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The Bible teaches that God is good…
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! (Psalm 34:8, NLT)
Scripture also says God is great…
Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness (Psalm 145:3).
In Christian literature over the last 2000 years, these two verses are frequently found describing God’s goodness and greatness. We serve a good and great God.
A famous Scottish philosopher by the name of David Hume, who lived from 1711 to 1776, took these concepts of “goodness” and “greatness” and turned them upside down from why we praise God to why we should deny God. Below is his argument…
- Is God willing to prevent evil but not able? Then God is impotent.
- Is he able but unwilling? Then he is malevolent.
- Is he both willing and able, but doesn’t? Then he is evil.
David Hume’s logic concludes that if God is able but can’t, He is not great; if He can but doesn’t, He is not good; and if God admits evil exists and doesn’t do anything about it, then God himself is evil. This good/great/evil argument still exists today as a favorite argument against God by atheists, agnostics, and skeptics.
In my opinion, Hume’s argument fails to account for two other tenets: the freewill of mankind and the sacrificial life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. If I could discuss Hume’s philosophy with David Hume, I would explain that a loving God created humankind, who then rebelled. God could have immediately exterminated everyone, but instead put in place a historical plan for redemption through Jesus.
Thus, His goodness (not killing all of us who deserve it) and His greatness in sacrificing and resurrecting Jesus (the greatest miracle ever) describe the Bible’s antidote to atheistic and agnostic skepticism — grace!
In my 49 years as a pastor, I often dealt with Hume’s goodness/greatness/evil argument. People would mention this argument, though most didn’t know about Hume, because when life goes horribly wrong, they inherently question the goodness and greatness of God. I was asked many times, “How could God allow this?” Or “God must not love me. I did something wrong, and God is punishing me.” We can’t help but challenge the goodness and greatness of God during trials.
God doesn’t mind, and He doesn’t condemn our doubts. He understands our pain, and though total understanding will not be revealed until heaven, His Spirit writes in a famous chapter of the Bible about the goodness of God and how His greatness will resolve everything.
The passage that I’m referring to is 1 Corinthians 13, the famous chapter on love, but also of God’s greatness …
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13:11-12, ESV).
When our great God brings us to heaven, and we see the goodness of Jesus face to face, our doubts will be eliminated, our questions answered, and we will praise the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit forever.
The goodness and greatness of God. Amen!