Seven "Simple" Questions for
Bible Believers

Answered by a Bible Believer

Question 3 - Problems with Evil

Bible-Rejecter:

Question 3. How could evil originate with a good God?
 

Bible Believer:

Let's define our terms from the start (since Brian won't, we will). There are two senses in which the word "evil" is used in the KJV Bible. One meaning involves a moral failure on the part of someone - i.e., that person does WRONG, and sins. The other is a misfortune that befalls someone - i.e., troubles happen in their life. God causes the second kind of evil to happen, but not the first - in other words, troubles can come from God, but evil cannot come from God. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Darkness exists when there is no light. Evil exists when God is not welcome and allowed to be in charge, just as darkness exists when the light is rejected and switched off.

Bible-Rejecter:

How could evil have come into existence in the first place if an all loving, all powerful God were really in charge of the universe? How could God allow the deception and fall of man? How could evil enter a world which was perfect when the work of creation was finished? How could Satan, who was created a good being, become the enemy of God? Why did God create him in the first place knowing that he would become the Devil and tempt his creation? As Man Friday said in Robinson Crusoe: "Why he not kill Devil?".

Bible Believer:

The first question begs the question, "If God is good, why CAN'T He allow sin into the universe? Every parent knows that you have to allow your children the ability to choose to do right.
The fact that the world was perfect had nothing to do with allowing sin to enter that world. The allowance for evil to enter the world does not take away from the goodness of God - as a matter of fact, allowing it makes it possible for humanity to know what Good is.
As far as how could Satan become the enemy of God, the answer is easy - by his own choice!!!
Brian here shows his lack of ability to allow for a wider explanation of freedom than his pre-conceived ideas of perception!

Bible-Rejecter:

Since God created EVERYTHING (Col.1:16, Eph.3:9) then it goes with out saying that he is the original source of all evil too. He is the "First Cause" of evil and sin. Strangely enough, this is exactly what the Bible teaches. God, not man or the Devil is the author of evil:

Bible Believer:

Wrong Brian. Darkness is not a thing - it is the absence of light. Evil is not a thing, but the absence of Good. 

Bible-Rejecter:

Isaiah 45:7 "I [God] create EVIL ".

Take a look at the context - the evil here is trouble, bad times.

Amos 3:6 "Shall there be EVIL in a city and the Lord hath not done it? ".

Take a look at the context - the evil here is trouble, bad times for that city. In other words, if you are having a bad day, God could very well be behind you having a BAD day!

Jer.36:3 "All the EVIL which I [God] purpose to do unto them".

Take a look at the context - the evil here is judgment against them for their sinfulness. God is not going to do sin against them for their sinfulness; He is going to JUDGE their sins, and it will not be a pretty sight!

Jer.18:11 "I [God] frame EVIL against you".

Take a look at the context - the evil here is judgment agains them.

Jer.32:42 "I [God] have brought all this EVIL upon this people".

Take a look at the context - the evil here is trouble, bad times. NOT sin, or moral evil. GOD DOES NOT SIN!

Jer. 11:11 "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring EVIL upon them".

Take a look at the context - the evil here is trouble, bad times, judgment for THEIR SIN.

Micah 2:3 "Thus saith the Lord; Behold, against this family do I devise an EVIL".

This is getting monotonous! Take a look at the context - the evil here is trouble, bad times.

2 Chron.34:24 "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring EVIL upon this place".

Take a look at the context - the evil here is trouble, bad times. ANYBODY could have figured this stuff out,... except for Brian!!!

Jer.51:64 "...and shall not rise from the EVIL I [God] will bring upon her".

Take a look at the context - the evil here is trouble, bad times, judgment.

1 Sam.16:23 "The EVIL spirit from God".

Take a look at the context - the evil spirit is replacing God's Spirit. When God pulled back His Spirit from King Saul, guess what took over??? An EVIL (sinful, wicked) spirit from hell!!! When you remove the Light, darkness takes over.
Who removed the light? Who removed the Spirit? GOD DID. And by doing that, the evil spirit took over, and God was responsible for that happening because He created the spiritual laws by which the world operates just as he created the physical laws by which the world operates (gravity, thermodynamics, etc).

1 Sam.18:10 "The EVIL spirit from God".

See above.

Micah 1:12 "EVIL came down FROM THE LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem ".

Okay? So, out of context, is EVIL a person? Hmmmm. Nope. Contextually, the evil is referring to the judgment of God, that had spread throughout the land and was even at the gate of the entrance of Jerusalem. GOD DID NOT CREATE SIN. He creates troubles as judgments AGAINST SIN!.

The Apostle John also says that evil or wicked spirits dwell with God.

