Is God really Good?

Free will is a tough subject I admit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will

, but

If there is no free will, then no one is accountable for his actions in the society?

& If there is no God, where did this universe come from?

"The larger grows the island of my knowledge, the

longer stretch the shores of my ignorance."

William Blake

Well religious texts claim free will, but then they state that God knows what will happen, the past, present, and future. It's a contradiction, both statements can't be correct at the same time.

You know, some criminals might use your argument, start blaming their genes heritage, their social circumstances, ... etc., and arguing that they shouldn't be punished

But what about free will?

"The larger grows the island of my knowledge, the

longer stretch the shores of my ignorance."

William Blake

God is really good and not only that, VERY MERCIFUL!

"Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship"

"dgoodrebel is not plastic"

"Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship"

"dgoodrebel is not plastic"

But in all due respect Scarlett, he made the mess. Everything is a result of what he created. You don't create something with flaws, and then punish them when they create messes and mistakes resulting from those flaws.

if you are a good person, you know how to say thank you or appreciate someone. If somebody do you good, you say "thank you", aren't you. You thanks your parents for taking care of you and you thank your employer for employing you.

Now for all those who don't believe in God, who do you thank or who do you owe your life to? Everyday you live, who do you thank for being alive?

God is really good and not only that, VERY MERCIFUL!

"Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship"

"dgoodrebel is not plastic"

God DOES speak to people...might not be in the same sense that people speak to each other..but the communication is there.

Why does everyone consider God as a male figure? I find that humorous...God is nongender. God just IS....

In answer to the original question...yes, God is good. God is forgiving and kind especially to put up with all the mess that us humans create and then forgive us when we ask for forgiveness. I'd say that's pretty darn good!!

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the main difference between a dog and man.

-Mark Twain-

I was replying to the main topic, where God speaks to people :D

I think you should better question the original "question"/post, before going any further :D

"The larger grows the island of my knowledge, the

longer stretch the shores of my ignorance."

William Blake

I understand what you mean. An entity that creates a mass of creatures just so that they would worship and praise him seems to me, the most egoistical conceited authority ever. Whoever portrayed 'God' that way has infact vilified his own beliefs is what i think abt it.

God doesn't speak to humans. Humans tell humans that God spoke to them. But, why should you believe other humans?

Me? I don't believe in God at all. I was just curious how people who do believe in him reconcile the thought that he is good with the demand to be worshipped, along with the notion that even being a good person is not enough to be allowed into heaven.

When God speaks to humans, there is a wide spectra of them, different personalities, mentalities, qualities, ... etc.

Some characters are like soldiers, needs orders to follow. Others feels the joy of praying and counts the minutes to the next prayer time

So, I think God provides words of guidance each and every group of people with the right words for them

Sure, God is good. God is Great

"The larger grows the island of my knowledge, the

longer stretch the shores of my ignorance."

William Blake

MissX: From what i believe , God essentiallly, is a concept that different religions have portrayed in different ways with some basic similiarities. Here you are trying to find out whether that 'entity' is good or bad based on what the scriptures (which were obviously written by men) tell us.

It all depends on what you WANT to believe. In some religions, like Hinduism and Buddhism, what matters is ur karma and karma alone with no weightage for whether or not you believed in God. In some faiths, God is a stern disciplinarian who demands you to bow to his authority. Elsewhere he is a loving father. I guess ur selection of a concept for god depends on ur inner needs.

So lemme turn the question back on you? What do YOU want to believe? :-p

Control other people, gypsy, what else?

The God in the Bible, Quran, Torah etc. Doesn't exist, so he is neither good nor bad. The question is what the people who wrote the texts had in mind.

I say yes because otherwise humankind would not have been guided as God is not in need of guiding anything. So prophets and messengers were sent. It's about what we like to hear and what we need to know, as human beings. regds

MissX if I remember correctly, someone in the Bible asked the questions you were asking. Is God really good, why does He ask for praise and worship from us... after that the 'person' was cast out of heaven with all his followers, and has been the enemy of God since then (of course the person also believed he is as worthy of praise as God is)... so I hope you're not thinking of that too... just kidding! =)

God demands praise because he simple deserves it. If you were the creator, wouldnt you want to be loved by the one you created? God did not define good and evil, satan did, by tricking us that evil can be relatively good! Look around you, the society is ever changing its stance on what is supposed to be evil, like abortion and a whole lot more.

