Why must God be good?

[prasad1]

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Here is a question most of us would have asked at one point of time or other: “If God is all powerful and all good, then why does evil exist and exist to the extents that it does?” Philosopher Stephen Law breaks the question into two kinds of problems: one he labels as the logical problem and the other as the evidential problem. The first finds it hard to reconcile a God to the evil and suffering in the world and the second wonders how an all powerful, all good God could make a world so full of suffering. The evidential problem deals with the quantity while the logical problem deals with the existence of any evil at all. Law further says we could confine ourselves to understanding evil as suffering, something which troubles anyone and everyone.
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“We could consider the hypothesis that there is an all powerful all evil God. But there is just too much of good things like rainbows and ice cream for the Supreme Being to be all evil. So if you believe in a good God you have to explain why there is so much bad stuff and if you believe in a bad god you have to explain why there is so much good stuff. On the scale of reasonableness I place the evil God very low down. But that is exactly where I place the good God too. A slightly less unreasonable belief would be that there is some sort of intelligence which is both good and evil, some good days and some bad days.

Why must God be good?

In this talk, Philosopher Stephen Law weighs the arguments for and against a belief in an all benevolent Creator.

www.thehindu.com

 

[renuka]

No one told us that God must be good.
Its we humans who divide everything into polar opposites.

Take Lord Krishna for example.
Was He good or bad?

He was neither.
He was just most conducive in the Now and Here.
Totally detached from any outcome and worked out His plan to reset everything to factory setting.

Its we humans who think we are good and call others bad.
Even a serial killer would think he is is good and the victim is bad.
Everything is a comparison and relative experience.

If we live in the NOW HERE there is no good or bad, no sattva nor rajas nor tamas(So get it guys! even Sattva is our perception)

We try to fit God into our limited perception and thats when all the problem starts.

Yesterday I had a person call me ignorant, blind to the truth and wasted knowledge cos I didnt want to join his meditation class.

He said without the sahasrara chakra opening ,the truth can never manifest.

So, you see ..he had a mindset that there is only one way to know the Truth, but honestly we all have only our perception of Truth which is still very much tainted by duality of polar opposites.

If one subscribes to the Karma theory, then they should understand God is a witness and its we who bringing about our own pain and pleasure, good and bad and its an ugly picture if we try to expect God to fit into our mental construct.

 

[sravna]

The logical and the ethical puzzle how an all powerful and all benevolent God can allow evil, pain and suffering can be answered this way

The ultimate reality is a spiritual and all blissful reality. There is only good in it. Now think why another realty which is the physical reality need to be created as an all good reality which will just be a replica with respect to the nature of the spiritual reality.

God wanted to project a diametrically opposite reality. Thus while constancy and stillness is the essence of spiritual reality, change is the essence of physical reality. So all things that is logically consistent with change has to exist. But God is really all benevolent is understood from the fact that everything in physical reality is only temporary and that includes evil, pain and suffering. Everybody finally becomes one with the blissful eternal existence of the ultimate reality.

Think of evil as a logical construct which essentially unknowingly promotes the good. It is the agent of delayed good because everyone would eventually do not want evil, pain and suffering and would work against it.

God is not only all powerful and all benevolent but also all knowledgeable and knows the pieces would finally fit together.

 

[prasad1]

 

[prasad1]

This makes the Brahman all-pervading entity, without Attributes as the only possible solution.

 

[Brahmanyan]

This makes the Brahman all-pervading entity, without Attributes as the only possible solution.

Dear Sri Prasad,
Very well said.
At the outset I must admit, for me God the Almighty is still an "X" factor,(A variable in a given situation that could have the most significant impact on the outcome). My search for an answer acceptable to my faculties of understanding continues still....
words cannot describe the all powerful "Creator ", only we can describe his "attributes" .
More we think without books, questions create more unanswerable questions.

It was Albert Einstein who said "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."

Science tries to unravel the mystery of nature and succeeds in finding an answer for "how", but could not get a conclusive answer for "Why". I believe, It is in the realm of Spirituality to find an answer for "why".
Best wishes,
Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.

 

[sravna]

Advaita is the only non contradictory solution that explains reality. But that does not mean it is in any way the preferred theory. Logic is one thing and learning is something else that can proceed without logic. The ultimate truthwill in many ways be reached with logic being one of them. Advaita touches the pinnacle of logic but others are not to be dismissed.

 

[sravna]

My own thinking is in sync with Advaita. It gives me a complete picture and makes it easy working out the finer details. As a person with preference for seeing the big picture first, I prefer Advaita. But preferences will vary in accordance with ones mental framework.

I believe that impeccable logic is born out of a neat big picture. So following Advaita we can conclude that the blissful state of brahman only could be the essence of physical reality and we are not able to grasp this as a whole because of the essential disconnectedness of the physical reality. This is the big picture conclusion we can derive from Advaita.

 

[sravna]

Folks I will tell you something out of my personal experience. I would be doing some disservice if I do not share it with others.

Body is a wonderful reality which is not at all properly understood. People talk about mind and soul but body is also an amazing entity. Scriptures have downplayed the amazing capabilities of body for good reason because they did not want people to have any distraction from the final goal of moksha.

It is possible for the body to be free from the effect of force. Immortality and other amazing possibilities happen then. Your body will be totally immune from the pressures of the external forces. You will experience a complete range of positive energies.

Kali Yuga prompts us to focus on the amazing capabilities of body. When science is started to be used for selfish ends by evil people the protection to body becomes all the more important. Because at present science and evil technology are capable of attacking only the physical self. Not only that realizing the potential of the body and achieving them relieves us from a number of kali Yuga pressures.

More about this later.

