www.DoYouKnowWhy.org
Some Of
The Characteristics
Of God
Many perceptions about Good are simply incorrect. Many feel that if God exists, He is vindictive and is only interested in punishing us for his own pleasure, or that He isn't all powerful, or limited in other ways. This is anything but the correct understanding of God.
Let’s consider a few observations about the characteristics of God. We've seen significant evidence for the existence of the God of the Bible and that the Bible could only have come to us through God. If the logical conclusion is that the Bible is true, the following verses are true, and true even if we don't want to believe it or like it. As we all will wonder as to why something happens (or doesn't happen), it is human to question those things, with some feeling that these are not true
GOD IS ALL POWERFUL
Genesis 18:14 "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" This is a rhetorical question with the obvious answer being “No”.
Psalm 147:5 "Great is our Lord and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure."
Isaiah 40:28 "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable."
1 Chronicles 29:11 "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all."
Again, God has all the power to be able to do what power can accomplish. but somethings are outside of power to accomplish. God cannot violate the laws of logic – He cannot make a square circle even with unlimited power.
GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING
147:5 "Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure."
1 John 3:20 "For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything."
Isaiah 40:28 "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable"
God knew what the implications of creating people with free will would be even before He ever created Angels or people. He knew that our free will would result in us sinning, which would require Jesus Christ’s death on the cross to pay our debt.
GOD IS GOOD
Luke 18:19 "And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone."
1 John 1:5 "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."
Psalm 34:8 "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!"
It is because of God’s goodness that he freely paid the sin debt that we owe, so that we can spend eternity with Him in heaven.
GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE
Malachi 3:6 "For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed."
Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."
Numbers 23:19 "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?"
Since God does not change, his promises will never change. His love for us will never change, and his judgment on sin will never change. We can fully rely on Gods promises.
GOD HAS CREATED US WTH A FREE WILL
John 1:12 "But to all who did receive Him, who believed in his name, He gave the right to become children of God"
- We have the free will to receive Him.
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
- We have the free will to confess our sins to Him.
Acts 3:19 "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out"
- We have the free will to repent and turn to Him
Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."
- We have the free will to draw near to Him
Since He has given us free will, we have the choice to choose his will or our own. Since we live in a sinful fallen world our natural tendency is to choose sin, and when we sin we face the consequences of our choices.
God loves us so much that he created us not as robots but with free will to freely choose or reject Him. He did this even though He knew that our free will would result in our committing sin, and that the only sufficient payment for the sin we commit would the the brutal death of his Son on a cross. And because He knows the future, He already knew this before he ever created angels or humans.
1 John 4:16 "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
Romans 5:8 "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."
God has a love for us that goes beyond our understanding. He loves us so much that he planned to die to pay the penalty for the sin we would choose to commit, which he knew would happen, before He ever created us, and which He has no blame for.
God is just and righteous so like a good judge, He must punish sin. But he also paid the penalty for our sin, for all who will choose to accept the payment He made for our sin, by taking on Himself the penalty for our sin.
1 John 1:8 "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
Romans 5:8 "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but the Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ"
As we saw earlier, if God didn’t punish sin, he wouldn’t be a good God. No judge would be good who let offenders off. The way God solves the dilemma of having to judge our sin without our paying for it is to pay that penalty Himself by being crucified on a cross.
I’m reminded of a saying I heard years back which really made an impact on me.
“I asked Jesus how much He loved me?
And He said ‘This Much’
And He stretched out His arms, and He died”
God is not responsible for the sin we commit nor the decisions we make:
Is God Responsible for Evil?
www.gty.org/Resources/Articles/A189
Did God create sin?
http://carm.org/questions/about-god/did-god-create-sin
Original Sin - Are We Condemned by the Sin of Adam and Eve?
www.godandscience.org/apologetics/original-sin.html
Considering the specific truths already indicated in this section, who has the greater price to pay for us to spend eternity with the perfect loving God of the Universe? Is it we, who have only to accept Jesus’ death on the cross for our sin and show this choice through the decisions we make in how we live our lives to honor Him? Or is it God, who is perfect and knew that creating us would require that his Son would be brutally executed on a cross, and knew this before he ever created us or angels?
