Is an imperfect God good?

Hello all!

I'm sorry for the lack of updates. As you may have seen from my other blog (Cuppa Tea), I was away for a weeks holiday in Amsterdam, and internet was a little hard to come by. :-). My apologies.

Naturally I have been thinking about this blog, religion and Christianity a lot. I started asking myself why I wanted to ask these questions, why it interests me so much (following on from my post yesterday). I think that this comment from 'Mattie' sums it up:

"This has little to do with faith, and much more to do with psychology. Maybe you should do your exploring there."

Whilst this is not the most interesting comment I have received, it is the only one that gave me a flash of realisation. I am exploring human psychology. What interests me is not so much religion and Christianity, but where they come from, their reasons for existing, and how they impact on individual human lives and humanity. Hence 'to find out WHY people believe'. So this is my first question for today. Why do you believe in God? And following that, why do you follow religion doctrines? Let me analyse these for a second.

The most logical answer to the first question (and the one I expect to come up the most) is "because, having analysed the evidence and read the bible, I have concluded that there is enough evidence to convince me that God exists in the form that Christianity describes". It is the second question that is a little bit difficult. Some answers I can think of (and indeed have received before):

1. Because I want to go to heaven
2. Because God defines what is good, and I want to be a good person
3. To bring glory to God, regardless of the consequences
4. Because they have a beneficial impact on my everyday life

Let me be clear - if there is a heaven, I want to go to it. All rational humans would. However, this is not a reason for believing in God or being religious (see question 2 of my first post Where is God?). I also have trouble with reason 2. I do not like the idea that God 'defines what is good'. I understand that, by definition, He is perfect, and therefore can do no wrong, and therefore defines good. However, I am very willing to accept that God has flaws (question 3 - does He?). The Greeks thought they did, so the idea is not so far fetched. Look around. If God was perfect, and He loved all humans, why did he create cancer and AIDS? Why does he give the already starving Africans drought and locusts? Why do natural disasters kill so many innocent humans? Indeed, if He loves humans, why is he letting us self destruct? Are we an experiment gone wrong to Him? Or are we His sons and daughters? If it is the latter, when will He make the world a better place?

The second part of reason 2 does not work for everyone as well. As I asked in this post, would you still be 'good' if doing so sent you to hell? Some said 'yes'. I predict that on a global scale, you are very much in the minority.

The 3rd reason seems silly to me. It portrays humans as God's slaves. You might say to me that God created me, and that I owe Him everything. I could say the same as my parents. However, I question their orders and morals. Terrible things have happened in this world because people try to 'bring glory to God', believing blindly that they are serving their Lord. Questioning orders, laws, rules, beliefs and morals is what makes us human.

I have absolutely nothing to say against reason 4, except to throw it right back at you. I do not always live my life according to strict Christian values, because they do not have a beneficial impact on my everyday life. In fact, I think that there might be people out there who live a Christian life without being as certain of God's existence as most of you seem to be. Their attitude: 'it brings something extra to my life, and if it's true, that's a bonus'. Are they going to hell? (That was question 4.)

We are back to my original belief when I started this blog. I think that as long as you lead a good life, try to be a good, virtuous person, and regret your mistakes, you can look forward to heaven, in whatever form it is, and God's love, in whatever form He is. Praying is not necessary, church is not necessary, and perhaps belief is not necessary. Tell me why I am wrong without quoting from the bible, as I have decided that, for me, it is not a source reliable enough for me to base my life on.

Quick response to one of Amanda's comments. It is perfectly possible that some of the bible can be right, and some wrong. Imagine that it is NOT the word of God, but the story of the resurrection is true. Is that not possible? Or let me put it this way - imagine that the stories are true in their most basic forms - all the actual sentences ('and then he said...') are either slightly wrong, or completely wrong.

I have much more to say after being away for so long, but I shall let you ponder what I have written for a little bit. A quick word to Jim Jordan - thank you very much for all your responses (I think you have left the most comments). I owe you a personal reply, and it will come.

Remember people, be good, but doubt your goodness.