God’s Character
God’s Character – Do We Understand It Correctly?
Here is Light on the Dark Side of God
God’s character is an area that I especially want to provide more information about. For now, here is the description from the back cover of the book Light on the Dark Side of God:
Why would a loving God burn humans eternally for the sins of one short lifetime?
How did the gentle Jesus perfectly reflect the “fire-breathing” Old Testament God who, according to Scripture, He came to reveal?
How can a “killing” God tell humans “Thou shalt not kill” and yet to pattern their character after His own?
Why didn’t God destroy human rebellion early-on, before it became full blown?
Do humans really have free will, with God planning to execute those whose choices He does not like?
How does “the wrath of God” apply to our generation?
Follow the trail of Biblical clues in Light on the Dark Side of God to an amazing and wonderful new picture of God.
Now you may download a pdf file of the complete book directly to read from your own computer. Click on the following link:
Light on the Dark Side of God e-book, 589kb instant download
You will need Adobe Reader (the latest version is recommended) installed on your computer in order to open and read this ebook. You can get Adobe Reader here (a new window will open so you can download it without leaving this page).
The author of Light on the Dark Side of God does a very good job, I believe, in explaining the apparent discrepancies that could be mentioned on this topic. M. M. Campbell uses the cross of Christ to measure theories about the character of God. This is extremely good information. We are told that to love God is the most important commandment:
“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” (Mark 12:30)
We can only love God through an appreciation of His character and what He has done for us. God never looked better to me before I read this book and I just want others to be able to read it also and come to a better appreciation of His wonderful character.
If you are skeptical about the idea that God is love and that He does not in fact hurt or destroy even His enemies, you need to go to the Does God Destroy? page.
What is your most pressing question about the character of God?
Have you ever wondered “if God is so good, why is there so much suffering and sin in this world?” Or perhaps you have other questions about God. Maybe you have asked “Why would God do …?” or “Why would God say …?” Go ahead and ask them here. I will attempt, going from what He says in His word, to answer.
December 27, 2010 @ 10:43 am
Once Saved, Always Saved?
Is once saved, always saved a correct doctrine? Please comment about it. (Corozol, Puerto Rico)
December 27, 2010 @ 10:44 am
Answer: I will write more on that question in the future. For now, consider these thoughts.
Love is not love unless it is freely given. Love cannot be forced. One of the highest principles that God (Who is love – 1 John 4:8) operates on is that of granting his intelligent, created beings the capacity of free will and the freedom to use it. That’s why we are given admonitions such as:
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; … as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Josh 24:15)
“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev 22:17)
Does it make any sense for God to be wooing us to decide for Him; pleading with us to give our heart to Him and then, the moment we do it, He takes away our free will?
“But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.” (Eze 18:24)
No, once saved, always saved is not a Biblical doctrine. It gives its adherents a false sense of security. Some even, in many ways, live like the devil giving a very poor image to non-Christians. Ray
May 30, 2012 @ 10:43 am
Once saved always saved is evil.
That phrase best captures what I have come to learn about the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which Jesus emphasized that he hates in the Bible. It’s a doctrine which says that Christians can do as they wished once they’ve confessed Christ. This led many people astray and allowed for immorality in some of the early churches. Unfortunately, we still have it in the church over 2,000 years later.
September 28, 2019 @ 10:43 am
First, Once-Saved-Always-Saved is not about continuing in sin. “Go and sin no more!” Once-Saved-Always-Saved is the security of knowing if one is a born-again believer, we have assurance that we have eternal life. God gives us His Word that if we believe in the Gospel, the death and resurrection of Christ, that we are saved. Salvation also is about love…. When you love Him, you keep His Commandments! It is automatic in the born-again believer. If you are not sure you are saved, and if you live in fear of every little sin you do that you will go to Hell, that is not assurance. How sad! It is all of Christ folks, nothing of us. Salvation is of God and a promise to us if you firmly are Abraham’s Seed …you are firmly grafted into the New Covenant. Once-Saved-Always-Saved is truth! God bless!
