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Good God: Interview with David Baggett
What logical reason is there that God is good?
In this episode, I Interview Dr. David Baggett, author of Good God: The Theistic Foundations of Morality. The book won Christianity Today’s 2012 apologetics book of the year of the award. He published a sequel with Walls that critiques naturalistic ethics, God and Cosmos: Moral Truth and Human Meaning. A third book in the series, The Moral Argument: A History, chronicles the history of moral arguments for God’s existence.
Dr. Baggett has also co-edited a collection of essays exploring the philosophy of C.S. Lewis, and edited the third debate between Gary Habermas and Antony Flew on the resurrection of Jesus. Dr. Baggett currently is a professor at Houston Baptist University
This conversation moves beyond abstract philosophy to address a deeper question: if moral truth is real, what does it reveal about ultimate reality?
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Listen to the full podcast episode below for a deeper exploration.
Key Ideas in Brief
- Moral truths appear objective and universal, not merely cultural or subjective.
- Naturalistic explanations struggle to fully account for moral realism.
- Theism provides a coherent foundation for moral values and duties.
- The concept of a “good God” is central to understanding moral meaning.
- Moral arguments for God have a long philosophical history and remain relevant today.
The Euthyphro Dilemma and the Problem of Moral Foundations
A central theme of the conversation is the Euthyphro dilemma, a classic philosophical challenge:
- Is something moral because God commands it?
- Or does God command it because it is moral?
Baggett explains that this dilemma exposes a potential problem in divine command theory: if morality depends purely on God’s commands, morality could appear arbitrary.
At the same time, if moral standards exist independently of God, then God may seem unnecessary as the foundation of morality. This tension is what motivates his deeper exploration of God’s nature and goodness.
Why Assume That God Is Good?
Baggett argues that there are both conceptual and experiential reasons to believe that God is good.
Conceptually, in classical theism, goodness is part of what it means to be God. If a being were not good, it would not qualify as God in the fullest sense.
He also distinguishes between:
- A priori reasons (logical or conceptual arguments about God’s nature), and
- A posteriori reasons (evidence from experience, revelation, and moral intuition).
In this view, God is understood as possessing all “great-making” properties—power, knowledge, and goodness—to the highest possible degree.
Evil, Suffering, and the Challenge to God’s Goodness
The interview also addresses the problem of evil: if God is good, why does suffering exist?
Baggett notes that philosophers like Hume saw evil as evidence against God, while Kant believed that the moral law within us points toward a moral lawgiver.
He suggests that our sense that the world is broken—that things are not as they ought to be—actually presupposes an objective moral standard.
From a Christian perspective, evil does not have the final word; instead, it points to a deeper story of moral meaning, hope, and redemption.
The Moral Argument for God
Baggett emphasizes that the moral argument is one of the most powerful arguments for theism today. He notes that leading philosophers and apologists have identified it as especially persuasive because it connects abstract reasoning with lived human experience.
The core idea is simple:
- Objective moral values and duties exist.
- These are best explained by the existence of a moral lawgiver.
This argument suggests that morality is not merely a social construct or evolutionary byproduct, but something grounded in ultimate reality.
From Theism to Christianity
Although much of Baggett’s work focuses on theism in general, he argues that Christianity offers a compelling extension of the moral argument.
If God is perfectly good and loving, then the life and character of Jesus make sense as an expression of that goodness.
Christianity, he suggests, provides a coherent framework for understanding guilt, forgiveness, transformation, and hope—all central moral experiences in human life.
Apologetics, Experience, and the Goodness of God
Baggett stresses that apologetics is not merely about winning arguments but about helping people encounter goodness itself.
He argues that people often need real experiences of goodness before philosophical arguments about God’s goodness can resonate with them.
In this sense, moral apologetics is not only intellectual but relational and experiential.
Exploring These Questions Personally
Some questions about faith and doubt cannot be resolved by arguments alone. They are lived, wrestled with, and experienced over time.
If you’d like thoughtful, non-judgmental ways to explore these questions more deeply, here are a few options:
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