WHY DID GOD CREATE EVIL?

[Stormcrow]

Stormcrow

 

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

 

What do you make of this verse.

 

 

it's important to understand the context in which this verse was written:

 

Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him And to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:  "I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars.  "I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden wealth of secret places, So that you may know that it is I, The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.  "For the sake of Jacob My servant, And Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor Though you have not known Me.  "I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me;  That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other,  The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these. Isaiah 45:1-7 (NASB)

 

Cyrus the Great (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great) was to be the instrument of God's judgment upon Babylon and the liberator of Israel at the end of its 70 year captivity in Babylon.  In this passage, Isaiah prophesies that Cyrus does not (yet) know the God of Israel.  That's because the Persians were polytheists who believed in many gods, each one having a different role in their pantheon.  One god would create light, another darkness.  One god would create good, another evil. 

 

The point of this passage is not to suggest that the God of Israel created evil, but that the God of Israel is one God, as is repeatedly stressed.  It is, therefore, not to be taken as a doctrinal statement about God's creative power, but about His unique nature as a single God whom Cyrus and the other polytheists would not have recognized otherwise. 

 

Make sense? 

[mevosper]

By that logic, though, he doesn't form light or create wll-being either. He's just saying that to relate to Cyrus.

 

I believe he does create the light and well-being. And the darkness and the calamity. Especially the darkness and calamity the Babylonians will feel when Cyrus "lands on them".

Edited September 27, 2014 by mevosper

[mevosper]

 

Can anyone explain?

why did God create evil?

Is He not a good God?

Is He not love?

If you can explain this,then you are on strong meat.

You have been weaned from the breast.

 

jesse

 

What is evil?

 

If you can explain that, then you know why its part of creation.

 

Hint: in order to explain evil, you must witness against yourself that you are infected with evil - or at least in part anyway.  (genesis 3)

 

and that's just me, hollering from the choir loft... 

 

We are all infected with evil. "Oh wicked man that I am". "For there is none righteous, no not one". "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

[mevosper]

Why did God create evil?

 

This is a great example that StormCrow brings out. He created evil in this case to bring his people out of Babylon and back to Jerusalem:

 

 

"For the sake of Jacob My servant, And Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor Though you have not known Me.

 

He has a purpose for everything he creates. We just need to trust him that he will reveal it to us in his time.

[faith pleases God]

God is merciful. No? Merciful to what? Those who have been affected by evil! We see His mercy because of evil.

[Sister]

God as a creator of all living things never created evil . But gave  choice .

Rant

 

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

 

I did not write that verse,

What do you make of it?

[coheir]

 

 

Can anyone explain?

why did God create evil?

Is He not a good God?

Is He not love?

If you can explain this,then you are on strong meat.

You have been weaned from the breast.

 

jesse

 

 

Not so fast.  Your op tells us that YOU determine who is mature and who is not mature.  Your op tells us that you are testing responses to see if people

know as much as you think you know.  

 

Next, you have a deficient understanding of the word in the original language that is translated as 'evil' .  The word translated as evil in Isaiah that you are using as your source

for your supposed paradox, is ra meaning, not evil, but something that is 'not good'.  It is from a root word meaning to be spoiled and actually means neither good or bad

but a condition that has occurred TO something.

 

Jeremiah 24:2 reads:  One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

 

The Hebrew word translated as 'bad' in this verse from Jeremiah is the SAME word as the word in Isaiah that is translated as 'evil'...I am sure you will

agree that fruit is not evil; the figs were simply spoiled.  Even so, evil is the spoiling of the good God created.  He did not create evil as God is good and

He would not and has not created evil.

 

Put another way, evil is something that is spoiled, bad, adversarious, trouble, misfortune, calamity etc

 

 

Proverbs 15:10  Grievous punishment is for him who forsakes the way; He who hates reproof will die.

 

Grievous is the same Hebrew word that is often translated as 'evil'

 

So we can be assured that God did not create evil and we can also be assured that sometimes a person who thinks they know more actually may know less

then those they, for whatever reason, appear to want to either trick or expose into confessing a lack of knowledge

 

I do know you have approached a number of ops with the apparent intent of somehow teaching or revealing and I am not certain exactly where you stand in

what you believe about the Bible as a result of your line of questionning....to be clear, I am not attacking you as you stated to me in another thread.  I am

revealing an error which could lead some to a very wrong and false accusation against our Creator Who is perfect and Holy and has created all things with

love and purity.

 

God did not create evil

 

its hard to understand one if they answer no questions as is shown here. he as side stepped all questions