Evil where Did It Come From?

[shikinah]

I was asked this question, and not sure how to answer it...Help:confused:


"No, I'm aware of what the bible tells you, but I'm asking you to turn your mind on for a second & think. The bible says god is perfect & all that is good with no evil in him & that evil is the absence of him right? But how could there be something that exists that is the absence of him if he created everything? Being perfect and all-loving, the very mindset itself of disobedience & "evil" would've had to have been created by GOD. Good/evil are man-made perceptions with no true meaning in reality"

Shikinah

[elihu]

Hi Shikinah,

i suppose the uniformed persons logic goes something like
, God is the creator of everything yes?
so God must have created Evil Yes?

but to those who know their creator and have an undestanding of the reality , that he is beyond our understanding, so much so that we cannot draw a comparison to him from our mortal existance.

so did God create evil ?
he never said he did !

But he did create laws, laws of physics but more importantly laws of justice and righteousness.
no doubt there are laws in heaven that govern the angels

for example the book of JOB tells us

" it came to be the day that sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, and Satan also came among them"

so there was a meeting called and it required everyone to be present.

now we have all heard of the law of cause and effect well i think this law is intimate with Jehovah (he cause to become) cause and effect.
so when he creates a law, his law of cause and effect creates a negative to that law a potential for opposition
in other words his law can be obeyed or disobeyed.
and so we have the most loving gift that God has given all of his higher level creation (angels and mankind) that being the gift of CHOICE and FREEWILL

we can choose to obey His laws or disobey.

so what did satan do with his freedom of choice? we all know
what did Adam and eve do with their freedom of choice , again we all know
so what did the man Christ do with his freedom of choice
thanks be to God for Christ the perfect man.

so my conclusion is that if your having this discussion with someone who will not consider the scriptures to get an understanding of the ransom and they are going to take their stand on worldly conclusions
then i think that you may well be wasting your time

but if a person will examine the scriptures and come to know why Christ died then they will understand why sin and evil exists

elihu

[arimatthewdavies]

isaiah 45.7 says god created evil,
a seeming paradox when you look at all the scriptures that says nothing god created is evil!
but evil is not sin! the word evil simply means negative,! jehovah is god over all positive and negetive forces and both are part of natural creation, over the years translation error has ascociated evil with the word sin,and wickedness, an example of the true meaning of the word evil is found in genisis when god states it is not good for the man to remain alone.
evil simply means not good ,negative, sin however is a delibrate breaking of gods natural order.
the devil is not simply evil the devil is an entity that expertly uses both good and evil to cause humans to become inert neither good or evil and god dosent have any use for lukewarm, their is a reason why god forbade the knowledge of good and evil to man. that reason is both good and evil are absolute quialitys and flesh is not an absolute it can be afected by many things therefore no flesh can comprehend good or evil all the way to it end, so god said keep away!
i hope this makes sense and dosent confuse, but maybe if you look at this you will grasp it proton+ electron= electicity. good+evil=lifeforce. if that just makes it worse go get a cheeseburger and relax because its 100% imposible to explain gods teritory .

[shikinah]

Thank you eliu and arimatthewdavies,
The answer I originally replied with was a similar mixture of both your answers and he came back with the quoted reply. I guess some people will always look for an excuse not to be answerable to god.
But glad you confirmed I was on the right track, excellent answers, thanks again :)
Heres the discusion Oprah's Religion - You will not believe your ears!! Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm9HIy78S0Q&feature=email)

Shikinah

[watchman]

I was asked this question, and not sure how to answer it...Help:confused:


"No, I'm aware of what the bible tells you, but I'm asking you to turn your mind on for a second & think. The bible says god is perfect & all that is good with no evil in him & that evil is the absence of him right? But how could there be something that exists that is the absence of him if he created everything? Being perfect and all-loving, the very mindset itself of disobedience & "evil" would've had to have been created by GOD. Good/evil are man-made perceptions with no true meaning in reality"

Shikinah

The faulty assumption is that evil is the absence of God. The truth is, evil is the rejection of God's standards of good and bad. Jehovah is a lover of freedom. He gives his creatures the freedom to do what they wish, but there are consequences. Wrong choices bring evil consequences. That's how the universe works.

