Establishing the Goodness of God

Before anything else existed, there was God. For our purposes, we must define God. God is the infinite, uncaused source of all things. He is the original form of existence. Before him was nothing – nothing material, no laws of physics or nature, no concept of good and evil. This is important. Since God is the original form, there is nothing prior to determine that his actions are good or evil. There is no notion of right or wrong; there simply is God.

With no existing standard of right or wrong, any action by God is self-justified. God himself becomes the standard, and his action can be thought of as good because there is nothing to deem it otherwise. From our vantage, good is a decision, option, or outcome that falls somewhere on a spectrum between good and bad. God is good because he simply is.

Let’s change gears for a bit. The existence of something negates the nonexistence of that same thing in the same place. The easiest way is to think of this in terms of light. Darkness cannot exist where there is light. Light cannot also be dark; it can only be light. This same thinking can be applied to the idea of God. God is good by simple virtue of his existence. He cannot be wrong or “dark” because his very existence is the standard – he is light. Only things that deviate from an existing standard can be considered erroneous, or “evil.” This is not an option for God because he can never deviate from himself, and there is nothing prior to him from which to deviate. God is the reference point.

Thus, God’s very existence is what gives birth to the notion of good and evil, or the “standard and deviation.” God is the self-sufficient good. Because we are not God, we can choose between a standard or a deviation – or good and evil. God cannot.

Context through Creation

Since God is infinite, he has an infinite awareness of all things and infinite power – omniscience and omnipotence. This allows him to take any course of action with prior knowledge of their outcomes. God is aware that the concepts of good and evil exist because he exists.

Since God is all-knowing and all-good, the actions he take ultimately serve to promote the most amount of good. God cannot experience anything other than good, but through omniscience he is aware that there can exist possibilities that deviate from his standard. Thus, he knows there can exist a realized possibility of evil, though he cannot be associated with “error” in any way as the standard. It is this knowledge that makes human existence and suffering a logical necessity.

God created others to share his goodness with, knowing that evil can only become a possibility through the creation of other beings which are not God. When deviation from the standard, or God, is a possibility, then the standard can be observed and given context. A thing cannot deviate from itself. Deviation is only permitted when there is a discrepancy between two things. With the creation of other beings, God can indubitably be recognized as the source of good, or the standard. As the source of good, he can share this goodness with others; one could say this is love. This communion of goodness, or love, is not possible without others to share it with. It was the most loving thing he could do. It was the loving thing to do. By enabling others to experience his goodness rather than not, God is being all-loving.

In simplified form: If a good God exists, the most loving thing he could do is create others with whom to share his love.

The Necessity of Self-Sacrifice

In reality, the preceding discussion about context through creation can be largely bypassed. It is not our primary focus, which is to find compatibility between God and suffering. This topic inherently explains both human creation and suffering.

If God is all-good and all-loving, then he will act in a manner that displays the greatest extent of these attributes. What is the greatest display of love? If we’ve learned anything from this human experience, it’s that there is no greater show of love than sacrificing your entire being for someone else – giving your life for them. There is not any greater gift than self-sacrifice. An all-good God desires to display the greatest act of love: self-sacrifice.

Self-sacrifice cannot be done in vain. A father jumping in front of a bullet to save his child is different than a father simply shooting himself because he loves his child. For the act to be loving, one must spare the other person from something. There must be a form of redemption or salvation involved in the act.

The greatest mathematical amount of redemption comes when stakes are infinite. When the recipient of redemption is at stake of infinite loss, then the redeemer must give an equally valued sacrifice. In our line of thinking, this allows an infinite amount of love to be conveyed – there can be no greater act of love.

Variance Enables Redemption

Again, evil is a deviation from the standard. Any amount of deviation from a standard is still complete separation; even in the smallest amount. 1.01 is still not 1. Two numbers that vary by 1x10-100 are still not the same. They are separate. Once any amount of evil is present, it logically becomes separate from God. This is why the stakes become infinite. The variance now assumes a permanently separate identity, unless it is “corrected,” or redeemed.

