If There Was God

If there were such a thing as God, He would be perfect. He would have no flaws and

make no mistakes, for He would be good. And if He was good, He would be perfectly good— not partly, but entirely. This would set Him apart from any other being. That would be the very definition of God. If He was like none other, He would have absolute goodness in His entirety, implying that no bad exists in Him at all. Then, one might ask the question, “what is bad?”

If God is totally good, one might not merely describe God as good; rather, He would define goodness in and of Himself. Also, if God was good, there would need to be a “bad” to contrast with His goodness.  So then, if there is no God, is there truly goodness? If there was not, does evil truly exist? Who gets to define those terms anyway? Who gets to decide what is bad and what is good if there is no God?

If there was a God, however, He would not want to force Himself on someone, since He was good. He would want the person he created to choose Him. He would

encourage freedom—true freedom. He would certainly be in control, sovereignly reigning over all things, including the person He pursues. The very definition of goodness, however, would mean that he encourages logic, reason, independent thinking, and inquisitive thinking. To say someone is free physically but not mentally could be the worst form of imprisonment.

If there was a God, He would pursue a relationship with the person whom He created. He would desire for the person whom He pursues to choose Him back. But there would still be an issue with the reality about God’s goodness. 

If there was a God, and He was fully good, this would mean that, not only could He never be bad, he could also not even be in the presence of badness. I suppose, since God is the only perfectly and fully good Being in the cosmos, He would be the one in charge of defining what is bad. He would be the antithesis of badness because He would be perfectly good in and of Himself.

If this be the case, how can God have fellowship with a creature which is not perfectly good? He would need to make a way to allow Him to meet the necessary criteria of "goodness," allowing the person to come back into fellowship with Himself. The badness would need to be removed.

Justice would need to be served for this to take place. Since God is God, He would be all-knowing, Omniscient, and completely aware if things were not made right in his own eyes.

Part of God’s goodness would be that He was completely fair and honest, even with Himself. He would not hide the badness of the people he pursues; He would take it and fix the very issue that offended Himself in the first place. He would not leave business undone; He, instead, would take care of it. He would be God and completely perfect. He would not be lazy.

It would then be up to the person God created to accept the work that God did to fix the problem of the badness. If the person received the gift from God, God would consequently be able to have fellowship with the person again. What a time they would have together for all of eternity.

If there was such a thing as God, He would be perfect. He would have no flaws and make no mistakes. He would be good. If there is no God, however, there would be no good or bad. There would be no idea or measurement of perfection. If there is no God, there are no ethics, no beauty, no reason. If there is no God, there is only material chaos. 

I encourage you to believe that there is a God. He sent His only son, Christ Jesus, to be our substitute on the cross. Christ’s death on the cross was equal to eternal damnation and separation from God in a place called hell. By living a sinless life as fully God and fully man, dying a death He did not deserve, and rising again three days later, He did the work that had to be done to appease the white-hot wrath of the Father. God, in all of his holy perfection, could not be around sin. But he wants a relationship with you. This is why the gospel is so wonderful; it is for you.

If you would like more information about what it means to follow Jesus, help thinking through some questions, or to request prayer, send an email to: connect@jfirst.church. 

Notes:

Groza, Adam, and J. P. Moreland. Unraveling Philosophy: An Interactive Guide. Brentwood, TN: B&H Academic, 2023.