{"id":94921,"date":"2026-04-03T16:37:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=94921"},"modified":"2026-04-03T17:13:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T22:13:29","slug":"a-case-for-god-from-his-goodness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-case-for-god-from-his-goodness\/","title":{"rendered":"A Case for God from His Goodness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\tby Ken Marrs<br \/>\nvia\u00a0<em>Sentry Magazine<\/em>, Vol. 20 No. 4, December 1994\n<p>The existence of God can be proven in a number of ways. For instance:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Teleologically<\/strong> (the design of the universe demands a designer)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cosmologically<\/strong> (nothing can come from nothing, everything must have an antecedent clause)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mathematically<\/strong> (if being mathematically impossible to have all elements of the universe coexisting in the proper proportions to sustain life)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Morally<\/strong> (C.S. Lewis makes a compelling case that moral law, though innately known by man, clearly did not come from men)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With the exception of the moral argument, all of these point to an intellectual force that may or may not involve an emotional dimension.<\/p>\n<p>In Acts 14:14-17, Paul and Barnabas are reasoning with the people of Lystra. In trying to turn the people&#8217;s worship from themselves to Jehovah. Paul and Barnabas state that they are men with the same nature as the men of Lystra. The nature of man has not always been one of peaceful co-existence (note Acts 14:19). God, however, has left a &#8220;&#8230; <em>witness in that He did good<\/em> &#8230;&#8221; The good witness was seen in:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the rain, and<\/li>\n<li>the fruitful seasons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What I believe Paul and Barnabas are telling the people of Lystra here is that there is not only power and purpose seen in the true God, but also pity. Let me explain. The power of God is seen in the weather (the cosmological argument). The purpose of God is seen in the seasons (the teleological argument). The pity of God is then seen in the result of the first two: &#8220;&#8230; <em>filling our hearts with food and gladness<\/em>.&#8221; This is an argument for God based upon His goodness.<\/p>\n<p>Though likely dismissed by the scientific community as valid evidence, we nevertheless see an emotional dimension to God when we consider His acts of kindness and pity upon mankind. &#8220;<em>He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust<\/em>&#8221; (Matthew 5:45). Not only is this a personal force, it is a personal force who cares (I Peter 5:7). God Himself, when asked by Moses to show His glory, chose not to speak of His Power or Wisdom, but of His Goodness (Exodus 33:19).<\/p>\n<p>As the order of nature shows us and the Word of God assures us, the providential goodness of God is an integral part of this world &#8230; whether we consider His sending of rain to wash His creation, or His sending of His Son&#8217;s blood to wash His children.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Ken Marrs via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 4, December 1994 The existence of God can be proven in a number of ways. For instance: Teleologically (the design of the universe demands a designer) Cosmologically (nothing can come from nothing, everything must have an antecedent clause) Mathematically (if being mathematically impossible to have all elements&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[37,709,90],"class_list":["post-94921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apologetics","tag-evidence","tag-god"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":94921,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? Answer: Registering for the draft is a government law that does not violate any teaching of God. \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1296,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-boy-girl-relationships-not-advisable-at-a-young-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":94921,"position":1},"title":"Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age Answer: Youth is a time of impatient desires. They want the things available to adults, but adulthood seems so far away. The typical teenage boy enters puberty around the age of 11. The typical teenage girl enters puberty around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":94921,"position":2},"title":"The Book of My Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Job 19:23-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each week the paper publishes its list of top selling books \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the books are biographies, fictional stories, or fiction placed in historical settings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They hope that others will also purchase the books, if for no other reason than curiosity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32196,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-take-out-insurance\/","url_meta":{"origin":94921,"position":3},"title":"Is it a sin to take out insurance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it a sin to take out medical insurance or legal insurance? Are we rather expected to put our faith in the Lord to take care of those things? Answer: We were taught to pray, \"Give us this day our daily bread\" (Matthew 6:11), but God still commands us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37138,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-lost-the-surprise-somewhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":94921,"position":4},"title":"We Lost the Surprise Somewhere","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I remember watching Mayberry RFD and related shows most of my childhood. Poor ignorant Gomer Pyle who worked as an auto mechanic was a notable character. But I can still recall my shock when I found out that Jim Nabors, who played Gomer, could sing --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Gomer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-passages-that-refer-to-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":94921,"position":5},"title":"Are there passages that refer to THE Lord&#8217;s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been studying the Lord's supper issues and one of our main concerns is about a second offering in which only a few partake, for the reasons you listed in your article (not doing it together). We have been questioning the idea of everyone taking it a second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94921"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94931,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94921\/revisions\/94931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}