December 27, 2010 @ 3:07 pm
Where did evil come from? Who created it? Why didn’t God start the race of man all over again after the fall? (Gaborone, Botswana)
December 28, 2010 @ 3:08 pm
Evil originated in the mind of Lucifer:
“Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” (Eze 28:13-15)
God did not create evil. However, He took a risk in created intelligent beings with the capacity to love or reject Him.
Go to the page http://www.jesus-resurrection.info/origin-of-sin.html for more information on the origin of evil. That page and the next one http://www.jesus-resurrection.info/what-is-sin.html talk about God’s options in dealing with sin and why He chose to allow it to “run its course” to the point, ultimately, of self-destruction.
You don’t shoot your children when they misbehave and just start over again. The emotional and mental pain we go through in dealing with our children is an illustration (perhaps intended as such) of what God goes through in dealing with His created beings.
December 14, 2011 @ 8:44 am
I Want to Know God
I want to know God better. I love him and I believe in him and I trust in him! I just want to know all about his characteristics and be one with him!
(Joshua, Texas)
December 15, 2011 @ 8:44 am
Well, Praise God! Since you are getting a copy of the free book offered on this site – Light on the Dark Side of God, I would suggest you read that. It will make God look better than you have probably ever seen Him before. And the more you understand and appreciate His character the more you will love Him and want to be like Him (or, as you say “be one with Him.”)
God’s fundamental characteristic is love. The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:8 that “God is love.” This is rather unique. Other verses tell us that God is truthful, or righteous or just (adjectives) but they do not say that God is truth or righteousness or justice (nouns). God is not just loving but He is love itself. The truth about God’s character is truly wonderful.
He forgives all our sins. He does not tell us to love our enemies and then burn His own. (See the page about eternal fire.) And there is much more good news about God. He is just so much better than most religions portray Him to be. I will be adding more pages on this website to describe God’s character in the future – watch for them.
June 2, 2012 @ 9:35 pm
How Could God Do That?
How can God send people to Hell if He claims to love us so much? (Boardman, OH)
June 2, 2011 @ 9:36 pm
Read the page Eternal Fire – Loving God? for a partial explanation. The other part you need to know is the correct meaning of the word translated as “hell.” Hell is translated from various original words.
In the Old Testament, it comes from the Hebrew word “sheol” and is used to refer to the place or state of the dead where all people go at death. (They are there in a state of unconscious death, not some unscriptural spirit life.)
“For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” (Eccl 9:5)
Even righteous Jacob went to Sheol at death.
“And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.” (Gen 37:35)
In the New Testament, it commonly comes from the original word “hades” which is translated 10 times (in the KJV) as “hell” and 1 time as the “grave.” Look at all 11 uses (Matt 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:26; Acts 2:27, 31; 1 Cor 15:55; Rev 1:18, 6:8; 20:13, 14) and you will see that it is never describing a place of torment. The one possible exception being the parable (a non-literal story to illustrate a point) of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16.
God does not send people to a place of eternal burning. He tells us to love our enemies. He does not burn His own enemies in some form of eternal torment.
June 3, 2012 @ 6:52 am
Hi Ray,
I love digging into this topic and hence got to your page for the very first time. The last message of mercy to be given to the world is a revelation of His (God’s) Character of Love. The above book I have and is highly recommendable to any student of the Character of God message. Other books in line with this I find are “God’s Character the Best News in the Universe” by Dr. Douglin (www.truthinjesus.org) and “As He Is” edited by Kevin Straub. Have you had contact with these books?
I was just saying I am gladdened on how this message on the CoG is exploding!
Thank you and God Bless you in His vineyard and trust that through the mighty power of God and His marvelous grace we will be enabled to see one another at least in the day of Jesus’ coming.
Kind regards, Nathan.
