God is good. All the time.

I think we would all accept that statement. Nothing much arguable there. Well, there is a point that might need some clarification if we are to really understand this thought. God, as far as we as Christians know, is God. Not much debatable about that. But what about the word good? What does it mean?

Is good what works the best? Is good whatever brings health and prosperity to humanity? Or perhaps good is whatever pleases God.

Are things good because God says they are good, or does God say they are good because they are good? The question is often stated like this, "Is a thing good because God wills it, or does God will it because it is good.?"

By way of introduction I would like to clarify one thing about the word good. Whenever we use the word good we are comparing it with some sort of standard. If we look at a banana and see many black spots all over it, we can conclude that it is a bad banana. Why? Cause we have an idea in our mind of the perfect banana. With this, we also have a scale or a spectrum; a horribly rotten banana on one end and a perfect banana on the other end. Without this scale in our minds we would not be able to say whether something is good or bad. So it is with everything in life, we rate it on a scale.

Most of us would understand that there is nothing above God. He is the infinite omnipresent, powerful etc, and there is no one bigger. It is impossible to do something better then God, for his works are perfection.

Now, if someone thought that the ultimate good was to do whatever "I" willed they would have a standard to work with. Me. If they did things that I will, they would be doing good. If I didn't will it, it would be bad, and all the areas in between. But, with this system of good, how could you say whether or not I, myself am doing something good? Whatever I do is just naturally perfect cause I am the standard because I have to will something to be able to do it. Yet, if we were to say that I am perfect, that would be putting myself on the scale. How can I be on the scale if I AM the scale? If I am the scale, then I cannot be judged on the scale.

I ask you now, how then, if God is the ultimate standard of good, can we call him good? How is he good if anything he does is good, and cannot possibly do evil? He cannot leave himself and do something that he himself does not want to do (thus doing something bad), that is nonsense.

If we recognise that good is simply what God will's, then if God appeared in front of you one day, (and you knew for certain that it was the one true God), and he ordered you to kill your mother and your neighbour's baby, then you would not be able to bock at that commandment, it would be perfect and holy. "God wouldn't do that!" you might respond. But, can't he do whatever he wants with no restrictions? So what if he did? (and not to mention, there are several passages in the OT that strike of resemblance to this analogy).

And, if there is nothing bigger then God, then he himself certainly has no standard to follow, he has no rules, no father, no curfew. All he has to do is 'be'. Pretty much how he describes himself, "I am". Forgive me for saying a perhaps shocking comment, but I ask, why then do we follow and serve God? And what is our basis for not serving, perhaps, Satan? "God is good! Satan is bad!", you might respond. But isn't God the scale? Remember, if you put him on the scale and call him good, then you are making something bigger then him, some kind of universal morality that even God follows. If you believe that there is nothing bigger then God, then this argument does not work. If God is just a big being that can do whatever he wants and has no responsibility, no rules to follow, just big, then why follow him? How is God better then Satan when the only thing that makes God good, is that he is himself, and the only thing that makes Satan bad is that he is against God?

I suppose the answer might be that God has something better to offer us. If we follow Satan, we shall go to hell and receive pain, if we follow God, we will receive comfort and a pleasant existence. I think we can see that the only reason we follow God at all, is his biggness and what he can do for us if we are on his side. He is bigger then Satan, so it is best to follow God and make him the standard.

This is reminiscent of a tale of a school boy who had a bully that pestered him. If the boy did what the bully wished, (gave him his lunch, did his homework, carried his books, distracted the clerk while he shoplifted) then life went well for the boy. He would not be tortured by the bully and things were quite comfortable with the price of serving this bully. But the only reason that the boy served him was out of fear of the bully's strength. I am sure we would want to encourage this boy to stand up for himself, to stop being the bully's pawn and to stop making what the bully wills the standard of good.

In conclusion, it seems that when we try to mend the idea of omnipotence, with the statement, "God is good", the above story is all we get. Perhaps Friedrich Nietzsche was right all along by saying, "Might makes right". Doesn't it seem morality is reduced to the powerful? Do we worship God just because he is the biggest on the block?

How do you respond to Nietzsche when he passionately implores that you "break off the bonds that hold you in fear of the powerful, to stand and be your own standard your own person!"?