Why did God create evil?

[AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken]

Yes, contrast. Light, darkness, etc. 

Just as darkness is the absence of light, and not something that is "created" per se, it exists. Evil is the absence of God.

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:" Col 1:16

 

That is the best interpretation I've seen...ever! 

God did create the darkness:
Isa 45:7
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.
The very verse we are trying to discern God's Word here

Good point. There was "nothing" before anything was created by God [ apart from God ]. Even darkness ( which exists as an absence of light ) cannot exist in "nothing". 

Just asking, but isn't it that God "made a place" for all that exists and this is what IS creation ?

Edited August 29, 2015 by AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken

[enoob57]

Yes, contrast. Light, darkness, etc. 

Just as darkness is the absence of light, and not something that is "created" per se, it exists. Evil is the absence of God.

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:" Col 1:16

 

That is the best interpretation I've seen...ever! 

God did create the darkness:
Isa 45:7
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.
The very verse we are trying to discern God's Word here

Good point. There was "nothing" before anything was created by God [ apart from God ]. Even darkness ( which exists as an absence of light ) cannot exist in "nothing". 

Just asking, but isn't it that God "made a place" for all that exists and this is what IS creation ?

Yes this is the most humbling aspect of reality we are in.... all that we can perceive in creation with our senses can only point to
Spiritual realities of His Being but not encompass Him nor be maintained as requirement for in the eternal state God says:
1 Cor 2:9-10
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
KJV
I know the wonder here... it is so much so that man will fight for all that he is to keep it -but-  those having new birth look for that
which we can't even know for it is not found in the first creation. Faith truly is the transport into the eternal state:
Heb 11:1-3
11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the
elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the
word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
KJV
Love, Steven

[Serving]

Evil is a tool .. a tool serves a purpose.

Isaiah 10:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

Evil is part of God's plan

Proverbs 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

And how can we appreciate the good unless we know what is evil?

Isaiah 7:16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

When evil is used to teach :

1 Timothy 1:20  Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

And to punish

Daniel 9:14 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.

So that we may realise :

1 Thessalonians 5:15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

Which will enable us to  :

Job 34:4 Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what is good.

Which good should also affect others :

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

And not just to our own :

Luke 6:32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.

Because God also uses evil to refine :

Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

Leading unto obedience :

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Just as His Son likewise learnt  :

Hebrews 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

 

Regards

 

[Deborah_]

Where did evil come from?

 

The Bible does not specifically address this question. The first two chapters of Genesis tell us how God created a good world, but evil (in the form of the snake) is introduced without explanation in chapter 3. Where, when and how did it arise? We are not told. This leaves us with room for reverent speculation – but it can only be speculation.

 

When God created the universe, He did so by a process of separation: light from darkness, earth from heaven, land from sea (Genesis 1:4,7,9). At the end, He had created a world that was orderly and ‘good’, as opposed to the chaos that had preceded it (verse 2). But why did He begin with light and darkness – especially when our sources of natural light, the sun and stars, are not mentioned until day four? John tells us that “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” (I John 1:5) “The dominion of darkness” (Colossians 1:13), on the other hand, is that which is under the rule of Satan. Perhaps, then, there is a hint that ‘evil’ is an essential part of the fabric of the universe (see Isaiah 45:7); yet at the very beginning of creation it was separated from the ‘good’. 

 

For the continued well-being of the world, they should have remained separate – but they did not. The dividing line ran even through the Garden of Eden, in the form of a choice between two trees: one representing life and the other representing knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9,17). It was through the eating of the fruit of this latter tree, at Satan’s instigation, that evil contaminated the human race and the goodness of creation was corrupted.

https://deborahsbiblestudies.wordpress.com/suffering/the-origins-of-evil/

[JohnD]

There is a passage that seems to indicate God created evil.

Isaiah 45:7 (AV)

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

But if you look carefully at the verse the explanation is clear. Light causes shadows. Without light there is only darkness.

And borrowing a line from that theologically concise movie "Oh God" George Burns Almighty put it succinctly, "You can't have a front without a back." 

The best we can hope for is the focus of evil in a constrained place called hell / the lake of fire / gehenna / hades when all who are going to be saved have been saved. But God did not create evil by intention or testing or entrapment. There isn't a cruel thought in God's thinking. It's just the flip side of his goodness and the basis for the choices we must make. 

 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2015 by JohnD

[Sister]

 

God witness of His creation:
Gen 2:1-3
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  2 And on the seventh day
God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which
he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested
from all his work which God created and made.
KJV
within this statement of God all that He had made He sanctified... are you suggesting evil is sanctified?
Love, Steven

Enoob dear brother

Evil was not created during the 6 day creation, but well before that.

The angels were created long before the heavens and the earth were created.  They were there and rejoiced when everything was made.  Evil had already existed in Lucifer's heart, but it was not performed yet until God would provide innocent man to bait him with.

God sanctified the "7th day".  Everything was made and ready for us, and that includes his wonderful plan.

[Sister]

can you clarify you don't mean "bait" as in tempted to get evil response.....

Jeff

Yes I mean it exactly like that.

Lucifer was full of wisdom and beauty.  He was God's anointed Cherub.  This perfection caused him to become vain.  Obviously he had "thoughts" that he could do a better job than God, and wanted that same adoration that God had.  So before man was even made, Lucifer was found to have "evil" in him,  but he could not perform it in heaven because there are only angels there and they have their system in place. 

So God knows what is in Lucifer's heart,...because he made him.  No one can be accused of something if there is just a "thought", or "desire".  One must act upon that desire for the crime to be committed.  So to bring this out of Lucifer, what his heart truly represents, God provides a "lure" for him.  God put two innocent people who know nothing about evil in the garden, and God knows Lucifer will take the bait, which he did.  Now he is guilty.  Provide the perfect environment and what's inside will come out.

Lucifer could only be tempted because that desire to go against God was already in him.  Evil had to be born for God's whole plan to start.  God designed it this way.  He doesn't make an angel "perfect" for some defect to pop up by chance.  Lucifer was created to change heart for the whole plan to be accomplished.  Now the angels in heaven watching get to find out what happens when one of them disobey God and the effects it can have on man.  Their eyes are also open and they are learning too, ....how God knows what he's doing and has reasons for everything he commands,.....he is all knowing,  and the results of evil are what we see in this world today - evil has grown and spread so much that it has to be cut down, and angel and man must never take God for granted because now everyone has seen what happens and witness what going against God results to, total chaos.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Sister

[Sister]

OJB

However, let no one say, when he is tempted, "From Hashem I am being tempted,” for Hashem cannot be tempted to crave ra’ah (evil), and He Himself trips up no one with nisayon (temptation).

 

 Jeff

True,

James 1:14   But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

But we are discussing Lucifer here, who knew better.

 

 

 

[disciplehelovestoo]

Mat 19:16-17 KJV
(16)  And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
(17)  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

'cold' is a term we use to describe the absence of heat; heat is something that exists, something created - but cold is not a thing that exists, but a term to represent the absence of heat

evil isn't something created; it is a term to represent the absence of something created by God: good.

 

 

[Guest shiloh357]

WHY DID GOD CREATE EVIL? Can someone counsel me on the reason why God created evil. I believe that the eyes of God is too pure to behold evil, I desire to know the reason why God created evil. your contribution can be of help.

God did not create evil.