Should a monotheistic God ever be considered good or great?

CoolJGS☺


If someone doesn't earn something then how can we say that that person is great? I will give you a simple example. People appreciate when someone becomes a self made millionaire. Such people are usually great innovators, hardworkers, entrepreneurs etc.etc. Such people get respect for achieving great things by starting from nothing (unless those self-made millionaires are corrupt). But the same respect is often not given to people who inherit an empire. That is unless those people improve the company or business they inherited. If the person who inherited something is not able to make a difference or leads to negative consequences then such a person is seen in negative light. God does not earn his power. It is already within him.



I didn’t say God's justice is blind. I said that God writes his own rules. You have to follow that. Sure, a person can write his own rules and he will be considered good by society if what he follows is good for humanity and doesn't cause harm to others. Ultimately God judges whether that person's conduct was good or not. If the person's rules were within the morality prescribed by God then the person will be considered good by God. But God does not need to go through the same to be considered good. He is not judged by another God. All he does is write down the rules. A person can be tested by situations and circumstances but God cannot be. He is ever unchanging entity. He can not become more good or less good with time.

My saying that God is not great or good should not be taken as if I am saying God is bad or evil. I am simply saying God is more or less an Object. A permanence.

CoolJGS☺



Tell me my friend who will judge God if God does not adhere to his/her laws? Just who will? If a judge does not follow the law then she will get caught by the system and another judge will replace her. Could it happen with God? It simply can't.


Implementing and adhering are one and same in his case. Because there is no outside agency to judge him/her. So the very moment the God writes the law he/she also fulfils them.


I didn’t get this one. Could you please expound? From my end I will try explain again that part. What I am saying is that there is very little meaning in adorning God with human qualities (greatness and goodness that I have used is in terms of human qualities, not in terms of beauty of a mountain). Monotheistic God by its very nature is all-powerful and unchanging. But his/her powers do not come from doing something great. Even before creation he/she has the same power. His powers do not increase or decrease with time. If that happened then God will not remain consistent.



Yeah, we do give token respect as a courtesy. But at end of the day when history is written it is people who actually do great things (according what is known at the time) are given respect.

In that case we will not offer him or her that much respect. I mean to say self-made millionaires who are innovators, researchers or creators of new products/services usually get the praise and are called great.



A mountain does nothing. It sits there accomplishing nothing. But seeing it, climbing it, realizing its size, seeing how much life it supports, etc... will may times evoke a "wow" out of people. And that's just a rock.
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Correct. You do make a good point, Smith. But we are here talking in sense of God as an animate being. I apologise that I didn’t make it clear in my OP.

CoolJGS☺


But people judging God is not the same as a judge judging people. We can't impose any penalty on God like a Judge can on potential law breakers.



You are half right. It is indeed impossible for God to go against his standards. But there is no 'if he did' clause attached. If he did then he wouldn't be God. Because he had made mistake in setting his standards. And this brings us to our original point. Writing Laws and adhering to them is the same thing for God.

We face consequences after death when God judges us. We are good or bad in God's eyes based on his judgement. We face consequences based on his judgement. But God has no judge to make him face consequences. I am sure even God won't consider himself in terms of being great or good. He is just God.



A God can't change, my dear. It would be a mathematical impossibility. God is not just a very very powerful being. His power is infinite. An infinite thing can not grow or change. There are no 2 infinite or 3 infinite. There is just infinite. If you take something out of infinite it is still infinite. That's mathematics. Now that we have established God's power can't change we will establish God's nature can't change either. God is also a perfect being. If he/she changes then it implies that his/her standards have changed. This implies dual standards on different occasions. This creates ethical and logical conflicts.



Any time we talk of greatness or write history we bestow greatness on people who have done great acts. A person who does charities while living life with honesty is considered great because he does good to others. God doesn't do charity. God has not earned his power or resources that he bestows on others. Those are simply his/her intrinsic qualities and power. If he creates beings then he has to provide resources. No charity in doing that. Also he doesn't lose anything while giving to others.



He can use less or more power but that doesn't mean God itself changes. His powers and his intrinsic nature stays the same.





I did not confuse respect with remembered. By giving that example I was merely differentiating between token respect for courtesy and real respect. You are right even those people who are not the part of history books have done a lot for humanity. But those people did get respect for that during their lifetimes by people who knew about them. Re: My point that God unlike humans does not deserve to be adorned with adjectives such as good because God doesn't have to face certain things that all humans face. God's judgement.




While I was talking about animate things and seeing God as a person, lets even discuss non-animate things. A mountain earns the respect and admiration that we give it. It is formed over millions of years and undergoes continuous change and many organic and volcanic processes. God is infinitely powerful from the beginning and his creation is not any scarifice of his infinite powers.

I am going to gym and have some other errands to run. Will get back to your post in a while.

Eλευθερί


Generally speaking if you look at any dictionary it will explain that monotheism is the doctrine that there is but one god. While what you are saying is theoretically possible that sometimes a monotheistic God may have characteristics at odds with what I describe (for example Dwaita school of Vaishnavism) it is generally implied by monotheism that God is the creator of every being. Because God is the only source of power from whom creation happens (because of his oneness) God is unborn. If she/he was born there would be another superior entity and thus monotheism will be refuted. I do not believe there are any major monotheistic religion that preaches that God had any birth.

I did not use God of Abraham as example because if I had used people would have not concentrated on topic and instead thrown insults on the God of Abraham. But even other major theistic religion imply that god is unborn. Hinduism is categorised as monism, monotheism, polytheism and pantheism based on what interpretation the scholar is making. Hinduism has got to say this in Svetasvatara Upanishad:


He who rules alone by His powers, who rules all the worlds by His powers, who is one and the same at the time of creation and dissolution of the world they who know Him become immortal.

There is one Ruler only who rules all the worlds by His powers. There is no one besides Him who can make Him the second. Shiva is present inside the hearts of all beings. Shiva creates all the worlds and maintains and finally withdraws them into Himself.

So the above verses from Upanishad clearly imply Shiva is second to none, infinite, unborn, and unchangeable (one and the same at time of creation and dissolution).


Many great mathematicians and scientists have suggested that maths is the language of the universe. But I am not imposing my own beliefs on God. By its very nature monotheism implies that God is infinite. If the God has a finite power then he is not a monotheistic God.

This is what a Christian commentator has to say about God.

Unfortunately the word infinite has not always been held to its precise meaning, but has been used carelessly to mean simply much or a great deal, as when we say that an artist takes infinite pains with his picture or a teacher shows infinite patience with her class. Properly, the word can be used of no created thing, and of no one but God. Hence, to argue about whether or not space is infinite is to play with words. Infinitude can belong to but One. There can be no second.

When we say that God is infinite we mean that He knows no bounds. Whatever God is and all that God is, He is without limit. And here again we must break away from the popular meaning of words. ”Unlimited wealth” and ”boundless energy” are further examples of the misuse of words. Of course no wealth is unlimited and no energy boundless unless we are speaking of the wealth and energy of God.

So it is monotheism which describes God as infinite. The intention of religion is to use infinite in its true sense. Not in sense that God has great powers. But in the sense that God has unlimited power or God is unlimited/infinite himself/herself.


If you would elaborate then I will be pleased to answer that.