Bible Question: do you believe that God's does evil? |
Bible Answer: I believe He created "evil" only in the context or sense He said, He created it. He creates "calamity" when it is needed. When the seeds need scattering, He sends the wind. His fan is in His hand. Isaiah 41:16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel. Psalms 90:5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. Jeremiah 46:8 Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. Daniel 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. ------------- First one must establish that evil "exists," which begs the definition of "what does exist" mean? For example, does wind "exist" or is it merely the "movement" of atoms and molecules from one place to another due to pressures and temperature variations? Is what is perceived as "evil" (calamity) merely a transitonal period where we don't see the end result while going through it? Numbers 22:23 And the ass saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way. Numbers 22:33 And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive. Balaam was mad at his donkey not behaving how he thought it should, though it saved him. And, Joseph being sold into slavery and his troubles, Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. God takes calamity, even that He creates, and Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. |