(Pro) The Christian God is malevolent vs benevolent (Con).

Is the God of the Bible, the Christian God, malevolent or benevolent? It is my position that the God of the Bible is benevolent and my evidence for this is threefold: (1) He made all things good, (2) He is loving, (3) He has grace. I will expand on each of these pieces of evidence below.1) He made all things good. “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. ” (Genesis 1:31)When God made his creations: man, animals, plants, the sun, the moon, the stars, etc. he did not make any of it bad. He made all of it good. Or, as the Hebrew would suggest, very good. There is an important distinction that should be made, however. It is highlighted by Albert Barnes in his commentary on Genesis 1: “Man, as well as other things, was very good when he came from his Maker's hand; but good as yet untried, and therefore good in capacity rather than in victory over temptation. ”Is there any way that we can know what would have been “very good”? We, as children of Adam, are far from such a state. But when God restores the earth, as he has promised (which will be covered later), what does He say it will be like? How will he restore it to being “very good”? To start, let’s look at what was written by the prophet Isaiah:“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. ” (Isaiah 11:6-9)Surely this is not the desire of a malevolent God. We can read about his plan to restore his creation further in the book of Revelation:“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. ’” (Revelation 21:1-4)Again, this does not sound like the plan of a malevolent God. Rather, these words ring the truth that the God of the Bible is a benevolent God.2) He is loving. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ” (1 John 4:7, 8)Would a malevolent God love His people and His creation? Would malevolent God be labeled as “love”? Perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible can be found in John 3:16, where we read: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ” Does this sound like something a malevolent God would do? Though I believe that John 3:16 is not nearly as powerful as the Carmen Christi:“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ” (Philippians 2:1-8)How absolutely powerful. I actually prefer The Living Bible’s reading where it says “even the death of a criminal. ” God the Son humbled Himself and became a servant and adopted the lowly form of man in order to die for God’s elect on the cross. Is this something a malevolent God would do? Of course not!3) He has grace. "Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. " (2 Corinthians 12:8, 9)I have been purposely shy in my first two pieces of evidence in order to leave enough room for this one, as it is the largest. We, as man, are totally depraved. This is highlighted in Romans 5:12, which reads: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…” However, it is by God’s grace that we can escape this sin:“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…” (Ephesians 2:1-5)It is because God loves us that he gives us the gift of grace to be saved. Grace that we are totally undeserving of. This is highlighted in Ephesians also:“[E]ven as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight…” (Ephesians 1:4-8)ConclusionSo while God is benevolent, as is clearly indicated by my threefold evidence, there is a malevolent character who causes disruption in our lives. We can read about it in 1 Peter 5:8-10:“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. ” Therefore, I submit to you, the reader, that the God of the Bible is indeed benevolent and not malevolent.