Whoa! Huh? Go figure! That is a lie, and Brian here has not given ANY Scripture to prove that the apostle John ever even inferred such a thought!

In Mark 1:23-24 a man with an UNCLEAN SPIRIT cried out to Jesus; "I know who you are, the Holy One of God". Yet 1 John 4:2 says EVERY spirit that confesses that Jesus is come in the flesh is of God! Imagine that! An UNCLEAN spirit dwelling with a perfect God!

Just because a demonic spirit recognizes who Jesus is, means nothing. OBVIOUSLY they will recognize Him - they KNOW who He is (Brian doesn't but DEMONS do). Brian intentionally neglected to show you James 2:19, "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." That doesn't mean they dwell with God, or even are on God's side!!!

Apart from the many verses where God plainly admits he is the author of evil, some of his actions speak louder than his words:

Yep! Judgment of God. Get over it. You forgot about the absolute judgment of the world in Noah's day, and of Sodom and Gomorrah, etc, and of this wicked world in the very near future!!!

Yep. In simple terms, it was the best way to take care of rapists and force them to take responsibility for their actions!
The Biblical principal is as follows: marriage and sex go hand in hand. This law simply makes it clear that if a man had sex with a woman, even if he rapes her, he MUST marry her. God says that two will become "one flesh." It is sex that is the act of becoming one flesh. And God expects that they should marry.
Deut 22:28 is not condoning rape because rape was actually a capital offence, believe it or not (if the guy was deemed very dangerous to the woman, he could have been stoned), the rapist having to marry the virgin was actually a punishment for the rapist because of the fact that if a woman was no longer a virgin, even if the rapist was put to death, no one would want to marry her for fear of being unclean (the guy could be carrying a load of diseases). So to provide for the now violated woman, God made it so that the man would have to endure his guilt for the rest of his life by having to be rightfully married, plus, the man's punishment was also that he had to provide for her for the rest of his life - i.e., Gods punishment was basically for the woman to be allowed to use the man for the rest of his life. Think about THAT!

Nope! Not totally true. God allowed slavery, but did not promote it, and focused on freeing man's soul more than trying to free men's flesh.

Ha! Go read the context again (I know you won't Brian because you are a liar yourself, and would never tolerate the possibility that you are wrong)! A person who intentionally goes out of their way to lie, is from that moment on, helped out by God. It is another one of those spiritual laws that God will deceive you into thinking you are telling the truth when you intentionally are telling a lie. It is the TRAP that God sets for ALL LIARS! We call it a PATHOLOGICAL liar!

You forgot that God condemned ALL of mankind to death because of the sin (just ONE sin) of one man - Adam (Romans 5:12). There is no problem with that! The Egyptians had the FREE WILL to choose to continue to believe their leader, or fear God and flee Egypt.

Brian you have no intelligence AT ALL! The allowance of a virgin to become the wife of a soldier is because of the potential of disease being spread by non-virgins.

First off, God commanded just ONE hand to be cut off. God says the value of life, and the ability to GIVE life is more important than a fight between two men. If a man hurt another man's ability to have children, God was just as tough on that man. The women in question was using dirty tactics and was not to do so. We call it, NO FIGHTING BELOW THE BELT!!!

Bible-Rejecter:

That's a lot of evil from a "good" God! Don't fall for the "that's what it says but that's not what it means line". In every verse quoted here the word "evil" comes from the Hebrew words "ra" or "roa" which refer to morality. If the word evil does not have a definite moral quality attached then why is it placed in opposition to the word "good" in Lam.3:38? Besides the proof from the Bible simple logic dictates that God cannot be both almighty and all good. If all the evil in the world was intended by God then he is not good; if it violates his intentions he is not almighty. There is no way to escape the fact that an omnipotent deity has to be responsible for evil.

Bible Believer:

Wrong again Brian. The Hebrew word is 'rah', and it refers to EITHER natural calamities (troubles in your life) or moral wrongs. - it does not only refer to sin.  The use of the word 'good' in Lamentation 3:38 is to show that God does NOT say EVIL (sinful) things and good things. God only speaks GOOD.

BRIAN!!! Go read the CONTEXT of the Scriptures that you quote! READ man... READ!!!

Since God created evil, brings evil upon people, created Satan, foreordained people to sin, committed what any normal person would call evil acts (slavery, murdering infants) and evil spirits come from God, then surely God is as much to blame as anyone else!

Or like babies burning in Hell and people being condemned to Hell before they are born is this just another case of "Divine Justice" which just "seems" unfair from our lowly earthly perspective?

Bible Believer:

As had been clearly shown, Brian is off base on ALL counts. The only person to blame for evil and sin in me is... ME!!!

Mar 7:21-23 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
 

Brian, (and all Bible rejecters) CHECK YOUR HEARTS!!!