inner city of Detroit and holiness and righteousness are not common words in their vocabulary. Still inner city kids know more about a Christian God than the other half of the world. Does any of this seem just or fair to you?

Free will is a very big deal. We have free will to do exactly what? Did you choose to be born? Or did you choose to be a boy or a girl? Or which country did you choose to be born in? I guess most people, if given a choice, would pick a developed nation like the United States or a European country for modern convenience, education, and opportunities to be prosperous. But that isn’t how it works is it.

Let’s explore free will. Let's begin at the beginning, Genesis 1, and not at the 'fall of man'. What happens if I believe God's pronouncement that everything is good and then I look to see in Genesis chapter 3 that everything went wrong? In the beginning Adam and Eve were made in the express image of God, they were already PERFECT - as God. They were His offspring. Is it possible to come from perfection and be less than perfect? 😀 The reality was ‘they were perfect, just like their creator God - their ‘Father.’ They chose, by free will, to believe the lie that ‘they were not like God’. This was not true, not reality, a figment of their imaginations. But since they were made just like their creator God they could create it! They chose (free will) to create their world using their imagination powered by a lie instead of the truth. Hence they projected (believed) hardship, hate and fear into their ‘created’ world experience. Today psychologists call it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Change your thinking and you change your world.

Jesus said, only believe, all things are possible to him who believes. Believe what? Believe the truth that you and I are made in God’s image, we always have been but we believed a lie, an untruth. Believe God is good. How good? That's what we are trying to discover.

“The apples do not fall far from the tree ~ Like father like son” ~

We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are meant for Paradise. Paradise is ours now - only believe. And what about the serpent, heck who was the serpent anyway? Does it really matter? If God has all power, as He says He does, then how much power does the devil have? Metaphorically speaking some psychologists believe the emotion of SHAME entangles itself around our organs and throughout our body’s like a snake entangles itself around its prey. Persons ensnared in personal shame, failure to keep the law, failure to please God, believing they are worthless sinners, worms, will destroy any sense of well being, peace, love or joy, ultimately opening the door to dis- ease. (lack of rest) But what happens during this life time doesn’t change what is eternally true, we are HIS KIDS. Remember Jesus taught parabolically and with metaphors. Jesus even said He was as wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove and we were to be like him.

I think we need to re-think our thinking. Let us put on the mind of Christ and renew our minds so we can prove the good, acceptable and PERFECT will of God.

How good is God? I think He is better than we think. I suggest we lean not on our own understanding but rather listen to our inner voice of intuition and trust what you hear. After all Jesus did say His sheep hear His voice and I believe His voice sounds a lot like my voice. We have a choice: our lives can be blissful experiences of love, irregardless of outward circumstances or our lives can be extensions of the judgement we practice and believe; hell on earth. I have made my choice to use my free will to impact this life time and believe God is good all the time, all the time God is good. No addendums. No more blathering about man's religious mumbo jumbo, I believe in God’s goodness and love. And as to my future home, I didn’t figure out how I got here and I am not concerned about where I’m going, I'm in good hands. My God is that GOOD. How good is your God?