evil
I would very much like to know what others think about this...If God created everything,did God create evil?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by lampwickke on -
Dear Joseph,
Without a doubt He created evil, how else could man reason the Good that is God! As He did create all things, He created Lucifer,who by his own "choice" thought he could usurp
God.Showing us that even that which was intended for good,(an angel of God) has/had a choice in heaven,as will we will always have a choice to either love God or choose our way even in eternity. I also believe that Our God knew ,(as He knew/knows the beginning from the end)that lucifer would make that choice to become the symbol of evil here on earth.God many times works in opposites .With God whatever His creation ,there are opposites, Mainly for God to show man His plans for righteousness in all we do,such as obedience/disobedience,right/wrong,left/right,up/down;good/evil: etc.
God knew that there had to be opposites in the world He created,or we would have many more "towers of Babel" in man's disillusion of Deity and humanity.
In His love,
lampwickke xxx
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Permalink Reply by The Bunnfactor on -
I would say no, God did not “create” evil, as if evil were some thing to be created. Evil is not a thing that exists, so evil could not be something that was created. Evil, like good, is a characteristic. God is characterized as good. Satan is characterized as evil. These are inanimate concepts, not things that were “made”. It’s nothing more than a description or characteristic of something else.
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Permalink Reply by Joseph Jolly on -
Both of these are very very interesting concepts..But if we are to believe that God is the one and true creater of ALL thing..then we must believe that he did in fact create evil....But perhapes this is one of the many ,many things that which we should simply not ask about..That we should trust God the father in all things...I believe there are things we are not meant to understand..thats where our faith comes in.I believe his word for sure and i also believe that one day we will all know everything...God bless
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Permalink Reply by The Bunnfactor on
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The word “evil” shows up hundreds of times depending on what version you read. The first time it shows up is in Genesis chapter 2 were it talks about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Creation was listed in chapter 1, and it never said evil was created, yet evil is discussed in the next chapter. The context in which it is display is that it is conceptual, not existent. It’s knowledge to be obtained, not an enemy to battle, or a polar opposite to balance out good. There is no such thing as “good” verses “evil”, for evil only exist in a person’s perception. To Adam, evil never was until he ate the fruit of that tree. So then did evil come into existence when he ate of the tree? No--he just became aware of it at that point. In reality, there is no real existence of evil, for evil is nothing more than the absence of God, which would be the absence of good. Like I said, “good” and “evil” are nothing more than descriptions of a characteristic. To say God created evil would be like saying God created valor, or honesty, or integrity. These are not things that exist and were created—they are attributes people may or may not possess. God possesses these attributes, but they are not things He created. These are concepts that we use to describe the character of God. Evil is a concept we use to describe the Accuser of the Brethren.
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Permalink Reply by Michael J on -
Let me pose this one to you. Did God create darkness? I would say no. Darkness is the absence of light, as any physicist will tell you. We know that God is good. As a Christian, we know this is fact based on both what The Word says, and our personal relationship with Him. So, I would argue that evil is simply the absence of God.
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Permalink Reply by Disciple Mike on -
Blessings***
I beleive God has created the opportunity ( a situation or condition favorable for attainment of a goal.) for evil to remain, not evil itself. He has allowed evil to exist just like He has allowed darkness to exist. These attributes of darkness are what are used to promote goodness. There our friction and evil is a tool that is used that will and or should bring us to our goal...(Light)
Darkness should push us to Light and evil should push us to Good. The absence of God should push us towards God, so while evil or darkness isn't a creation it is a situation used for all creation by The Creator...
