From Whence Comes Evil?

[repentandbelieve]

Thanks Sola, I had forgotten that the Genesis story details the placement of the tree of knowledge of "good and evil' in the garden. Clearly G-d caused Evil as well as Good to come into the world.

Nyc

I wouldn't say that God "caused" evil to come into the world. I believe it is more accurate to say that God "allows" evil to exist.

To hold God accountable for the evil actions of His created beings is unfair. He created us as free moral agents and not as robots.

Try to understand that our ways are not His ways. Know that His desire for us is not to be overcome with evil, but to overcome evil with good and that he has provided a means for us to do that.

Everything that happens is not according to the will of God. Evil came about as a result of Lucifer yielding to the dictates of his own desire which was contrary to the will of God. Love for God was no longer supreme, it was suplanted by love for self.

Evil is not a fruit of the spirit of God, but the fruit of disobedience to the will of God. Those who believe that God is responsible for the existence of evil are decieved.This theory serves Satan's pupose of undermining man's trust in God.

 

[repentandbelieve]

I personally find it impossible to believe that God, in His infinite Wisdom, created something perfect, but then that someone came in and tripped Him up...surprised Him...and ever since poor God has been trying to right the wrong, rather unsuccessfully at that. It just got out of hand and there was really nothing He could do about it until the very end of the ages.? Then, unfortunately, He had to sacrifice His Son because the devil outwitted Him and messed up His plan.? Nah. Of course God created evil. He's the Creator. Is there another creator? He created ALL things after His own will and purpose. Colossians 1:16-17. Look at the word ALL. And He is the one Who subjected the creation to "futility" (EVIL) for His purpose. Romans 8:20. He created the "serpent" and put it there in the garden to do exactly what he did. But then maybe God is not omniscient after all? No I think He knew very well. Praise the Lord!

Even though God is soveriegn I believe that He still encounters problems. If everything always went along according to His will there would be no reason for Him to ever get angry.

 

[Sola Gratia]

It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The tree's fruit contained no special properties. God could have selected any tree.

Adam and Eve acquired the knowledge of good and evil when they realized they had sinned against God.

If God had not told them the tree's fruit was forbidden, and they ate the fruit, they would not have sinned, and hence would have had no knowledge of good and evil.

The knowledge was a result of the deliberate act of defiance.

Yet it was God that placed the tree there so evil could exist here. Had he not wanted sin to exist in the Garden God could have refrained from placing the tree there.


God knew that they would "defy " the law.

God is sovereign over all things, without His permission evil could not exist.

Is there anything that God did not create?

 

[Sola Gratia]

No, evil in that verse has no moral meaning. It is more like "bad" or "trouble" viz. Christ saying, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

New International: "I bring prosperity and create disaster."

Revised Standard: "I make weal and create woe."

There are other translations but it's late and I'm tired and I don't feel like doing the whole Dan Rather thing on this subject.

Evil
ra (noun)

evil, distress, misery, injury, calamity

a) evil, distress, adversity

b) evil, injury, wrong

c) evil (ethical)


Sometimes evil means evil.
It is not PC today to say God created evil. But can anything exist that God did not create?

Deuteronomy 31:29 "For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to wrath through the work of your hands."

Joshua 23:15 "Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the LORD your God promised you, so the LORD will bring upon you all evil things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the LORD your God has given you.


1 Kings 14:9-10 "but you have done more evil than all who were before you, for you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molded images to provoke Me to wrath, and have cast Me behind your back; {10} "therefore behold! I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, bond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is all gone.


1 Kings 21:29 "See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days. In the days of his son I will bring the evil on his house."


2 Kings 21:12 "therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.


2 Kings 22:16,20 "Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will bring evil on this place and on its inhabitants; all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read; {20} Surely, therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring on this place." ' " So they brought back word to the king.


Nehemiah 13:18 "Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this evil on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath."


Numbers 14:35 'I the LORD have spoken this; I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.'"


Deuteronomy 29:21 "And the LORD would separate him for evil from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law,


Deuteronomy 30:15 "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,


Judges 2:15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.


Job 2:10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.


Job 42:11 Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.


Psalm 54:5 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth.


Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.


Jeremiah 6:19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.


Jeremiah 11:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.


Jeremiah 18:11 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.


Jeremiah 19:3 And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.


Jeremiah 19:15 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.


Jeremiah 23:12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.


Jeremiah 25:32 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.


Jeremiah 32:42 For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.


Jeremiah 35:17 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered.


Jeremiah 36:3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.


Jeremiah 36:31 And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.


Jeremiah 39:16 Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee.


Jeremiah 44:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,


Jeremiah 51:64 And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.


Lamentations 3:38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth evil and good?


Jeremiah 42:6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.


Jeremiah 26:3 If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.


Jeremiah 26:13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.


Ezekiel 7:3-5 Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations. {4} And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. {5} Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.


Daniel 9:12-14 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. {13} As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. {14} Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.


Amos 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?


Micah 1:12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.


Micah 2:3 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.


2 Samuel 17:14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.

Could something that God did not create be under His authority?

Judges 9:23-24 Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech: {24} That the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren.


1 Samuel 16:14-16 But the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. {15} And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. {16} Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.


All things are under the sovereign control of God

Job 1:7
And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.



Job 1:8
And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

God is sovereign over all His creation

 

[Sola Gratia]

I wouldn't say that God "caused" evil to come into the world. I believe it is more accurate to say that God "allows" evil to exist.

That is contrary to scripture . Scripture clearly says that God causes evil to befall men .

When you say that "God allows it to exist " that begs the question of how evil came into being with no creator?

To hold God accountable for the evil actions of His created beings is unfair. He created us as free moral agents and not as robots.

I think that if you are to glorify the God of creation, you have to see that there is nothing that happens outside of His direct control ,and that is all things that man might call good or evil.
The bible teaches that very clearly, to deny it is to deny the word of God

Try to understand that our ways are not His ways. Know that His desire for us is not to be overcome with evil, but to overcome evil with good and that he has provided a means for us to do that.

Everything that happens is not according to the will of God. Evil came about as a result of Lucifer yielding to the dictates of his own desire which was contrary to the will of God. Love for God was no longer supreme, it was suplanted by love for self.

If God had not placed pride and rebellion in the heart of Lucifer would he have rebelled? Evil did not grow out of nothing . Satan could not create it. To attribute it to him makes him a god capable of creation .

Evil is not a fruit of the spirit of God, but the fruit of disobedience to the will of God. Those who believe that God is responsible for the existence of evil are decieved.This theory serves Satan's pupose of undermining man's trust in God.

Those that believe that God is not sovereign over all His creation including Satan, his demons and all evil make Satan a god , they are dualists.

Satan and evil are the tools of God to accomplish His will.
Take time to read the words of Joseph about the sin of His brother.
The bible tells us that God works all things together for the good of those that love Him and are called according to His purposes.

God could not make that promise to us unless He was really sovereign over all things, otherwise that verse is nothing but an empty hope .