S3E6: Why would you think that God is good?

08/01/22 • 37 min

Is God good? And if God is good, why are moral laws and commands in the Bible, sometimes not so good? And of course, why do bad things happen, if God is good?
But, before we can ask those questions, we should've asked this more basic question: Why would you think that God is good?
What does it mean to say that God is "good"?
We will begin to explore this question in this episode. Then, we can start asking what the Bible is trying to teach us about morality and goodness.
[ Update: the previous version of this episode has been split into 2 episodes. The new version of this episode expands on the first half, and explores the Genesis account of the city of Sodom and its destruction. The next episode (S3E7) will expand on the second half. ]
1:56 Morality, evolution, and gods
9:55 God, as Being, Truth, Goodness
18:24 Judgment of God, revisited
23:00 The account of Sodom’s destruction
29:19 The meaning of Sodom’s destruction
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Previous Episode

S3E5: Let's start thinking about the personality of God

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For ages, people have ascribed personality to their deities. What was their reasoning?
And what would be the personality of God that speaks forth all things? How should we start thinking about this? And what about Abram, Sarai, and their family? What was the personality of God that spoke to them? How did they begin to learn Who God was in their lives, and what did they experience?
2:12 Our cognitive predisposition to belief in gods
8:40 How we ascribe personality to gods
14:39 What would be the personality of “God”?
19:00 The role of Promise in personal relationship with God
25:50 Abram and Sarai try to fulfill God’s promise themselves
30:25 God makes a separate promise to Hagar
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Next Episode

S3E7: Why do moral views change in the Bible?

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Moral teachings in the Bible, especially in the Hebrew portion (the Christian Old Testament) pose a problem. There are rules and regulations that do not seem very important to us, while there are practices, such as slavery, God either seems to ignore, or even condone. And we're not even getting to the laws that God commands that seem too harsh or even barbaric by our standards today.
Then, to make this even more confusing, the New Testament portion of the Bible sometimes seem to present new moral teachings. God commands Abraham that the male members of God's people must be circumcised; apostle Paul writes that Christians who now belong to God do not need to be circumcised. People in the time of the Old Testament engaged themselves in terrifyingly savage wars; Jesus Christ teaches his disciples to love their enemies, and instead of condemning people for their sins, died for them.
Why do moral views change in the Bible?
Or, is it perhaps, the Bible is trying to teach something far more important regarding morality than any particular law or precept?
3:09 The problem of outdated morality in the Bible
8:24 Why God accommodates to our moral level
17:20 What the Bible is teaching about morality
23:58 Why Christians shouldn't follow some OT laws
27:15 What the Bible teaches is people
30:49 Where God seems to lead Abraham by conversing with him
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What do you mean God speaks? - S3E6: Why would you think that God is good?

Transcript

[ pendulum ]

Religion and morality, since time immemorial, have been paired together. Societies and cultures across the world have drawn their moral rules and practices from their religious teachings, believing that their gods judge their lives and actions. And in that particular respect, Christianity is no different.

However, this has raised some questions regarding morality and the Bible in our day. There are practices in the