1. God’s Goodness to Human Beings

World Scripture

The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.
Psalm 145.8-9

Allah is kind and loves whoever is kind; Allah is clean and loves whoever is clean; Allah is generous and loves whoever is generous.
Hadith of Muslim 913.2 (Islam)

God is not the author of all things, but of good only.
Plato, The Republic 2 (Hellenism)

God the Rescuer, God the Savior, Almighty, whom we joyfully adore, Powerful God, Invoked by all men, May he, the bounteous, grant us his blessings!
Rig Veda 7.100.4 (Hinduism)

The Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds— Who created me, and it is He who guides me; Who gives me food and drink, And when I am ill, it is He who cures me; Who will cause me to die, and then to live again; And who, I hope, will forgive me my faults on the Day of Judgment.
Qur’an 26.77-82

Always created beings He cherishes; The Creator looks to the weal of all. Lord! invaluable are Thy blessings; Without extent is His bounty.
Adi Granth, Kirtan Sohila, M.1, p. 12 (Sikhism)

Lo! We have shown man the way, whether he be grateful or disbelieving.
Qur’an 76.3

He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Matthew 5.45

It is the Way of Heaven to show no favoritism. It is forever on the side of the good man.²⁴
Tao Te Ching 79 (Taoism)

The Tao is the refuge for the myriad creatures. It is that by which the good man protects, And that by which the bad is protected.
Tao Te Ching 62 (Taoism)

I have no corporeal existence, but Universal Benevolence is my divine body. I have no physical power, but Uprightness is my strength. I have no religious clairvoyance beyond what is bestowed by Wisdom, I have no power of miracle other than the attainment of quiet happiness, I have no tact except the exercise of gentleness.
Oracle of the Kami of Sumiyoshi (Shinto)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

God is the Father and Mother of all emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. He is our Owner, who prepares a place of comfort for us when we are sad and protects us when we face difficulty. He is our absolute Parent, whose love surpasses that of anyone who ever lived.
(203:228, June 26, 1990)

If God were a being of destruction, causing heaven and earth to decrease, people would want nothing to do with God. The eternal God should always provide what is needful and appropriate to human beings and all creatures. That is why He was needed in the past, is needed in the present, and will be needed in the future. Otherwise, our worship and our desire for relationship with God would be in vain and to no purpose.
(22:317, May 11, 1969)

All religions of the world begin with the recognition that God, the Lord and Creator, is the First Cause of the universe. If this God exists, He must be good; He must be eternal and unchanging; and He must be unique and absolute. The God who created the universe must have, from the first, a purpose for creating. This purpose of creation must also be eternal, unchanging, unique, and absolute.
God’s purpose of creation is joy. He created human beings and the universe to experience joy. Joy cannot be experienced alone. To experience joy, it is always necessary to have an object partner, or counterpart. It is only when a subject partner and object partner establish a common base and engage in give and take action that joy can be experienced. Giving and receiving love is to experience the supreme joy. In sum, God created us to become His object partners, that He might experience joy eternally by relating with us in love. This is His purpose of creation.
(100:241, October 19, 1978)

Each of us desires to be good. There is not a single person in the world that does not desire goodness. We know that the direction of history has been toward goodness, as educators and people of faith have labored and fought to set standards of goodness. We are born seeking for goodness and live seeking for goodness—that is the purpose of our life. Since our lives are the warp and woof of history, it is the goal of history as well.
(24:13, June 22, 1969)

How can we fallen human beings return to the God of goodness? First, we must grow to the point where our conscience resembles God’s original goodness. Next, we must behave in accordance with God’s word, thus manifesting God’s goodness and confirming the value of His word. When we do this, God will rejoice on seeing the ideal of the goodness for which He created all things. We humans have long pursued goodness, but finally we will experience the value of God’s goodness by substantially embodying goodness ourselves.
(2:131, July 21, 1957)

How are we to live in God’s Kingdom? We are to live with the attitude to accept anyone who comes our way. Although occasionally a thief may enter and take something, you just close your eyes to it as he leaves through the gate, knowing that at least you have something that he could take. God thinks this way. Why? Because God feels, “Though he may be a petty thief, he is still living in My domain. Even if he takes something, he is only moving it about within the realm where I am the Owner of everything.” Do you think there are fences and locks in heaven? No, there are none.
(224:327-28, December 29, 1991)