God’s Motive
Apr 24, 2008 | I My Life | 695 ViewsLet’s assume in my post that God wrote the Bible, either directly or indirectly.
I’ve been thinking about the Bible recently, and God’s motive for writing it.
I’d imagine that God would want us to do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. For instance there’s the 10 commandments, and Jesus saying a lot of stuff about being nice to other people.
Why did God tell us that if we’re good we get into heaven, instead of just telling us why it’s good to be good, and letting us figure it out ourselves? If he did that, then only truly good people would get into heaven. Instead, with him telling us about heaven, he gave another reason for people to be good.
Surely he could explain the benefits of being good in the Bible without spoiling the prize? It smacks of being a very quick-and-dirty way to ensure people act nicely, instead of a more labourious way of actually getting people to be good.
The fact he mentioned it would make me think that it wasn’t God who wrote it, but people trying to exert control over the readers. Why would God want to spoil the ending? Why would God want to give nasty people a chance to get into heaven, just by paying lip-service to his words? Surely he’d want to teach us all to be nice people, instead of essentially saying “you can be a complete b**tard, but as long as you follow these rules, you’ll get into heaven, whether you mean them or not”.
I apologise for the rambling nature of this post, and I’d like to hear other peoples’ thoughts on it.
- AboveTopSecret.com
Matt Keegan Says:
God inspired the Bible to communicate with man. God is holy, perfect, He cannot accept sin and He never changes.
Man on the other hand is prone to sin, will often seek his own way, and desires to do everything but follow God. God created us to seek Him, but He doesn’t force Himself on us. Instead, he invites people to repent of their sins and seek Him for guidance.
No, you can’t earn your way to heaven and even the person whom you consider to be a bastard still has a chance to repent. Otherwise, Jesus’ death on the cross — which was the perfect sacrifice accepted by God for our sins — wouldn’t have any meaning. Without that sacrifice, we wouldn’t be able to spend eternity with God.
Instead, this act has a special meaning: he died so that you and I can be free. God isn’t impressed by our so-called “goodness” as what we consider to be good is never good enough. Instead, the person who trusts God through Jesus Christ is the one He will be begin to transform on earth and finish when we see Him face to face.
I realize that this is a bit lengthy, this answer, but you did ask the question. Keep thinking and explore for yourself too.
Apr 24, 2008, 10:18 amjeffmunro Says:
Although I enjoyed your post I must say that I am an atheist and do not believe in many of the different things that I mentioned such as heaven, Jesus Christ, or even a God or ‘higher being’ for that matter.
I enjoy having discussions about the subject but I often find it difficult to understand how someone can reason with religion when they have any understanding of Science. I’m a spirtual person but I don’t subscribe to any religions.
Apr 24, 2008, 7:40 pmJCB Says:
Another interesting thing to point out would be the difference between the God of the old testament and the God of the new testament.
While in the new testament God is portrayed to be forgiving and loving, this is not so in the old testament; God is very wrathful and punishing.
It should also be noted that God did not so much encourage people to be good to get into heaven directly, this is entirely the word of his supposed son; Jesus Christ.
To explain this could be quite difficult or hard depending on personal beliefs, but put simply; God is supposed to have written the old testament, and as such it is taken to be fact and truth; an account in which God is unforgiving, harsh and even what we could argue to be extremely unfair to the people he created. On the other hand we have the new testament; in this case it is known that the new testament was NOT written by god but is rather a gathering of many writings about the life of his supposed son which were written by a few different people at different times.
As such it could be concluded that God does not necessarily encourage us to be good but rather punishes whatever he perceives as bad (i.e. old testament God), and that either his son, out of pity or love, decided to shield us from this punishment should we meet what he considered reasonable guidelines for living, or the message of acting good could simply have been the various writers choosing that the promise of love and forgiveness would be more effective at spreading their new religion and/or church than would the threat of punishment and eternal damnation (i.e. new testament).
Well, that’s my two cents for the moment. Might decide to write more later.
Oh, and I hope you’re enjoying your first few days away from school Jeff.
Apr 24, 2008, 8:27 pmMatt Keegan Says:
Actually, there is no difference between the God of the new testament and the God of the old testament. In the old testament times God was teaching His people, Israel, instructing them on how to choose between him and other Gods. They failed miserably. Nevertheless, God was patient with His people, most of whom continually fell into sin.
In the new testament, Jesus is the perfect sacrifice for sin, replacing the burnt offerings that the Jews had to present regularly for their sins. The earlier offerings never took away their sin, but they were symbolic of the offering God would present in His son, Jesus Christ. Whereas, in the old testament God worked through one people group, Israel, today He is working through all of the nations — the gentiles.
