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Good and right

Yes Man

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Hello everyone. I've been wondering lately about God and his actions in the Bible. God caused plagues and rained famine upon people, so were his actions "good"? I'm not saying what God did was bad or evil or that God is evil. What God did was right to rain his wrath upon the opressors of his followers. This caused much suffering. However, in Moses times, the Egyptians had enslaved the Jews for years. So what God did was right, but was it completely good? The differences and definitions of "good" and "right" has been frustrating to philosophers for many years :banghead3 . I believe that what God did what right and essentially good, as it led to the freedom of the slaves:dan: . I was just wondering what you all thought about this. Oh, and if any of you are reminded of an episode of the Cartoon Network [adult swim] show Moral Orel, I was thinking about this before I saw that. It just kind of reminded me about it . :bonk:
 

Scuba Pete

Le plongeur avec attitude...
Many things were attributed to God in the Old Testament. It is, however a blog of man trying to figure out just who this God Guy really is and trying to justify their own actions. Many today still use God to justify their wars and inhumane actions.

It is my opinion that man has blamed God for attrocities that make God cringe. After all, God is love.
 

Karl R

Active Member
Yes Man said:
I've been wondering lately about God and his actions in the Bible. God caused plagues and rained famine upon people, so were his actions "good"?
If you listen to some of the conservative preachers, god caused Katrina to destroy New Orleans because of the city's sinfulness.

If you listen to any meteorologist, they can explain to you the weather patterns that caused hurricane Katrina to develop and steered its course.

Which do you believe, the conservative preachers or the meteorologists?

Now imagine you lived 1000 years or more before the first meteorologist. The only person who can explain natural disasters is the holy man ... and he says it was sent by god. Would you have a reason to disbelieve him?

A lot of religion is just about people trying to understand and explain their world.
 

sojourner

Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
Yes Man said:
Hello everyone. I've been wondering lately about God and his actions in the Bible. God caused plagues and rained famine upon people, so were his actions "good"? I'm not saying what God did was bad or evil or that God is evil. What God did was right to rain his wrath upon the opressors of his followers. This caused much suffering. However, in Moses times, the Egyptians had enslaved the Jews for years. So what God did was right, but was it completely good? The differences and definitions of "good" and "right" has been frustrating to philosophers for many years :banghead3 . I believe that what God did what right and essentially good, as it led to the freedom of the slaves:dan: . I was just wondering what you all thought about this. Oh, and if any of you are reminded of an episode of the Cartoon Network [adult swim] show Moral Orel, I was thinking about this before I saw that. It just kind of reminded me about it . :bonk:

We have to remember two things here:
1) The Biblical writers were writing out of their own perspective. If God had freed their ancestors by causing plagues, they saw that as "good," because God was taking care of God's faithful people. We have the luxury of "seeing both sides of the story," as it were -- a perspective the early writers and their audiences would not have hsared.
2) The important message of the stories isn't "God caused plagues to befall the Egyptians," but "God always comes through, saving God's people from oppression. If the ancient culture needs to get that message across effectively by having God perform some atrocity upon someone who has perpetrated atrocities of their own, that's a literary device used in order to get the point across, and not necessarily an historical fact.

We also have to remember that these are the writings of a very ancient and very different culture from our own. Their scientific perspective was that "God caused it to rain." We know that, even if we believe that God set the natural pattern in order, that it's natural meteorological conditions that cause it to rain, not some supernatural whim of a far-removed God.
 

may

Well-Known Member
The ancient Egyptians believed that their Pharaoh was a god. This fact adds meaning to Pharaoh’s disdainful question to Moses: "Who is Jehovah, so that I should obey his voice?" (Exodus 5:2)
When Pharaoh defiantly asked who Jehovah was, he did not expect the consequences he experienced. Jehovah himself responded, bringing ten plagues upon Egypt. Those plagues were not just blows against the nation. They were blows against the gods of Egypt
 

ChrisP

Veteran Member
NetDoc said:
Many things were attributed to God in the Old Testament. It is, however a blog of man trying to figure out just who this God Guy really is and trying to justify their own actions. Many today still use God to justify their wars and inhumane actions.

It is my opinion that man has blamed God for attrocities that make God cringe. After all, God is love.
For me to agree more, the definition of agree would need to be rewritten.

Question the bible. Much in it can make sense, while some parts make you scratch your head... even after much thought and meditation. Not everything in there is of the Source.
 

michel

Administrator Emeritus
Staff member
NetDoc said:
Many things were attributed to God in the Old Testament. It is, however a blog of man trying to figure out just who this God Guy really is and trying to justify their own actions. Many today still use God to justify their wars and inhumane actions.

It is my opinion that man has blamed God for attrocities that make God cringe. After all, God is love.

Couldn't really say more, after that!:D
 

Scuba Pete

Le plongeur avec attitude...
Lone_Wolf616 said:
You see, I am trying to open your eyes, my friends
Fortunately there are only a FEW people who feel the need to harass the Christians. What is it that makes you feel that it OK to show no respect to those who believe differently than you? Do we have a "Kick me, I'm a Christian" sticker on our backs? This is just HATE MONGERING and only serves to cause hard feelings here on RF. Give it a rest.
 

Scott1

Well-Known Member
Yes Man said:
I've been wondering lately about God and his actions in the Bible.
A lot of great answers on this thread.... so I won't double up NetDoc's answers and only add:

If we do not believe that God's love is almighty, how can we believe that the Father could create us, the Son redeem us and the Holy Spirit sanctify us? (CCC #278)

ps. Just hit the "report" button instead of writing to some idiot jumping into a Christian thread.

Scott
 

Johnny

New Member
I dont know much, but I can only say that too many times preachers only preach about God Love and Faithfullness and forget to share that God is a very just God who calls for obedience. If we do not obey than we suffer the consequences of something we put upon ourselves.
 

The_Prophet

New Member
I don't believe he's trying to "hate monger" you... it's just that he's right, i believe, because you christians are blinded, and he wants to "open your eyes".
 
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