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Topics
What
Is Christianity Explained Information?
What Is Religion and
Where Did It Originate?
Who
or What Is God?
What Is
Christianity?
What Is the
Bible, and How Relative Is It to My Life?
Can I Understand the
Bible?
What Are Messianic
Prophecies?
Who Was Jesus of
Nazareth, Really?
Why Are There So
Many World Religions?
Why Are There So
Many Christian Denominations?
What Is the Law and How
Does It Apply to Me?
The Ten
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What's All This About
the End of the World and End-time Prophecies?
Isn't the Book of
Daniel a Closed Book?
Revelation: How can
anyone understand all that symbolism?
How Do I Identify a Cult?
Who or What Was Jesus'
Mother, Mary?
Why Are We Here?
Where Do We Go When We Die?
Didn't Darwin Disprove
Creation?
What's the Truth
About Faith and Works?
Christian
E-mails: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Complete
Directory of Articles/Studies
Title Abbreviations for Books of the Bible
Genesis
- Ge
Exodus - Ex
Leviticus - Le
Numbers - Nu
Deuteronomy - De
Joshua - Jos
Judges - Jud
Ruth - Ru
I Samuel - 1sa
II Samuel - 2sa
I Kings - 1ki
II Kings - 2ki
I Chronicles - 1ch
II Chronicles - 2ch
Ezra - Ezr
Nehemiah - Ne
Esther - Es
Job - Job
Psalm - Ps
Proverbs - Pr
Ecclesiastes - Ec
Song of Solomon - So
Isaiah - Isa
Jeremiah - Jer
Lamentations - La
Ezekiel - Eze
Daniel - Da
Hosea - Ho
Joel - Joe
Amos - Am
Obadiah - Ob
Johah - Jon
Micah - Mic
Nahum - Na
Habakuk - Hab
Zephaniah - Zep
Haggai - Hag
Zechariah - Zec
Malachi - Mal
Matthew - Mt
Mark - Mr
Luke - Lu
John - Joh
Acts - Ac
Romans - Ro
I Corinthians - 1co
II Corinthians - 2co
Galatians - Ga
Ephesians - Eph
Philippians - Php
Colossians - Col
I Thessalonians - 1th
II Thessalonians - 2th
I Timothy - 1ti
II Timothy - 2ti
Titus - Tit
Philemon - Phm
Hebrews - Heb
James - Jas
I Peter - 1pe
II Peter - 2pe
I John - 1jo
II John - 2jo
III John - 3jo
Jude - Jude
Revelation - Re
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Did God Create Evil?
When
we become interested in God, we begin learning that, according to
Jesus, he is a loving father, a benevolent king. When we
start to
entertain thoughts about the spirit world, we begin to wonder how evil
came about and why God allows it if he is so righteous and
loving.
The
Genesis account of creation says that everything God made, he saw as
good or very good. So, where did evil come from?
Let's
see what Scripture has to say about this phenomenon.
| Now
the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD
God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall
not eat of every tree of the garden? |
| And
the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees
of the garden: |
| But
of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath
said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. |
| And
the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: |
| For
God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. |
| And
when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her; and he did eat. |
| And
the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked;
and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. |
| And
they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool
of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of
the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. |
| And
the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? |
| And
he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I
was naked; and I hid myself. |
| And
he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the
tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? |
| And
the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of
the tree, and I did eat. |
| And
the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And
the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. |
| And
the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou
art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon
thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy
life: |
| And
I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. |
| Unto
the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy
conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire
shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. |
| And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of
which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the
ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy
life; |
| Thorns also and thistles shall it bring
forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; |
| In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the
ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return. |
| And
Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all
living. |
| Unto
Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and
clothed them. |
| And
the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good
and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the
tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: |
| Therefore
the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground
from whence he was taken. |
| So
he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden
Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way
of the tree of life. |
The
very first glimpse of evil in the Bible is the story of Eve and the
serpent who enticed her to disobey God. The book of Revelation clearly
identifies the serpent not as one of the beings God made when
he
created the earth, but as the Devil, who is also called Satan, the
accuser of the brethren.
| So
the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil
and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and
his angels were cast out with him. |
| Then
I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength,
and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for
the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and
night, has been cast down. |
So,
the
serpent has been postulated to have been a magnificent dragon that God
cursed to become a snake, but that's just for the sake of imagery. He
is actually the leader of a band of angels who may have taken the form
of a dragon in order to entice Eve.
Doesn't
that mean God created the Devil?