March 22, 2020 @ 3:57 pm
God and Natural Evil
The greatest threat to my Christian faith is the existence and abundance of Natural evils which have existed since the beginning of time eons before humanity and eons before Adam and Eve. A suffocating, unbreathable atmosphere in the early earth during the Precambrian era, intense cold, intense heat, violence, predation, killing, venomous creatures such as jellyfish, stonefish, spiders, scorpions, centipedes, parasites such as screw worm flies, mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, lice, excrement, mold, mildew, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, birth defects, miscarriages, and worst of all, the legion of diseases which torture and kill man and beast. Suffering, death, and extinctions since prehistoric times. And frightening monsters such as sharks, crocodiles, Dinosaurs, lake serpents, and sea serpents. A loving merciful creator God would not have created such horrible things. It just doesn’t make sense to me.
March 22, 2020 @ 3:58 pm
God is good. The world is bad.
Dear Ray thank you for posting my comment. I know it’s a very uncomfortable and difficult topic to get into which is Natural evil. But it’s important to not let it destroy our faith in God.
Author Greg Boyd has one solution to this problem. God didn’t create Natural evils. Angelic beings, or Satan and demons created Natural evils according to Mr.Boyd. Or, there’s another interesting theory, which is this: Satan and demons, while being unable to create anything out of nothing, do have the power and the ability to change and corrupt things which already exist. In God’s original good creation, there was no violence, no venomous creatures, no parasites, no killing, and no diseases. The world may have originally been made into a paradise and a peaceable kingdom until Satan and demons entered the picture and ruined it. For example, mosquitoes and centipedes may have originally been peaceful herbivores until Satan and demons changed and corrupted them by transforming them into disease causing, blood sucking parasites and venomous predators. It’s really Satan and demons who turned things evil and who corrupted the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, the climate and weather, and even the atmosphere. All the diseases may have been caused by the Devil and demons or fallen angels. If we believe that Satan and demons are behind all the Human evils and sin then why don’t we suspect them being behind all the Natural evils as well? A lot of people will say that believing in Satan and demons either creating or causing Natural evils is antiquated belief, but I don’t see why. Maybe Greg Boyd is right. This is the best argument for the existence of Natural evil and for the existence of Human evil or Moral evil. God did not create any of these evils. These evils were either created by or caused by the Devil or demons to hurt us and to destroy our faith in God. We have to struggle and not let these evil entities to destroy our faith, as this is one of their goals.
We need the help of God and Jesus in our struggle against the Devil and his minions. The Devil and his cohorts are ruling the world. It’s very frightening that these invisible evil entities are out there.
As far as the millions and billions of years of radio carbon dating and evolution, the answer is we really don’t know the age of things, and a lot of it is just human guess work. After a certain length of time radio carbon dating no longer becomes accurate and no longer becomes reliable. Planet earth maybe no older than 62 million years old and not 4.6 billion years old. Thank you for reading my friend.
March 22, 2020 @ 3:58 pm
Vic, you are so right. All those evils from a loving God do not make sense. So how can we make sense of it? For God to have designed the earth to develop according to the evolutionary theory of survival of the fittest and death of the rest does not seem right either.
I’ll give you one quote from Charles Darwin’s book The Origin of Species:
“To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree.”
There are good explanations for all of it. First of all, we tend to take all of what science teaches as truth – it is not. As a trained biologist who took a number of courses promoting biology and as one who has also looked at it from the other side, I can say that the evolutionary theory does not hold water. When you really look into it, there are a great number of assumptions built into the standard model. Here is one:
Much of the dating of fossils by paleontologists is based on the particular sedimentary layers they are found in. On the other hand, geologists make use of fossils to date the rock layers they are studying. Circular reasoning at its best!
There is a totally different way to understand all of this which, of course, requires much more explanation as there is so much involved. You could explore some of the many good creationism research websites that are available. I would urge you even more so to focus on understanding the “loving merciful creator God” that you mentioned. He is real and there is great joy in understanding what He is like. I would invite you to visit and spend some time on my other website https://www.characterofgod.org.