Omnibenevolence

To be Omnibenevolent is to love all beings. This is generally taken to mean love all humans. I don't have a whole lot to say on omnibenevolence that I won't be covering when I talk about the problem of evil. I am just going to explain some of the implications of this benevolence.

First off is that it is universal. For a God to be omnibenevolent, (S)He must love everyone. This means that there are no "chosen" people. The phrase "God is on our side" becomes empty. Even "God Bless us" becomes meaningless. God loves everyone, asking for his blessing is not only arrogant (I may eventually cover the arrogance of asking for God to help) but it useless. If God loves everybody then God won't give those who invoke his blessing more love.

Second omnibenevolence implies complete love. An omnibenevolent god wouldn't love someone more then anyone else. Everyone becomes equally loved in God's eyes. Even moral and immoral people. As you can see this opens a few problems when talking about subjects such as Heaven and Hell.

Thirdly, omnibenevolence can be taken as love for all of creation. This means that plants, animals, bacteria, viruses, planets, stars, galaxies, they all receive God's love. The astronomical bodies receiving love doesn't imply much, but all plants and animals and the whole world receiving God's love has huge implication when thinking about pollution and climate change. How can we willing destroy and change that which God has love for?

God or god(s) can have omnibenevolence. I don't see a problem with this idea. However if you assert omnibenevolence then you have to give up the idea that God favors a particular group of people. Equivalent Exchange again.