[shikinah]

Robert thank you I totally agree.:)

[FutureMan]

isaiah 45.7 says god created evil,
a seeming paradox when you look at all the scriptures that says nothing god created is evil!
but evil is not sin! the word evil simply means negative,! jehovah is god over all positive and negetive forces and both are part of natural creation, over the years translation error has ascociated evil with the word sin,and wickedness, an example of the true meaning of the word evil is found in genisis when god states it is not good for the man to remain alone.
evil simply means not good ,negative, sin however is a delibrate breaking of gods natural order.
the devil is not simply evil the devil is an entity that expertly uses both good and evil to cause humans to become inert neither good or evil and god dosent have any use for lukewarm, their is a reason why god forbade the knowledge of good and evil to man. that reason is both good and evil are absolute quialitys and flesh is not an absolute it can be afected by many things therefore no flesh can comprehend good or evil all the way to it end, so god said keep away!
i hope this makes sense and dosent confuse, but maybe if you look at this you will grasp it proton+ electron= electicity. good+evil=lifeforce. if that just makes it worse go get a cheeseburger and relax because its 100% imposible to explain gods teritory .


Yes it is an interesting scripture that reveals a lot.

Isaiah 45 [LITV]
7 forming light, and creating darkness; making peace, and creating evil. I, Jehovah, do all these things.

Evil in this context is an example of where Jehovah will use a negative to achieve a result, and as for example in the case of the destruction of people by the "flood", and the destruction of "Sodom and Gomorrah".

In these two cases God used evil, a negative, as a cleansing.

In the case of the flood, the earth was cleansed of the wickedness produced by the wicked angels and their hybrid offspring and in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, that area was cleansed from a very wicked people who would have continued to corrupt everyone whom they came in contact with.

So in the end the "evil", that God caused produced a "positive result".

[Jahsdisciple]

Evil is the result of either not knowing love/good or choosing to reject love/good. The only other option then is to follow a path that is the opposite of love. This leads to following any whim or inclination without regulating yourself by the standards of love,which would stop us from following a path of badness. In mans case,this has led to following a path of degradation because satan has also encouraged a path away from love/good. satan knows Jahs standards for what is best for man,so he steers mankind away from them knowing the misery it will bring.

This is part of evil.

Without the regulating standards of love,which means we will stop ourselves from bad actions and thoughts,the only thing to follow is what we think will bring us happiness...and since we dont have any direction by Jahs direct instructions (the tree of knowledge) we cant possibly know what is good or bad without Jah telling us. Since Jah cant interfere as satan has,this has resulted in his putting things before man that he knows will corrupt us more and more.

Jah has given us the bible to show us how to stop evil by exposing who is behind the high level of evil/badness...and also given us instructions as to what good and bad is,so that we may limit evil and bring more 'good' into our lives.

In our ignorance we may feel sex is love. satan encourages this. Jah tells us that sex without REAL love is bad because without love,sex can become perverted. this is why many are sex crazy and have become perverted by the 'anything goes'.

LOVE regulates sex...even though satan tries to say 'sex is love'...which it isnt. So,EVIL has been introduced into sex becuase it has been degraded by not having Jahs standards appied to it. There are no boudaries that apply,where we would say "no,thats not right. I wont do that..THATS NOT LOVE ".

This is why Jah after the Exodus,had to even say that sex with siblings or other perversions were not right. They didnt have a clue because they lived in Egypt,where anything was OK. Jah on even such a basic level had to tell them what was right..even though we might consider them basics. This is because we have been taught by Jah.

So evil is the result of satan delibertly opposing Jah and going against what he knew was right,even though it would corrupt himself by doing it. he then went out of his way to become a mass "manslayer" by corrupting the good that was left in man...to the point that evey action was in opposition to Jah. Evil came from hate of Jehovah and every good thing He stood for.

He hated Jah so much... that satan hated man for being like Jah... and not only wanted man dead,but to corrupt any potential to be like God that we had left in us.

[Jeshurun]

Robert, the way the universe works that you described is known in other religions as "karma". What goes around comes around. You are one enlightened dude my Brother!

Evil is the result of being selfish, not caring for the welfare of others. God put laws in place when he gave us free will. If we choose to go against those laws, there will be consequences. In other words, you reap what you sow.

As for the Watchtower teaching that otherwise good people will go to the Lake of Fire just because they aren't JW's, now THAT'S evil.

Love,
Jesh