On the salvation part, I speak for myself when I say that man cannot save himself regardless of how much good he does, but by humbling ourselves (accepting that we dont have the power to save ourselves as we are all sinners) and by accepting the Grace of God, our Lord and Savior who died for our sins that we are made holy and acceptable to take our place in God's kingdom.

As I said, I speak for myself. I'm not trying to instigate a debate or cause a stir but just merely sharing my perspective.

God is good whether we worship him or not. Worshiping him means we are acknowledging that He is The Only one (La Ilaha Illa Hoo). Let me tell u a very important fact that God wont be affected by our prayers and that is my belief. We are the ones who need Him. He doesn't need us at all. He created this universe and made us a part of it. If he choose to eliminate us, this universe wont be affected at all. The reason he created us is because we could do anything. He made us intelligent by giving us brains; yet making 7% of it alive. Now 7% has the immense potential to do a lot. Imagine if he makes the other 93% alive, what would we humans do. The first thing we would do is ask the very existence of him being Good, just like u did (with all due respect, no offense to u at all).

The second part of ur question deals with the "Rights of humans" or "Huqooq il Ibaad". In plain English, he wants us to be good. Thats why, he made Karma. A lot of people say "Karma is a bitch". I tell them "You made it to be one". lol. My actions towards another person will be definitely questioned in the court of God.

Picture a court room in ur head. The day of Judgment will be just like that. There will be a plaintiff , a victim and The Judge. If the matter is between u and Him, He will forgive u. U know why? because he is The Judge and there is no victim. But if u dont fulfill ur obligations toward the fellow human being, no matter how good u are in ur prayers towards God, it will not substitute for the deeds towards ur fellow human. Hope ur question is answered.

P.S. God is always good to us no matter what. He puts us through different tests to see whether we thank Him for what we have or not. Some people do and some don't. Those who do are rewarded in this world and will be rewarded in the hereafter. Those who don't, mite get a good life in this world but in hereafter they will be looking at some tough time..

Well it all depends on who u ask. All parents try (to the best of their ability) to raise their kids with good religious and moral values. they succeed in it too. but its upto the kids if they keep practicing those values or go away from them. I am of the belief that All children are created without a religion. its upto his/her parents whether they raise them Christian, Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim.

You put it quite well. That he tests us to see if we thank him for what we have, rather than worship. However (now I'm hijacking my own thread), then what about the children in countries who live and die without ever knowing about the religion of Islam, or are instead raised into another religion?

@ l_3

i commend u in a lot of thought u put into that query.

personally, in the end, nobody really knows for sure what the day of judgement will be like but your idea of what matters on that day is quite good and wise. and also, personally, i pray because i feel it brings me closer to Him.

Well I was going to address it to all religious people. But then I didn't know if all religions insist on God worship to be granted access into heaven. Do Christians and such have to pray, or is being a good person merely enough?

"Ok so here's a question for all the Islamic people"--

okay i see, then i have nothing of my say to answer to your forum. lol

Ah I guess what you're saying is that God define's what is good and what is bad. Therefore because he has defined the worship of himself is good, therefore it is? I guess when you think about the treatment of other people, it is both good from the religious perspective, and good from a logical sense because to harm another person causes unhappiness and the possible risk to your own future, if vengeance is taken.

good. If there is only good and no bad at all. how do we know its good. to understand good, bad was also created. God has given us common sense; which is 7% of our brain to understand the difference. So, by using our common sense, we can choose.

Another example could be hunger. We don't know what it means to be hungry when we are satiated (not hungry or stomach filled wid food). Compare ur self satiated with people who are starved. Do u know wat it feels like to be hungry?

I guess everyone has answered in some way or another. But I still feel that my original question hasn't been answered. I am still curious how you rectify to yourself of the existence of God who is "good", but determines your fate almost solely on whether you believe and worship him. Surely forced worship are not the characteristics of someone who is good. Shouldn't your actions concerning other humans and how you treat them be more important for determining your fate?

I would admire honesty here, or do you tend to accept everything without ever questioning it?

Miss X

Your god is as good as you are.