The biblical book of Genesis reveals some interesting parallels between these themes and the Biblical view of evil. At the end of the sixth and final day of creation, Genesis 1:31 reads, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” This follows the thinking of, “everything God does is good.” The story continues with the famous account of Adam and Eve, where God declares “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” This mirrors the concept that once multiple forms are present, they now have the possibility to deviate from one another, which results in different perspectives. As the story goes, Adam and Eve are tricked by the serpent to eat of the forbidden tree, enacting an immediate change in human experience and perspective.

Upon eating the fruit, Adam and Eve become aware of their nakedness. They are forced to labor for their food. Pain is introduced to the world. Humans are now subject to death. Furthermore, God says in Genesis 3:22, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” The end of this chapter concludes with, “He drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3:24).

I am not here to debate whether the Genesis account is literal or allegorical, but I challenge any reader to critically analyze the parallels. The Bible tells of an account of the universe where all things were initially created “good.” Like my hypothesis, the existence of beings other than God enabled the possibility of evil – indicated by the existence the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve were created “good,” but they had the potential to do wrong from the very beginning; just like the potential of two things being able to deviate.

According to the Bible, Adam and Eve dwelled literally with God in the garden, but once they acted out of accordance, this “variance” had many implications. This is the Bible’s explanation of the human condition – which seems to resonate with my approach. As we know, evil and suffering take many forms; many of which are mentioned in Genesis immediately following the original sin. Adam and Eve are now aware of their nakedness; they experience shame and insecurity. There is now pain in childbirth; the suffering of physical pain. They must work for their food; humans must struggle to maintain. They are kicked out of the garden; there is a separation from God. They would no longer live forever; death is introduced, meaning that this state of being is now temporally quantified, or temporary. These are all a result of a deviation from the standard, giving opportunity for redemption.

From the origins of suffering, the Bible gives mention of redemption. “…lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever” (Gen. 3:22). Keep in mind this tree was in Eden, which is where God dwelled. From Genesis, the Bible establishes the theme of redemption by God which is ultimately fulfilled in the account of Jesus of Nazareth – the God-in-flesh self-sacrifice.

Let’s circle back to the idea of variation from a standard. The variation itself can be theoretically quantified – remember this. The variation itself can be theoretically quantified. This is possible because of multiple frames of reference; basically multiple points. Some points can be further from the standard point, but the separation itself is absolute in all cases. This is why the “stakes” are infinite for any deviation.

A quantifiable amount of variation must be offset by at least the equivalent amount of correction for a return to an acceptable standard. This could explain why God chose to exhibit self-sacrifice in the form of Christ. Although Christ dwelled in the broken world as a man, he remained infinitely free from evil, or sin. His purity was infinite, allowing an eligible sacrifice to act as atonement for an equally infinite amount of evil. This means any point can theoretically have infinite variation and still be redeemed. No act is too bad, no deed too wrong to escape the possibility of redemption. Absolute separation from God is now mended; the variance is corrected.

This is why we exist, and this is why evil is allowed to exist. Without it, the greatest display of love would have no meaning or context. The most powerful elements of goodness would not exist. Grace, mercy, compassion, sacrifice, forgiveness, salvation and redemption are extensions of love that would not be possible without the presence of suffering and evil. These are facets of love that convey the most meaning and worth. They are the concepts that drive literature, filmmaking, and the stories that we innately find the most compelling. If they didn’t exist, no story would ever be worth telling. If angels can be jealous, they would envy us.

Living in a State of Entropy

While deliberating these concepts, I was stumped by the form of suffering that does not necessarily involve evil. Christ was beaten and bruised – he suffered – yet he never did any evil. Why does evil, or variance, induce a state of generic suffering as well? Why did Adam and Eve have to tend to the ground to have food? Why is work needed to maintain? Many religious teachers maintain it’s simply the result of a fallen world; which is fine, but I knew there was a more convincing explanation. I found the answer in physics.

Entropy is an overarching, fundamental concept of physics which states that all things trend toward disorder unless they are acted upon by an external force. It is descriptive of a system’s chaos as it attempts to reach uniformity, and entropy always increases. Your hot meal gets cold over time because of entropy. The heat in your food is attempting to reach equilibrium with the rest of the room, so it becomes less localized, or more disorderly. If you never tend to your home, it will eventually become disorderly and dilapidated. So will your car. So will you.

