Our Good God
Lecture Summary
The lecture speaks about a great attribute of God, which is goodness and love that God shows toward humanity and all creation. His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains that God is not a distant or frightening God, but rather a close, compassionate, and tender God who lives among His children and cares for them with great love.
He explains that the first manifestation of God’s goodness is creation, as He created man from nothing and granted him life. Not only this, but He created him in His image and likeness, and gave him blessing, authority, and dignity. He also prepared everything in creation for him before bringing him into existence, so that he might live in comfort and peace.
The lecture confirms that God is generous in His giving, for He gives to everyone without limits, whether righteous or wicked, and He cares even for the smallest creatures such as birds, butterflies, and insects. His care also includes mankind in every detail of life, as He protects and guards him with fatherly love.
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III also explains that man is the one who corrupted creation through sin, but God did not leave man in his fall. Rather, He promised him salvation, became incarnate for his sake, and redeemed him through His death on the Cross, presenting the greatest image of divine love and goodness.
The lecture also highlights God’s love for sinners, as He accepted them and forgave them with gentleness and compassion, such as the sinful woman and the Samaritan woman, confirming that forgiveness is one of the most important attributes of the good God.
It also explains that God does not despise the weak or the small, but rather raises them and grants them grace and glory, such as Samuel, Jeremiah, Gideon, and Timothy, because God looks at the heart and not at a person’s position or strength.
The lecture explains that God desires a permanent fellowship with mankind; therefore, He dwells in the believer’s heart and makes him a temple for Himself. He also treats His children with marvelous love, even calling them His sons and His brethren.
In the end, the lecture confirms that God’s love and goodness remove fear from the human heart, because “perfect love casts out fear,” and that God is patient with humanity despite their weakness and sins, waiting for their repentance and return to Him with great love and patience.
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