Considering the original objection and that we almost always focus on ourselves, there is a statement that comes to mind,
“It’s not about you!”
( . . and it’s not about me either)
Again, who is it all really about? It is about God. The one who created 100 billion galaxies out of nothing and who knows everything. Since he knows everything, he knows that the only possible way to create us with free will, to be able to freely choose Him, would also result in us choosing to sin and choosing against His desires for our lives. He also knew that our choosing to sin would require the brutal death of His son. He knew all this before He ever created angels and humans and still decided to create us. Why? Because he loves us and wants us to be able to spend eternity with Him.
Do you think that the God of the Universe who knows everything, could have created us with freewill but without the ability to sin? To believe this is to presume to know something the God of the Universe doesn't know is possible. Does it sound logical for us to believe that we know something that God doesn't? Since God knows everything, he must know that creating us with freewill but without the ability to exercise that freewill and possibly sin is not possible. Just like it’s not possible for God to create square circles. He decided to create us anyway, knowing we would sin because of our free will. And He decided to do this before he created angels or humans knowing that He would pay the price for the sin we have committed and will commit. Again, he did this why? So that we could spend eternity with Him. The only requirement on our part is to truly accept His payment for our sin.
If God knows everything, do you think if there was another way to resolve our sin problem besides having his creation (mankind) brutally murder his Son, don't you think he would have used that way?
In light of these truths if we choose to reject Christ’s payment for our sin then the only other option is that we pay for our own sin. God is the only one who has the ability to adequately pay the penalty for our sin. Considering we are unqualified to pay the penalty that must be paid for our sin we are still guilty. If we choose to try to pay for our own sin and don’t accept Christ’s payment on the cross, our sin will remain unforgiven, and we will suffer the penalty for our sin. Sin must be punished. Not wanting to believe in this God because we don’t like his plan doesn't change this reality.
To put all of this in perspective, look at the question again.
"I Can’t Believe In A God Who Would Create Me Knowing I Would Sin, and Then Hold Me Guilty For Sin He Knew I Would Commit."
Again, who is this statement focusing on, God or us? There are 2 “I”s and 2 “Me”s. This statement is focused on the one making the statement and not considering all the information. Again, it’s not about us, it is about God. For us to ask a question like this only focuses on ourselves. It may be sincere but it doesn't consider God. When we only focus on ourselves we miss the big picture, and in this situation, the picture is HUGE!
Let’s consider the specifics again. The incomprehensible God of this Universe who created all 100 billion galaxies, each having an estimated 100 billion stars. This God knows everything and loves us so much that He created a plan to resolve our sinful condition, which require nothing from us. A plan whereby He would pay the debt we owe by willingly dying by one of the most brutal forms of execution ever devised by human kind; the same humans he died to save. And all that is required of us is to truly accept the priceless gift He offers. And somehow we feel we have the right to complain to this God that His plan is unfair to us?
Remember again, this perfect God chose to pay the sin debt we owe. He did nothing wrong. He is completely innocent. We deserve to be in His place on the cross, but He took our place and paid our debt. And why did he do all this? For no other reason than because He loves us so much and wants us to be able to spend eternity with him. Do you now see the amazing picture of His love and mercy?
I know that I have repeated many of the points many times in this section. I did so because of the tremendous importance of understanding this information, and the importance of having the correct perspective when we think about what is fair and what we truly deserve. I hope this has given you some things to think about, and if you are still thinking “but what about . . . “, I hope this has possibly even as Greg Koukl says, “put a stone in your shoe” , cause you to think, but in a good way.
Next Page: What About Challenges From Other Religions?