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The Nature of God
The nature of God can be best understood by the revelation of the Father that Jesus of Nazareth unfolded in his manifold teachings and in his superb life in the flesh.
The divine nature can also be better understood by mankind if individuals regard themselves as children of God--and look up to the Creator as a true and spiritual Father.
God's primal perfection consists in the inherent perfection of the goodness of his divine nature. And God's attributes of love, truth, beauty, and goodness are definitive of the meaning of all such terms.
The creature's need is wholly sufficient to ensure the full flow of the Father's tender mercies and saving grace.
The Love of God
The greatest evidence of the goodness of God and the supreme reason for loving him is the indwelling of his Spirit--the Spirit that so patiently awaits the hour when you both shall, eternally, become as one.
When man loses sight of the love of a personal God, the kingdom of God becomes merely the kingdom of good. Love is the dominant characteristic of all God's personal dealings with his creatures.
It is the indwelling Spirit of God that individualizes the love of God to each human soul. And man's nearest and dearest approach to God is by and through love--for God is love.
The Goodness of God
In the physical universe we may see divine beauty, in the intellectual world we may discern eternal truth, but the goodness of God is found only in the spiritual world of personal religious experience.
In its true essence, religion is a faith trust in the goodness of God.
In philosophy, God could be great and absolute, somehow even intelligent and personal, but in religion God must also be moral, he must be good. Man may fear a great God, but he loves and trust only a good God. Therefore, to be lovable, God must be good.
This goodness of God is part of the personality of God. Its full revelation appears only in the personal religious experience of the believing children of God. The entire mortal concept of God is transcendently illuminated by the revelatory life of Jesus of Nazareth.
The affectionate heavenly Father, whose spirit indwells his children on earth, is not a divided personality--one of justice and one of mercy--neither does it require a mediator to secure the Father's favor or forgiveness. Divine righteousness is not dominated by strict retributive justice; God as a father transcends God as a judge.
God is never wrathful, vengeful, or angry. It is true that wisdom does often restrain his love, while justice conditions his rejected mercy. His love of righteousness cannot help being exhibited as equal hatred for sin. The Father is not an inconsistent personality; the divine unity is perfect.
Divine Truth and Beauty
Truth is beautiful because it is both replete and symmetrical. When man searches for truth, he pursues the divinely real.
Divine truth is best known by its spiritual flavor.
Truth is coherent, beauty attractive, goodness stabilizing.
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