Who is “Good?”

Here is a quick response I wrote to someone who made a comment along the lines of “I believe everything going on today is God beginning to get rid of the bad people on earth so that only good people will be left.”

I must fundamentally disagree with your belief that God is “getting rid of bad people” in favor of “good people.”  While I choose to believe you did not intend this statement to be as egotistical as it is, please be very careful using this sort of language.  What you have communicated regardless of your intent is that there are some “bad” people God does not care for while yourself and others are “good” people whom God loves.  Please be mindful of the words of Paul in his epistle to the Romans.  Beginning in Chapter 3 verse 9 he says “Are we any better? Not at all!”  He goes on to quote the Psalms and the prophet Isaiah in verses 10-18, “As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.  The poison of vipers is on their lips.  Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.  Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.  There is no fear of God before their eyes.”  The statement “no not one” certainly includes me therefore I am at my core not a “good” person nor is anyone else.  Because God loves all of us in spite of our sin, Peter tells us “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”