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NASB | Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty (subtle, skilled in deceit) than any living creature of the field which the LORD God had made. And the serpent (Satan) said to the woman, "Can it really be that God has said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" [Rev 12:9-11] |
Subject: Who created evil? |
Bible Note: Radioman, You have some very interesting points here. I'd like to interject something not in a debating sense, but to see what your views are. In order for me to get your full answer, I'll need to give you how I view this. So it might sound like I'm attacking your understandings, but please brother, do not take it that way. I need to come to you with my full understanding so I can get yours. I hope you understand that. Here's what I've received from God on this matter: As you said the KJV in Is 45:7 states that "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create EVIL: I the LORD do all these things." To me that very clearly says that God created evil. As for your understanding given about sin. I agree whole heartedly on what you said. However, I don't think that sin and evil are the same thing. Sin is a transgression of the law. Evil (to me) is a state of being. i.e. Satan is evil. Further example: I sin and get drunk. Was I being evil? Did I have an evil heart? Not from how I view evil. Would I be evil if I delibrately tempted my brother into getting drunk, just so he would transgress? Yes, that would be evil. You quoted James 1:13 and 1 John 1:5. I don't feel that these scriptures override Is 45:7. They are simply giving a description of God. "Cannot be tempted by evil and does not tempt anyone" only means that evil has no power over Him and that He Himself will not try to get someone to transgress by tempting them. However, Evil, His creation, would tempt someone. "In Him there is no darkness" Still does not prove that He couldn't create evil. This just tells me that He Himself is not evil, but still could create it to serve His purpose. 1 Corin 14:33 says God is not the author of confusion. Again, I would have to say that Evil and Confusion are not the same. Evil is perfectly understandable if you gain enough wisdom. I'm not confused by evil or evil motives at all. They make perfect sense to me when I look at them from a spiritual mind. Not being the author of confusion means that God would not try to do anything that would be contradictary by any means. For example, put something in the Word that contradicts something else in the Word. Like saying that Jesus was a jew in one scripture and a muslim in another. Calamity is a form of confusion as far as I'm concerned. So how could you say the NAS bible's translation of IS 45:7 is any clearer? To me, that's a contradiction in scripture. How could He create calamity, but yet not be the author of confusion? I'm not going to get into different bible translations now, maybe at another time. Evil serves God, that is for sure. If Evil tempts people and God does not, the God would need something to do His "dirty work" so to speak. Consider this: God could have created us to be like robots to serve Him. But He didn't because He wanted our choice to serve Him be proof that we love Him. If there was no tempter (evil) then we wouldn't be faced with choices to serve Him or serve sin. Or sin wouldn't have a driver or method of pressure, if that makes sense to you. So God needed evil for His eternal plan. And as far as Genesis goes and "God saw that it was good"... That was the earth. The heaven mentioned is the atmosphere here all the way to outer space. Not the heaven where God is. That is a different heaven. God's Heaven was already created by this time. So was evil. So yes, the earth that He created WAS good. I still don't think that overrides IS 45:7. He created alot of good things. But He also created evil, just not in Gen 1. |