Speaking about science, that same “friendly” science is the one that can now destroy the earth with one flick of its fiery dragon tail. Quite naturally, I choose to trust God to keep some semblance of order on this earth (though the nations rage against Him), knowing that he preserves where man seeks to destroy.
Apr 24, 2008, 11:49 amJCB Says:
First, to address your first paragraph:
In the old testament, prior to God “instructing” his supposedly chosen people, we should remember that He flooded THE ENTIRE WORLD without any warning other than to ONE old man. This is the act of a vengeful, judgmental God, not some loving deity. God then proceeds to put HIS people through pain, suffering, oppression, slavery and so on. It could be argued that other people did this, but that would simply imply that God didn’t care about his own people enough to help them without them first dying for him and unquestioningly obeying him.
Incidentally, as God created ALL people he should consider them ALL to be his chosen people, whereas the God of the old testament regularly plays favourites and seems unwilling to admit that every act of evil is in fact traceable to him, as HE created man and gave them the ability to do such things.
To argue that this God is anything like the God described by Jesus or the apostles is quite frankly a display of madness or flawed logic. The new testament God is willing to forgive people because they KILLED HIS SON. The old testament God would have unleashed plagues, floods and other such disasters upon any who would have dared to even THINK of doing such a thing to a man that is supposedly his own son.
As to the last paragraph:
You says the nations rage against God, this is a blatant lie. Most nations in the world are primarily theistic. Those who do not believe in God are generally not in any position of power and in many nations are treated as second rate citizens if not outright traitors.
Regarding the “he preserves where man seeks to destroy.” part of this paragraph, this is an erroneous point. According to the bible itself, man created great cities, cultures, and so on, whereas God flooded the world, plagued it’s inhabitants and played cruel little jokes on them too (Abram/Abraham anybody?). Hence it would be more valid that while man both destroys and creates, God only created once and has spent much of his time since destroying.
And this is all, of course, only if you believe in God, and more specifically the Judeo-Christian God.
Apr 24, 2008, 12:09 pmMatt Keegan Says:
I get where you’re coming from, JCB. I won’t argue with you — you’ve already judged God. Funny, you a mere mortal, are instructing our perfect God how to “behave” towards mankind.
To cut to the quick — yes, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life — the only way to God, the source of our salvation. Evidently, you aren’t as familiar with the Bible as you claim that you are. Otherwise, you would have realized that God relented on passing judgment numerous times.
Your heart has been darkened by sin and you must repent or, yes, you will face judgment. It is your choice, of course, but I would certainly invite you to consider that what God offers to you is much more fulfilling and lasting than flawed human logic.
Apr 24, 2008, 2:30 pmJCBJCB Says:
“I get where you’re coming from, JCB. I won’t argue with you — you’ve already judged God. Funny, you a mere mortal, are instructing our perfect God how to “behave” towards mankind.” Instructing? Hardly. Criticizing would be a more appropriate term in this case, and I am more than willing to criticize ANY supposedly “perfect” being that chooses to create an imperfect world and toy with the lives of its creations.
“Otherwise, you would have realized that God relented on passing judgment numerous times.” If I were to theoretically be in a position of power over a large group of people and I chose to kill many of them whenever they did not please me or did not bend to my will absolutely and then decided to spare a few once in a while, would I not be considered a tyrant and a murderer? To exclude a being from such terms or judgment simply because that said being claims to be perfect or out of fear of it is either to be ignorant or a coward.
“Your heart has been darkened by sin and you must repent or, yes, you will face judgment.” Who is God to decide what is to be sin when he himself does not follow these rules. To preach is one thing, it is another altogether to practice what one preaches. When a supposedly perfect being comes along that has never lied, murdered, coveted, etc, I will give that being a chance to prove it is worth following and believing.
“It is your choice, of course, but I would certainly invite you to consider that what God offers to you is much more fulfilling and lasting than flawed human logic.” If one cannot understand God through human logic, than what good is such a God? Pascal’s wager may err on the side of caution, but I would not choose to be untrue to myself simply to satisfy some being with a massive ego and a massive superiority complex. I am not particularly inclined to believe in a supposedly loving, perfect being that threatens all that do not bend to its will absolutely with eternal damnation.
Finally, what makes you so sure your God exists? He is neither the first God to have been believed in, nor is he going to be the last. You believe in the Judeo-Christian god because a book says he is so, then why do you not believe in the Norse gods, Xenu or the flying Spaghetti monster? I may be an atheist, but as are you when it comes to all but one god, so do tell, what makes this God real that does not do so for every other supposed god out there?
Apr 24, 2008, 7:07 pm