bbyrd009
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to present you with a choice. And God does not allow it in his Domain, right.
Did God Create Evil?
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bbyrd009
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but to be fair, we usually all believe that forest fires and epidemics are "evil," too, right, and we even develop "remedies" to overcome these "evils."
bbyrd009
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aspen
“"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few
Why would we ever need to choose between good and evil if evil was never introduced? I would not need to develop a skill set for avoiding hard drugs if they were never concieved of. I dont need to avoid kryptonite either, in order to keep my strength. Seems like the height of vanity is to admire an unnecesary dilemma (evil), which results in an artifical skill set (choice between good and evil); completely frivilous apart from a breakdown in the system (Fall of humanity).
Choosing between good and evil is only necessary in a Fallen world and it cannot be done apart from God, who is the only one who knows Good. If we remained in the Garden, we would be free of the delusion - we would be free to choose between all the good choices in Gods creation without trotting around breaking everything we see and calling it evil.
bbyrd009
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aspen
“"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few
bbyrd009
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aspen
“"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few
Richard_oti
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Not specifically. However, darkness does represent the absence of light and does by extension.
What I am hinting at, though I do not personally believe it, but rather suggesting it as an option to see what becomes of it:
In Genesis 1:2, the darkness already existed before creation, before the "light". Was "evil" there all along, but it was not "evil" until it was defined as "evil" by YHVH. I am looking to see what is palatable to you as well as exploring possibilities that I have never previously considered.
And yes, I do realize that to suggest that undefined "evil" was there all along is perhaps pushing the limits. However, even the tree in the garden was the knowledge of good and "evil". Perhaps the knowledge was of the defining limits of good and evil.
Yes, I am rambling. Trying to sort out my thoughts upon this as I type. Personally, I have no issue if "God" created both good and evil. But it is always good to consider a fresh perspective.
Consider Job:
Job 2:10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
He didn't seem to have an issue with it, nor did he "sin" at the suggestion.
aspen
“"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few
So was Genesis written from a human perspective or from God’s? It makes a big difference! Darkness is uncreation, disorder, choas, the unknown based on human perspective - we see all of these descriptions as evil. If it is written from God’s perspective, darkness may simply be a distinction from creation and therefore, neutral ‘other’
The question about which perspective Genesis is written from is totally separate from of the question of whether or not the creation story was inspired. It can be inspired by God AND written from a human perspective
The question about which perspective Genesis is written from is totally separate from of the question of whether or not the creation story was inspired. It can be inspired by God AND written from a human perspective
OK. I know what you mean by separation now.
Dross. How could some being that is all-good, create anything bad if there is no bad in Him?
If there IS bad in Him, then we cannot say He is all-good.
We can only say He is good, which would allow for some bad.
Plus, we learn from the N.T. that God is love.
God IS love.
God is LOVE.
IF even HIS love is tainted, it means some other being is tainting it...
The wail of a child.
Sure. We like to compare God to a parent so we could get some inkling of how He thinks. But it's just an inkling, we can't really think He is like a real human parent. Human parents are tainted with the evil.
No. To present us with a choice is not well accepted even by church heirarchy. We still fall back on the God being all-good idea.
Good created good.
He could have still given us a choice...
Him or neutral.
Why would it have had to be bad?
Why is evil in quotation marks?
(and the way you quoted me makes it seem like I think evil comes from Him --- God)(I know it was not intentional. No apology necessary.)
LOL
You should move here.
I hear this all the time.
Italians speak this way...:
Si, Si...No.
And we understand it too!!
Job was written for the very reason we're speaking about this.
To try to find some answer.
Was it found in the book of Job? No.
In fact, it makes it all the worse. God is giving permission to the adversary to USE Job to prove a point? Where's the love in that? And the grace, and the mercy?
All Job teaches me is that I really cannot question God:
Job 38
God is Almighty
The darkness in Genesis:
IF evil was there all along, where did it come from?
We always get back to that.
Is a tree not a tree even though it has no name?
Evil is evil even before it was acknowledged.
And even if it did have to be acknowledged -- why would God acknowledge it if He knew ahead of time all the pain it would bring?
In fact one person I know who taught theology wonders how God could have even made us knowing all that would happen...
Re the highlighted above...(click to expand)
It's important to say that, like Job, I accept what comes and will never abandon God even though I don't understand what we're discussing.
I trust that He loves us and live by this.
Sometimes I've been upset with Him because of being in a fragile state and feeling overburdened. I also believe I was not sinning because, thankfully, God knows us and does love us.
I like John 6:68 I post it often.
Sorry for the bunched up posts -- it can't be helped.
Great question!
Scripture is inspired. God didn't sit at the desk and write it with His hand.
However, darkness is NOT a neutral other. There is nothing neutral about the opposite of good. I mentioned that it could have been this way in a post above, but it's not. We have good and we have bad.
The unknown. I like that. Humans STILL do not know what was before the "Big Bang"..."Let there be light". So there is an element of the unknown if Genesis. But we do know that God created everything first, or the first of everything.
God Allowed Eve to eat the fruit and give it to Adam.
Free will.
Choice.
But at what a cost!
But then love wouldn't be love without choice...
You Shall Not Eat of the Tree...
This means that evil already existed and God did not want A and E to learn of it and make it a part of themselves.
bbyrd009
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ha--i dunno about second-guessing God though, at least that is how i read "a glitch in the system."
bbyrd009
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then you must conclude that God is evil and capricious--an opinion we see espoused in many Christian povs even, our common interp of Job, etc, fire and brimstone sermons--or you must come to some other conclusion, and all i can say there is that my reflections have led me to understand that Free Will is a wonderful and terrible thing, and "evil" is subjectively defined.
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