God Is “Good”

MON., JULY 16, 1990, 10:10 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM HALL

The discussion after the video presentations yesterday was both enlightening and frustrating. The nature of My actions in the earth with humans is no great puzzle. I have taught you, and you have learned well. And yet you realize… and you must… that what you know is not the best knowledge for all persons, even for all Christians. Therefore let it be enlightening that others have different views, and that some will hear what you offer as truth.

God is God. I am Who I am. I am the Supreme Power in this universe, and yet I use My power sparingly. God is good, by definition. Therefore it was good of God to let evil develop in the earth. And you are right… I even instigated the first evil, violent act by provoking Cain. He couldn’t attack Me, so he slew his brother Abel. And that continues to this day. A person has a grudge against another, but cannot confront this one. The anger is enacted against yet another. Or a person truly is angry with Me, but abuses someone else.

By definition I cannot be drawn into any comparisons of good and evil. It is silliness rather than blasphemy to argue that God is not good because He allows evil or apparent evil to flourish. What I do is good, even if it doesn’t match what humans, those in your culture, or even Christians, consider good to be. Yet the term “good” has no meaning if it has no alternative. That’s why I put the word good in “ ”’s. I am “good”, but this may not always match up with the human version of “good.”

The earth is perfect because I created it as such. Yet there are extremes in temperature and in weather that are very unpleasant, threatening, and even deadly for some. Tornadoes strike, and property is damaged and injures and deaths are results. Floods and droughts are less violent, but not, still, considered “good.” Then there are earthquakes, volcanic action, and other natural catastrophes that are of no great consequence if humans are not present. These actions were not designed to harm humans, but are just adaptations the earth makes to circumstances.

Human behavior and My goodness are even more complex. Before and during World War II your culture saw Germans and Japanese as ruthless people who took life indiscriminately. Now they are seen as industrious, hard-working creative people. Is this generation different than the last? When your white government took land from the Native Americans were you ruthless people. Are you different now? Was it all right… even good… to kill Koreans and Vietnamese to help maintain governments you favored? Is it good to allow tobacco to be a legal product, with the known harm that it causes?

As you well know, My interest in in spiritual growth, and I am vastly more aware than any of you how this occurs. If a spirit grows by being in a handicapped child with a short life I am pleased. For every incident, circumstance, or condition that is not “good” in human terms, there are those who grow spiritually from such. Efficiency is not one of My values, for I am in a state of timelessness. Spiritual life, the truly important life, is not bound by earth life. In fact, earth life may be of minor consequence to overall growth.

Is God “good” by allowing the daily increase in the population of humans here in the earth? Is God “good” when He allows conditions now that will make life harder in the future? Is God “good” when he allows deaths that reduce this excess population? I’ll say it again – it is silly to try to determine whether My actions or inactions are “good”, not so good, or bad.

Know always that I do have control. Nothing happens that I could not change, for better or for worse. Nothing happens about which I am not aware. With this knowledge it is appropriate to see a variety of conditions as good, even some that seem not to be. And yet you remain a mortal human, a Christian in a culture that defines bad and evil in certain ways. It is acceptable to be such a human, also.