DID GOD CREATE EVIL?

At a certain university, there was a professor with a reputation for being tough on Christians. At the first class every semester, he asked if anyone was a Christian and proceeded to degrade them and to mock their statement of faith.

One semester, he asked the question and a young man raised his hand when asked if anyone was a Christian. The professor asked, "Did God make everything, young man?"

He replied, "Yes sir He did!"

The professor responded, "If God made everything, then He made evil." The student didn't have a response and the professor was happy to have once again proved the Christian faith to be a myth.

Then another man raised his hand and asked, "May I ask you something, sir?"

"Yes, you may," responded the professor.

The young man stood up and said "Sir, is there such thing as cold?"

"Of course there is, what kind of question is that? Haven't you ever been cold?"

The young man replied, "Actually, sir, cold doesn't exist. What we consider to be cold is really an absence of heat. Absolute zero is when there is absolutely no heat, but cold does not really exist. We have only created that term to describe how we feel when heat is not there."

The young man continued, "Sir, is there such a thing as dark?"

Once again, the professor responded, "Of course there is."

And once again, the student replied, "Actually, sir, darkness does not exist. Darkness is really only the absence of light. Darkness is only a term man developed to describe what happens when there is no light present."

Finally, the young man asked, "Sir, is there such thing as evil?"

The professor responded, "Of course. We have rapes, murders, and violence everywhere in the world, those things are evil."

The student replied, "Actually, sir, evil does not exist. Evil is simply the absence of God. Evil is a term man developed to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. It isn't like truth, or love, which exist as virtues like heat or light. Evil is simply the state where God is not present, like cold without heat or darkness without light."

The professor had nothing to say............

Those are some very good thoughts and illustrations, however, I do believe that God created evil, simply because his word tells us so. In Isaiah 45:7 we read:

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

Here God clearly states in his word that he creates evil. I used to not believe thatGod could or would do such a thing, but who am I to not take him at His word.

Also, if there was no evil we would have no concept of the love and goodness of God.

Brother/Sister. I read this in the internet and found it to be very interesting. If we look at what the story is saying we read that:"Evil is a term man developed to describe the absence of God". According to that I find no contradiction with what God said in Isaiah 45:7.

I form the light, and create darkness....

I make peace, and create evil

Those are some very good thoughts and illustrations, however, I do believe that God created evil, simply because his word tells us so. In Isaiah 45:7 we read:

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

Here God clearly states in his word that he creates evil. I used to not believe thatGod could or would do such a thing, but who am I to not take him at His word.

It's important to know what genre of literature in the Scriptures that you are reading because this will effect how you are to interpret them. (i.e. Jesus said He was a door, however we don't take that in a wooden literal sense, but figuratively..)

In this passage, Isaiah is using Hebrew poetry. This particular passage is using a comparison/contrast form. Light/darkness, peace/evil. If you are going to be faithful to the rules of grammar then you cannot interpret evil in a moral sense; rather evil is contrasted against "peace". Older english carried this concept of evil that is lacking in modern American english in that the word evil can be used to speak of days that lack peace.....Jacob told Pharoh, "Few and [i]evil[/i] have been my days." He did not mean [i]immoral[/i], he meant they were difficult.

In the particular Isaiah passage evil is better translated calamity as more recent translations have correctly done.

If evil here were to be interpreted in a moral sense then the passage would have been light/darkness, [i]good[/i]/evil.

Brother/Sister Hulsey. Thank you for those interesting toughts. They make sence. May the Lord keep using your understanding for his Glory and the edifying of the bretheren.God bless