Is God good?

[Timmy]

I know. Silly question.

But seriously. If you believe the Bible is true, then there are many scriptures, most but not all in the OT, that require contortions (IMO) to avoid concluding that God is evil. A principle of Biblical interpretation that's commonly used is to approach the Bible without preconceived ideas (with the possible exception that the Bible is true -- any contradictions or errors you think you find cannot really be contradictions or errors), to determine what the Bible is really saying (exegesis), and not to prove what we already believe (eisegesis). So set aside the idea that God is good, for a moment. He certainly may be good, but let's use the Bible to discover whether He is good or not, shall we?

Yes, there are scriptures that explicitly state that God is good. No quarrel, there. But if there are scriptures that indicate the opposite, how do we resolve this apparent contradiction? I don't know of any scriptures that explicity state that God is evil. But what if we find God performing evil actions? What are we to do with them?

Here's one example. The plagues. Look at Exodus. God hardened Pharaoh's heart, so he would not let God's people leave. That's what it says. It doesn't say, as some contend, that Pharaoh hardened his own heart first. Some of the plagues say he did, but the first one and several others say it was God's doing.

That's just one problem with the story. Another one is God's reasons for the hardening and for the plaguing: it was to show that He was God, and that He was powerful. Any mention of the Egyptian people deserving what they got is not to be found (except possibly the slave overseers). In fact, "the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required." Even Moses was well regarded in Egypt, among the people as well as the government officials. Even if one accepts that Pharaoh and the overseers were bad guys, deserving punishment, why punish the people?

So we have 10 plagues. The grand finale being the killing of many thousands, perhaps millions of children. "And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead."

So, the Bible shows us that God is a mass killer. And the motive was to prove that He was powerful. To show off. And to show the Egyptians that He was the Lord. Does that end justify the means? Was there no better way to show them He was God? Could He not have softened Pharaoh's heart, rather than harden it?