The
thought that a righteous and perfect God created evil is mind boggling
and it is nice to find out that it is not true. It is yet another of
Satan's attempts to separate us from our loving father, for Satan is a
murderer and a liar and he wants us to follow him instead of God.
| "You
are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want
to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the
truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he
speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. |
If he is a
liar and was "a murderer from the beginning" and "In the beginning God
made"
the heavens and the earth and mankind, can we assume he
"murdered" mankind by lying to Eve about the results of eating
the
fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
What's
interesting is that most of the Christian world is in the dark about
what the lie was that Satan told Eve. In their belief that man has an
immortal soul, they, along with Eve, believe the lie,"Thou shall not
surely die." But that's another study.
But
notice this: though there is no truth in Satan, that doesn't mean he
cannot speak the truth and use it to his own advantage.
| And
no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. |
We keep
coming back to angels. God created the angels, and if Satan was an
angel leader, then God created Satan, right?
Well,
here's the thing. Many Christian scholars believe that Isaiah and
Ezekiel wrote about Satan in their messages to the ancient Israelites.
Certain passages cannot fully be attributed to any human.
| "How
you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are
cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! |
| For
you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the
congregation On the farthest sides of the north; |
| I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most
High.' |
| Yet
you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. |
| "Son
of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him,
'Thus says the Lord God: "You were the seal of perfection, Full of
wisdom and perfect in beauty. |
| You
were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your
covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper,
Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your
timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. |
| "You
were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the
holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery
stones. |
| You
were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity
was found in you. |
| "By
the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within,
And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the
mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst
of the fiery stones. |
| "Your
heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom
for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you
before kings, That they might gaze at you. |
| "You
defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the
iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It
devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of
all who saw you. |
| All
who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a
horror, And shall be no more forever." ' " |
These
verses sound like both past and future of a being that was created
perfect but whose pride and vanity caused him to picture himself as
equal to and unneeding of God. He forgot the most important truth: God
has existed from eternity past and created everything else that exists,
including this Lucifer, this covering cherub. The created being is
never as powerful as his creator, because the ability to give (and to
take away) life exists only in the creator. The created being
can
be powerful, he can do a lot of damage, but he does not have life
within himself.
| I
urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before
Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, |
| that
you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus
Christ's appearing, |
| which
He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only
Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, |
| who
alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man
has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. |
Yet this
glorious being, Lucifer, set himself
against God, though,
by virtue of having been the covering cherub, the leader of heavenly
angels, he must be much more powerful and intelligent than any
man!
| For You have made him [man] a little lower than
the
angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. |
| You have made him [man] a little lower
than the
angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the
works of Your hands. |
| But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower
than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and
honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. |
Even
Jesus,
when he was made a man, was a little lower than the angels, though as
God incarnate creator of all, he has the right to be worshiped by all
creation.
So,
God did not create evil. It was born in the heart of one of his created
beings who developed delusions of grandeur and rebelled against his
creator. All who rebel against the creator are under the direct
influence of Satan and his brand of evil, even though they are "good"
people and even though the only "evil" they practice is the refusal to
respect and worship their creator.
Praise
God, he forgives those who ask for it. And Praise God, he does not
attribute sin where there is no knowledge of Him. But, be
aware
that now that you have knowledge of him, he will hold you accountable
for what you do with that knowledge.
What Else Do We Know About Satan and Evil?
Job
seems to imply that Satan is one of the sons of God and that each of
these sons of God reports back to God concerning various portions of
his creation. Satan was apparently one of those who reported concerning
the Earth. Since God is omnicient--all-knowing--his inquiry
into
Satan's recent whereabouts was most likely his way of inviting Satan to
speak his mind. It is not likely that beings just burst into the throne
room of God and start speaking without being asked to do so. I
certainly wouldn't take such a liberty. I would assume that God has an
orderly plan for interviewing his subjects.
| Now
there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before
the Lord, and Satan also came among them. |
| And
the Lord said to Satan, "From where do you come?" So Satan answered the
Lord and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking
back and forth on it." |
| Then
the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there
is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who
fears God and shuns evil?" |
| So
Satan answered the Lord and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing? |
| "Have
You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all
that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and
his possessions have increased in the land. |
| "But
now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will
surely curse You to Your face!" |
| And
the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power; only
do not lay a hand on his person." So Satan went out from the presence
of the Lord. |
There
are a couple of little gems in this story. One is the subtle definition
of evil in verse 8: fear of (or respect for) God seems to be the
opposite of evil. If one truly respects God, (s)he will not be caught
up in evil practices.
Isaiah
14:12-14
Ezekiel
28:14-17
Mark
1:13
Luke
10:18
John
8:44
2Cor
2:11, 11:3
John
3:8
Revelation
12:9, 20:2
|
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Scriptures:
Within
Text:
Genesis 3:1-24
Revelation 12:9-10
John 8:44
2 Corinthians 11:14
Isaiah 14:12-15
Ezekiel 28:12-19
1 Timothy 6:13-16
Psalm 8:5
Hebrews 2:7, 9
Job 1:6-12
More Study:
name chap:verse-s
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