Given
our “working definition” of God, what can we logically deduce from it about what
God is like? And does that agree with the portrayal given in the Bible??
However
good you can imagine God to be, the reality is much, much more. If it were not
so, the “god” of our imagination would be superior to God, and that (by our
working definition) is a nonsense!
Therefore
we can expect God to be (amongst other things) …
·
Full
of love, for all created things but especially humankind (who, like Him, can
reason and think).
·
Full
of Justice; it is a fundamental trait of human nature that those who do good
should be praised and those who do evil should be punished; anything else is
“not fair”. So if your idea of a loving God is that of a Santa Claus figure who
ignores everything wrong, that is inferior to a God who is full of love AND
justice, so the latter must be the “real” God.
·
Full
of Righteousness. That’s a “religious jargon” word, but there isn’t a better
one – it means a God who has all the “good” attributes, but no flaws or hidden
weaknesses in His character. We know how all too often our childhood heroes
turn out to have a fatal flaw, that destroys their reputation and makes us
cynical about everyone else. God has no flaws of any kind. Righteousness isn’t
of course simply “not doing wrong”, but about “always doing good”.
·
Empathetic
– a God who is not moved or grieved by suffering, is inferior to one who is.
Therefore God must understand our human weakness, and be moved by physical or
emotional suffering.
·
Have
supreme power, knowledge and wisdom … and use that power with compassion, and
gentleness.
·
Be
eternal … a God who is before creation and time and lives outside the
space-time continuum. A God who has a beginning would have to come from
somewhere; and one who “dies” cannot be God for ever; either would be an
“inferior God”.
·
Be
caring and protecting …
I’ve
just added a handful of references … trying to find some from both Testaments:
there are many more!
·
Full
of love: … 1 Kings 10,9 refers to the LORD’s “eternal love for Israel” (the
people committed to Him); Romans 8,39 (nothing in creation can separate us from
the love of God); 1 John 4, 7-16 talks much of God’s love. And of course John
3,16.
·
Full
of Justice: … Job 37,23; Psalm 89,14; Isaiah 9,7 and Jerem 23,5 say that Christ
will become the means of God’s justice; Revel 15,3.
·
Full
of Righteousness: … Psalm 11,7; 19,9; 36,6; 98,2; Matt 6,33; Revel 16,5.
·
Empathetic:
… Job 28,23; Psalm 44,21; 103,14; Jer 9,24; Mat 6,32; Heb 4,15
·
Have
supreme power: … Psalm 22,28; Isa 40,10
·
Have
supreme knowledge: … Psalms 1,6
·
Have
supreme wisdom: … Psalm 7,9; 19,7+
·
Compassionate
and gentle: … Psalm 4,8; 8,3-4; Isa 40,11
·
Be
eternal: … Isa 40,21-23+28
·
Caring
and protecting … Psalm 5,12; Isa 40,31
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