Who created evil?

Post by **_glow** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:13 pm

I was discussing this with a friend the other night regarding Adam and Eve falling and their choice to listen to Gods word twisted by the serpent and in that fell.

But if God gave us free will that meant we have the choice to choose God/good vs Bad basically,. To have that choice there would have to be bad/sin created. So who created that?

If God is perfect and has never sinned etc.....could he still he "create" sin? and since we are created in his image, when we sin are we being like the image he made us in,and by creating sin we are some what following his creation?

I know this sounds kind of weird but I was wondering what other folks thought.......... Any ideas? Glow

Post by **_Paidion** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 9:07 pm

Let me ask you: Who created darkness?
Answer: No one. Darkness is the absence of light. God created light.
Who created cold? No one. Cold is the absence of heat. God created heat.

Could evil be simply the absence of good? God created good. But if good is absent, we have evil.

Post by **_glow** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 9:38 pm

Well, IF god created light and decided that the absense of light is darkness didnt he than essentially create darkness also?. Just as in gravity. Didn't he create the laws that go with that also? Action vs reation, both sides?

Post by **_Christopher** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 9:58 pm

Do you see evil as a "thing" that was created? Or is it a perversion of something that was once good?

Post by **_glow** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 1:08 am

Good question

. I guess I see evil ( though various degrees of it, and maybe even that isnt quite scritural in example) as any choice that is against Gods will for us being that he is perfection.But in that choice, we have another direction to step forward into beyond his goodness.

I quess that is what we were originally discussing ( my friend and I). As I said earlier being that God created one side of something wouldnt he also be the creator of the other or opposite side? If not he, than who?

Post by **_Micah** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 11:23 am

Paidion wrote:Could evil be simply the absence of good? God created good. But if good is absent, we have evil.

Is it God created good or is it God is good? I would think the latter because if God isn't good to begin with than what was he?

Post by **_Paidion** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 11:36 am

Is it God created good or is it God is good? I would think the latter because if God isn't good to begin with than what was he?

Let's see. What would it mean to say, "God is good", unless there exists something non-good with which to compare Him?

Post by **_glow** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 1:09 pm

If light is the opposite of darkness in the sense that , that is just whats "left over"if there is not light it still had to be created in the first place to exsist didnt it? Just as before we were given the laws that helped us recognise good and evil as God saw it, sin "was in" the world, God created the world ( Romans 5:13). It still exsisted. So didn't God create that also ? (sin)

In the beginning". "God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty,darkness was over the surface of the deep,and the Spirit of God was hoovering over the waters. (Gen 1:1 and 2.) Here God is already in exsistance and he already has many things around Him.

In scriptures following this last one noted, he called darkness night. I don't see how that can be read as darkness just being what is left over from light . It seems to me God created it before he started seperating things and defining the world. and it had a specific purpose in it.

I think He would have a specific purpose for everything He does.. As He did as the bible continues to explain what He created and when, through out the following scriptures in Genesis.He also placed( created) the tree of Good and evil (the knowledge of it) in the garden too, so didn't He create that also???

Just my thoughts Glow

Post by **_Micah** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 1:17 pm

Paidion wrote:
Is it God created good or is it God is good? I would think the latter because if God isn't good to begin with than what was he?
Let's see. What would it mean to say, "God is good", unless there exists something non-good with which to compare Him?

Interesting point, but what would you say then if someone said God always existed?

Post by **_chriscarani** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 10:08 pm

Glow,

John Hick provides an interesting analysis of this very subject in his book, The Philosophy of Religion.