It is said that God rewards and punishes people according to the extent to which they take notice of his goodness. This shows goodness as it shows that He is willing to look for certain things, to make sure that people are doing good and if they are not will punish them. This is shown in the Bible. ‘ “You have rejected me,” declares the Lord, “You keep on backsliding. So I will lay my hands on you and destroy you; I can no longer show compassion.”’ Jeremiah 15:6. This shows that God is willing to punish someone when doing wrong, as God is punishing him by destroying him.
God’s goodness said to involve personal care and concern for individuals. He answers their prayers, their needs are met, and they are sometimes judged on the way that they show concern for others. The part where he answers prayers is shown in 1 Samuel 1:10-11, 20, ‘in bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord. And she made a vow, saying, “O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”‘ This shows it because He answered Hannah’s prayers.
The goodness of God is revealed mainly in the person and work of Christ. You can see this in the stories from the Bible, where Christ helps his followers, and performs miracles, etc. This is mainly shown in the New Testament.
In many parts of the Bible, the goodness is seen to be identical to his love; and it is the love of God, which demands that people become the best that they have the potential to be, by obeying his commands as they are shown. According to the New Testament, God came into the world as a man in order to demonstrate his love.
God’s goodness is also shown in Psalm 23, ‘The Lord is my shepherd . . . . . Even though I walk through the valley of the shadows of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.’ This shows God’s goodness, because by the acts that he does for people, it shows that it puts confidence into people, and enables them to do things.
A good God would not make so many rules and regulations. Discuss
As it is said that God gave us free will and that humans would be the stewards of the world, then why did He still make so many rules and regulations? With our free will we are able to do whatever we choose. Maybe it was that God didn’t want humans to have the free will, as much as they would like, as He created rules and regulations to stop specific things from happening and stopping us from using our free will.
With the rules and regulations, it means that God could interact with the world, and what goes on within the world between other people. Without rules and regulations, it would mean that we would all get on with what we wanted to, without God having any control, and being able to justify what is right and wrong etc.
As it is said that God will reward or punish us dependent on the way we respond to the standards that he has set. This means that we are able to tell when we are doing right, or doing wrong. It means that it gives us a sense of how to act, throughout our lives.
A good God would not make so many rules and regulations, as if He had created a world as perfect as it has said to be, then there would be no need for rules and regulations. Unless, the world was imperfect. Which goes onto what Aristotle had said, about the world being imperfect and being made of imperfect pre existent matter. Which would mean that God would not be the ‘Prime Mover’. If this were the case, then there would be a need for rules and regulations. As the world was created imperfectly.
God made men in the image of himself. If He was a good God, and was good all round, why would He feel that there was a need for rules and regulations. Which could end in people believing that God might have been a bad God, as He needed to create rules and regulations, for us to follow, even though we were made in the image of him.
I think that a good God would make rules and regulations for us to follow, as it helps us to live a good life and do right, going by what God has said. However, with these rules and regulations, it does restrict us from using our free will, in which God gave us. However, despite this, I do believe that we do need rules and regulations to go by.