Peace unto you***
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Permalink Reply by nicole on -
I found something on this that makes sense to me. It seems like this is what most are trying to say. Hope it helps.At first it might seem that if God created all things then evil must have been created by God. However, there is an assumption here that needs to be cleared up. Evil is not a "thing" - like a rock or electricity. You can't have a jar of evil! Rather, evil is something that occurs, like running. Evil has no existence of its own - it is really a lack in a good thing. For example, holes are real but they only exist in something else. We call the absence of dirt a hole - but it cannot be separated from the dirt. So when God created, it is true that all that existed was good. One of the good things that God made was creatures who had the freedom to choose good. In order to have a real choice, God had to allow there to be something besides good to choose. So God allowed these free angels and humans to choose good or non-good (evil). When a bad relationship exists between two good things we call that evil, but it does not become a "thing" that required God to create it.
Perhaps a further illustration will help. If I were to ask the average person "does cold exist?" - his/her answer would likely be yes. However, this is incorrect. Cold does not exist. Cold is the absence of heat. Similarly, darkness does not exist. Darkness is the absence of light. Similarly, evil is the absence of good, or better, evil is the absence of God. God did not have to create evil, but rather only allow for the absence of good.
Look at the example of Job in Job chapters 1-2. Satan wanted to destroy Job, and God allowed Satan to do everything but kill Job. God allowed this to happen to prove to Satan that Job was righteous because he loved God, not because God had blessed him so richly. God is sovereign and ultimately in control of everything that happens. Satan cannot do anything that God does not allow. God did not create evil, but He allows evil. If God had not allowed for the possibility of evil, both mankind and angels would be serving God out of obligation, not choice. He did not want “robots” that simply did what He wanted them to do because of their "programming." God allowed for the possibility of evil so that we could genuinely have a free will and choose whether we wanted to serve Him or not.
Ultimately, there is not an answer to these questions that we can fully comprehend. We, as finite human beings, can never fully understand an infinite God (Romans 11:33-34). Sometimes we think we understand why God is doing something, only to find out later that it was for a different purpose than we originally thought. God looks at things from an eternal perspective. We look at things from an earthly perspective. Why did God put man on earth knowing that Adam and Eve would sin and therefore bring evil, death, and suffering on all mankind? Why didn’t He just create us all and leave us in Heaven where we would be perfect and without suffering? The best answer I can come up with is this: God didn’t want a race of robots who did not have a free will. God had to allow the possibility of evil for us to have a true choice of whether to worship God or not. If we never had to suffer and experience evil, would we truly know how wonderful heaven is? God did not create evil, but He allowed it. If He hadn’t allowed evil, we would be worshipping Him out of obligation, not by a choice of our own free will.
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Permalink Reply by Joseph Jolly on
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Nicole...What you'v said makes perfect sence.I feel that god laid the very same thing on my heart yesterday..Thanks for your thoughts on the subject...Your a pretty smart cookie...Have a blessed day.
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Permalink Reply by The Bunnfactor on
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Word.
Evil is nothing more than a "label" or "name tag" we give to describe the absence of God.
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Permalink Reply by Brett Dittfurth on -
god didnt intend for their to be evil but when we eat from the tree in the garden of eden it created evil god didnt intend for that to happen and also satan created evil along with it cuz in the bible it says that satan is the prince of sin and he resides and rules over the earth
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Permalink Reply by Dan on -
If you believe God is perfect then you should also believe that He created evil. God doesn't make mistakes and He does everything for a reason. God could easily make the devil and his demons disappear if He wanted to yet we still have evil in this world. We were cursed that day in the Garden and it hasn't and won't be lifted. It's how we prove our faith to Him by overcoming that evil. We got ourselves into that mess and He wants us to get ourselves out of it.
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Permalink Reply by The Bunnfactor on
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Evil was present long before Adam ate of the tree. If it had not, that means man created evil, not God. Evil is an idea, like love--not a created thing, like trees. Evil is a desription of what a person is, not an animate object that is self-sufficant or an inanimate object that is existance-dependant. For something to have been created, it means its existance is dependant upon some other being. Evil does not exist, and therefore could not be destoryed. Evil is merely the label we attach to the ungodly influences in our lives.
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