Two or more things are required for entropy to occur. The entropy of your car increases because it is made of multiple parts, molecules, and atoms. It is not truly one thing; rather, it is composed of many things. Metaphysically, God is the original thing. When other things are introduced that are not God, those two points are subject to entropy – they will always head toward disorder if they are not acted upon by an external force. Thus, when evil is realized and two points diverge, the law of entropy makes it so that there must be work done for a variation to simply maintain a position. Entropy is what makes our “separated” state difficult to maintain, and it is how this generic struggle emerged out of the introduction of evil. A variance between two things enacts entropy. This is why we experience physical as well as non-physical struggle.

The Last will be First

Remember, the amount of correction given must be equivalent to the amount of variation to adjust back to the standard. Thus, if a person deviates less in their lifetime, they need a smaller amount of correction. If a person deviates more in their lifetime, they need a greater amount of correction. In both cases, the stakes are infinite because of permanent separation, but the correction itself can be quantified in different amounts. Let’s look at a couple of things Jesus said:

“So the last will be first, and the first last.” – Matthew 20:16

“If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” – Mark 9:35b

The greater your variance, the further God reaches out to grab you. The most downtrodden sufferers of this world are given access to the greatest extension of love. There is a quantifiable amount of love to correct each and every point, which stems from an infinite act of love. The furthest points receive the greatest extension for correction. The last shall be first.

The biblical parables of the prodigal son, the lost coin, and the lost sheep all reiterate this message. This concept is conveyed over and over again in the Bible. While some don’t stray as far, it is those who stray the furthest that God goes to the greatest lengths for – even for one sheep.

You may think it unfair that some suffer significantly more than others, especially if we simply end up in the same place through redemption anyway. Life can be hard. Beyond hard. Why do some suffer in greater amounts? To that I say: perspective.

The proclivity toward struggle and redemption is so engrained in the human psyche that we often pay it little conscious attention. We are drawn to it because it is our story. Like I said before, no story would ever be worth telling if there were no struggle. Redemption is what drives us. We work hard for great reward. We praise and admire those who overcome difficult situations. Reaching the peak of a mountain wouldn’t feel the same if it were easy. We tend to despise those who have everything handed to them on a silver platter. We intimately understand how to better appreciate things when a sacrifice is made to attain them. We embrace perspective.

The idea of perspective can be explained geometrically as well, and I believe this geometric view further explains why people suffer in different amounts. Let’s go back to the standard point, or God. Once there is a deviant point, there becomes a perspective of the distance between this point and the original point. If there are numerous points and they are all equidistant from the standard point, then this could imply a limitation of the “corrective action” by the standard point. Plus, no points would geometrically have a perspective of any extension of correction that is any further or closer, because they are all equidistant. Can this standard point only correct up to a certain distance or only in a certain amount? To display all dimensions of God’s love, there must be variances at different distances.

Conclusion

The summary of my argument is this: If God exists, he must be good because there is no existing standard of good and evil to say othewise. Because God cannot deviate from himself, he can only be good. Humans are created because they can deviate from God's standard, enabling the need for self-sacrifice, which allows for the greatest extent of goodness. This extent of goodness is not possible without this variation, or evil. Entropy explains why there is suffering in our state of deviation from the standard. Because a variation can be quantified, it is known that those who deviate the most are eligible to receive the greatest sum of redemption, or goodness. Finally, people suffer in different amounts to enable greater perspective and to serve as proof of a limitless extention of goodness.

If you subscribe to this line of thinking, I leave you with this: things are exactly as they are supposed to be. Life is neither easy nor tragedy-free, but that’s a good thing. That’s the point. We often overwhelm ourselves with circumstance and the feeling of helplessness, but few realize that we are here precisely to feel those things. We’re here to be the recipient of an experience that cannot be possible without this place. The journey through this world is all we’ve had, but I believe we won’t fully appreciate it until we’ve moved beyond it – when we have perspective. Until then, some things will remain mysterious. Auschwitz will always be a tough pill to swallow, but we can rest assured of one thing: the last shall be first. The better we realize that, the easier it to find peace in this life.