And to reiterate thats what every religion dictates, Jesus also wants his services on cross be recognized or you won't go to heaven even if you are mother Teressa.

if you have a great Faith on God, then you will not ask this such question.... because, our existence is a proof that God is good....We are given such intellect to think between good and bad and to Believe in Him. So its up to you if you believe then....Nobody can tell us now if He will burn us afterlife or Bring us to Eternal life..

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" Failure is Not an OPTION "

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So why are we applying the word good, for behaviour we normally perceive as bad?

in your other post you said that shame is a human invention. so is good and bad.

I see your point, but using the job analogy, although we may do as our boss says, we certainly recognise his errors and are able to question his intentions if we like. Just because we want the rewards, doesn't mean our boss is good.

Your answer can be easily answered by reflecting it on a smaller scale example...

The relationship between yourself and your employer...

you have a job description that you are supposed to work by...

if you do good (completing your tasks according your job description) your employer will reward you and maybe promote you to a managerial position... otherwise do bad and he will discipline you by not giving you a raise, or even firing you...

reflect this to Islam...

Our "job description" is the Holy Quran...

We do good we are rewarded in our lifetimes and afterlife (promotion, raise)

We do bad, we are discplined in our life time and after life (probation, or fired)

so I dont think you can label it as god is not good, rather, god disciplines human actions!

AbuSaif: Yes, i'm refering to God/Allah.

Ayman

Only God Can Judge Me

الله فقط يمكنه محاكمتي

I am you and you are me, if you love i love, if you suffer i suffer

أنا أنت, و أنت أنا, إذا أحببت نفسك أحببت نفسي, إذا عانيتَ عانيتُ

I Quote your above statement "But at same way they descibe him as a perfect being that has imperfections as any other human, and this is one of the biggest contradictions in religion.close Quote

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Are you referring to God???

The word Subhan Allah: means Allah is pure from all imperfections/free from all defects

This is mentioned umpteen times in Quran.

One source of contradiction is limited or no knowledge...

But at same way they descibe him as a perfect being that has imperfections as any other human, and this is one of the biggest contradictions in religion.

___________________________________________________________

Are you referring to God???

The word Subhan Allah: means Allah is pure from all imperfections/free from all defects

This is mentioned umpteen times in Quran.

One source of contradiction is limited or no knowledge...

God is good.

But did not pray to a God and did not believe in a God. Then, as the Quran states, the person would not be granted the heavenly afterlife.

Yes, because we have been created to worship Allah, that is the purpose of life,

So if you fail to do so, you will not enter paradise.

Even if his has been a "good person",but what good those it do him if he didn't do any of his "good " for the sake of Allah and to obey him and therefor get to paradise in account of that.....as a reward

see you have to see the BIG picture here.

God ( Allah) has created everything with wisdom. And he knows that , which we don't know.

So, we as humans will say ,this is not good , or this is bad, and so on.

But that is because we don't understand the wisdom behind it.

Everything happens for a reason.

we may not understand WHY?

But it's just a matter of faith, for the believers(Muslims) to follow the "orders" given by God.

And we hope for the reward ( Paradise ) and fear the punishment (hell).

because this life is only a test and a "short" destination , because the life after this is the "real" life.

Well , I don't know if that helped or answered your question.

To me Islam is so clear and so easy ......

Please reply my question...thnx

MissX: It's not only the Qur'an, it also happens with the Bible and The Torah, every religion has their codes and try justifying them as orders from God.

But at same way they descibe him as a perfect being that has imperfections as any other human, and this is one of the biggest contradictions in religion.

I would say that God/Allah, ain't good or evil, He just is.

Ayman

Only God Can Judge Me

الله فقط يمكنه محاكمتي

I am you and you are me, if you love i love, if you suffer i suffer

أنا أنت, و أنت أنا, إذا أحببت نفسك أحببت نفسي, إذا عانيتَ عانيتُ

Saying God is good doesn't make it so. I am asking the people who may have questioned it, what they came up with, and if they have ever thought about it.

After shower a cold glasse of ornage juice is good go and refresh yourself MissX. life is good and god also is good. :)

wow am back from my shower and no one has decided to answer.

Anyway, this isn't an attack. I am just curious to see if any of you question how good God really is, or do you take it on the word of the Quran that he is without ever questioning it?

If i may ask you, do you believe in God and what is your perception of your God. Thank you for your answers