 

[sravna]

Typically as evolution of soul and mind happen we get an evolved body. But an amazing truth is that evolution of body, mind and soul can happen in that order. So to quickly fix the problems of external environment, we can focus to get an evolved body first. This is the route of technology whether it is due to the knowledge of science or spirituality.

Now coming back to the topic, the body, mind and soul are designed to be free of any pain or suffering and fend off the effects of evil. We just have to seek and find the solutions. It is just that there is a gradualness in the experience. That is because of the way the physical reality is designed to be. But the experience will start to become unified as we find solutions and our reality will tend towards the ultimate reality.

 

[sravna]

There is another argument we can make for an all good God. When someone is all powerful he does not want or need to be evil. When you are all powerful you have everything you want within you and you do not depend on anything external to satisfy you.

With the above logic, the only purpose of existence of an alternate reality is for God to experience reality from outside as a witness which is what our scriptures say. The essence of spiritual reality is maintained but the mechanics are totally different.

 

[Brahmanyan]

திருமூலர் அருளிய திருமந்திரம் மிகவும் அற்புதமான படைப்பு, அவரது அனுபவத்திலிருந்து வந்தவை.
எனது தேடல் தொடர்கிறது....


பிரஹ்மண்யன்
பெங்களுரு.


*திருமூலரின் திருமந்திரம் காட்டும் உண்மை*
*"உரையற்றது ஒன்றை உரை செய்யும் ஊமர்காள்*
*கரையற்றது ஒன்றைக் கரைகாணல் ஆகுமோ*
*திரையற்ற நீர்போல் சிந்தை தெளிவார்க்குப்*
*புரையற்றிருந்தான் புரிசடையோனே (2915)*

*பொருள்;* கடவுளை வருணிக்க முடியாது.
கரை காண முடியாத கடல் போல அவன் எங்கும் நிறந்தவன்.

அவனைச் சொல்லுக்குள் அடக்க முயன்றவர்கள் எல்லாம் திணறிப் போய் ஊமையர் போல நிற்கின்றனர்.

"*கண்டவர் விண்டிலர். விண்டவர் கண்டிலர்"*

ஆனால் தெளிந்த மனது உடையோருக்கு அவன் எளிதில் புரிபடுவான்.
கூட்டத்திற்கு இடையிலேயும் இனிய தனிமை கொஞ்சம் பழகவேண்டும்
கூச்சலுக்கு இடையிலேயும் மனம் மௌன மொழி பேசவேண்டும்
மரம் செடியில் விலங்குருவில் என்னை நான் காணவேண்டும்
நலிந்தவரின் வலி உணர்ந்து துடைக்க என்கை ஓங்கவேண்டும்
நான் என்னும் மாயவலை என்னை விட்டு நீங்கவேண்டும்
தூணிலும் துரும்பிலும் அவன் ஆடும் ஆட்டம் காணவேண்டும்
காலம் என்ற வேலியினை தாண்டி நான் நீளவேண்டும்
உயிர் பறவை பறக்கும் முன் பிறவித் தளை நீங்கவேண்டும்."
_______ Facebook ல் படித்தது.
மிகவும் அற்புதமான விளக்கம்.

 

[ekaputra]

an all good God

All philosophy and schools of thought apart, basically God exists for those who believe in a Supreme Power.

And for those believers this God must be caring and kind, else their prayers and pleas for guidance, blessing and help will be in vain.

 

[renuka]

Folks I will tell you something out of my personal experience. I would be doing some disservice if I do not share it with others.

Body is a wonderful reality which is not at all properly understood. People talk about mind and soul but body is also an amazing entity. Scriptures have downplayed the amazing capabilities of body for good reason because they did not want people to have any distraction from the final goal of moksha.

It is possible for the body to be free from the effect of force. Immortality and other amazing possibilities happen then. Your body will be totally immune from the pressures of the external forces. You will experience a complete range of positive energies.

Kali Yuga prompts us to focus on the amazing capabilities of body. When science is started to be used for selfish ends by evil people the protection to body becomes all the more important. Because at present science and evil technology are capable of attacking only the physical self. Not only that realizing the potential of the body and achieving them relieves us from a number of kali Yuga pressures.

More about this later.

I agree with you that we dont have to present the physical body in bad light.

its the instrument for us to function in the physical plane.
we need to give it its due respect and maintenance but we do not need to get obsessed with it.

we just have to strike a balance of Mind Body and Atma( MBA)

in the state of balance is the sound of silence..in the sound of silence is the voice of God.

 

[sravna]

Atheists have an important role, in fact an equally important role as theists in the divine plan. As one strives to fathom the depth of divine thinking an almost impossible task to do well, one starts to get all embracing and see the unity in His creation. Great transformations happen and a feeling of oneness pervades. This experience attests to the nature of God and shows why he is all good.

 

[sravna]

I agree with you that we dont have to present the physical body in bad light.

its the instrument for us to function in the physical plane.
we need to give it its due respect and maintenance but we do not need to get obsessed with it.

we just have to strike a balance of Mind Body and Atma( MBA)

in the state of balance is the sound of silence..in the sound of silence is the voice of God.

I give the body the same status as mind. Even though it perishes we still need a body in future births as much we need a mind. Our physical self may be seen as connected from one birth to other as what we do in current birth determines the nature of body in the future birth.

It is more than an instrument. It has its own independent intelligence and functions in juxtaposition with mind. It needs to be revered and understood more to bring out its superlative capabilities.

 

[JR]

I think of god as good but having not so much power as we all generally assume.... therefore he does not control how prakruthi manifests herself in good people, a mix of good and bad and pure evil people. When srishti and pralaya happen, it is said all things reside in god. Therefore when they have to manifest, they have to do so, irrespective of his goodwill or power.

Just my simple view.