Evidence of God’s personality can be found in the Bible, through personal experience, or through miracles. Most of these sources are reliable, because the personal ones have happened to someone, so that person is convinced, and then it’s down to how persuasive they are about what they experienced. The Bible incorporates the miracles into it, but it was written so long ago and by people who knew Jesus personally but still we don’t know them and therefore we don’t know how trustworthy they are.
Humans often see God as a fatherly figure. Whether this view point has been influenced by parents and upbringings or personal knowledge and decisions, it is almost always true. A study of believers in God showed that when asked to describe God, most people said “like a father – caring, loving and forgiving”.
Characteristics of God’s personality are important to Christians because they allow them to get to know their God better, and learn about him. For example, omnipotence; Knowing that God is all-powerful can reassure Christians that they are in good hands and that God has authority over the world and he protects them. However, some question this as there is evil in the world, and God can’t stop it.
Omniscience means God is all-knowing. In the Bible, it says that God knows everything about his creation, and he knows every individual, their good and bad deeds and he knows the past and future. He uses this knowledge to decide who goes to Hell and who goes to Heaven and decide peoples’ fates and destinies. Some people believe that the Holy Trinity represents each different viewpoint God has. The Father is outside time and looks down from above. The Son looks at us from the point of view of another human. He is in time. The Holy Ghost looks within us and sees our true selves.
Omnipresence means God is everywhere. This can be reassuring because you can turn to God wherever you are, and feel his constant guidance and protection. It also shows God is unlimited and unconfined.
Omnibenevolence means God is all-loving. Therefore there is always someone who cares and understands. God is loving, caring, understanding, forgiving, fatherly and kind. However, there is still the problem of evil. One can argue that we don’t know or fully understand God’s intentions. He may be allowing evil into the world for our greater good. He could also be testing us or punishing us for our sins and those of our ancestors. On the other hand, one can say it is our own fault if there is evil in this world. God gave us free will but we took it for granted and misused it. We rely on our conscience to differentiate between good and bad. God could have programmed our conscience so that we always choose to do good over evil, but that would have been equally limiting like it would be more evil on God’s part if he controlled or limited our free will in order to contain the evil because then we wouldn’t be free to be ourselves and show our true colours, we’d be clones. God trusts us to make the right decisions for ourselves, like a father would. Therefore God is good because he gave us freedom and free will, although evil can exist through our actions.
Transcendence means God is above all. Immanence means God is within all. Creator means God created everything.
Inconsistencies include Transcendence and Immanence – how can God be both within and above all, and Omniscience, Omnipotence, and Omnibenevolence – how can he be all-loving when there is evil in the world, and how can he be all-powerful if he can’t stop the evil and how can he be all-knowing if he doesn’t know about the evil.
I think that God really has all the qualities he needs, and whether or not we see them, that’s our problem and it depends on how we see God. I believe in the Holy Trinity and that each form of God has a different perspective on our lives, but I also believe in God just being one, and having all the fatherly qualities. As for the suffering, I believe that like a father, he would punish us, but he would also give us free will and trust us, but we misuse this gift and therefore cause some of the suffering ourselves. I believe that God is omnibenevolent because he made us, sent his only son to save us, and created a home for us to live in - the world, which would be doing an awful lot for those you don’t love.