Who Created Evil?
“If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world?” This question is often stated as a charge against God, and many use this as a rationale for denying God exists, or rejecting the notion that He is Love. But is this justifiable? Let’s see.
Evil exists, and such groups as ISIS remind us every day that the world is not becoming better with time. Human beings continue to come up with new ways to destroy one another. Men’s hearts, according to the Scriptures, will fail them because of fear. And the Bible prophesies it will only get worse.
Where did evil come from? Amazingly, God takes responsibility for creating evil!
“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” Isaiah 45:7 KJV
Does God mean that He is the One causing terrorists to blow up restaurants, airplanes to crash, and little babies to die of cancer? God forbid, far be it from the Lord to do any such thing! God is Love and God is good.
But this is what God is saying. “I take ultimate responsibility for the existence of evil in this world because it was my decision to create people in my image and give them the freedom to choose Me or reject Me, which made evil possible.” You see, had God created robots, instead of free moral beings who had the power to choose, God could have guaranteed the non-existence of evil. But since He made men free, by so doing, He made evil possible. Evil exists because freedom exists. And God is the Cause of freedom.
Now, some would say, even though He has made men free, God is still to be blamed for not stopping the consequences of evil once it is conceived, or once a person takes action, since He is all-powerful. But think about this a minute. Consider the implications fully before you indict God.
If God makes you free but then makes it His goal to prevent you from experiencing the consequences of your decisions, then are you really free? What good, for example, will a so-called freedom to vote be if someone with power could simply decide because he does not like your choice, he will render its effects void? If you decided to have your second serving of cake today, would you be truly free, if against your will, God made it His duty to keep your mouth shut because He knew the sugar could cause diabetes? Or to make it impossible for you to smoke the cigarette of your choice because nicotine harms you and others through second-hand smoke? Can you see man’s freedom will mean nothing, if God decides He will intervene and prevent us as a whole from experiencing the consequences of our choices, whenever those consequences are contrary to His will?
Freedom must allow for consequences, or it does not exist. So, before you blame God for all the evil in the world and conclude He is not worthy of your love and allegiance, ask yourself how much you value freedom. What would you want a God of love to do–make you a robot and ensure you can never choose to do wrong, or make you free like Himself, knowing that you may very well use your freedom to reject Him and do evil? God weighed the options before Him, should He create a robot or create a human being? Then, He decided He would create a human being. Why? He is Love!
And because God is love, He sent Jesus into the world to help us deal with the consequences of the evil choices we made yesterday, to help us to make better choices for ourselves today, and ultimately to work through us to create a brand new world tomorrow. Instead of rejecting God because of evil, the presence of evil should cause us to run to Him!
Is God ultimately responsible for the evil in the world? Yes, but only in the sense that He made you free! Should you curse Him for making you free? No, you should worship Him! You should praise His holy Name!
A Moment of Grace 
Thank you for this! I am Christian, but I do wonder why evil exists. This was a great explanation and makes perfect sense. I do have one question though, Before Adam and Eve became responsible for the fall of man, came the serpent, which was a form of evil. So, even though Adam and Eve were free human beings like us, it seems like evil existed before the fall of man and that Adam and Chose it over God.
I’m no Bible scholar or Theologian, I’m just a little confused 🙂
Do you have any insight or perspective to my inquiry?
Celestial,
I believe the same explanation applies. Because God is love and God has free will, He also made His angels free. One of them, Lucifer, used his freedom to rebel against God and thereby introduced evil into the world. So, yes evil was already present because Lucifer had transformed himself into Satan by the time God created man
Ohhh, okay, got it. I sometimes forget that the Bible is not in chronological order. So, everything with Satan happened prior to God creating Adam and Eve. Okay, makes perfect sense now. Thank you for taking the time to explain it to me Bishop.
Wow. this is a perfect example of how the bible is being used incorrectly. Every verse used above was taken out of context. To say that because God made man and man is a free then God is to blame for wickedness. That simply means you have not read your bible hard enough.
(2 Corinthians 4:4)” among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.”
Did you get that, there is a god (lower case “g”) who does not want people to know the truth about Jesus. Hmmm, does that sound like God (capital “G”). Now the bible identifies who this god is that is blinding people from the truth.
(1 John 5:19) “We know that we originate with God, but the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.”
So, who has power of this world, the bible says the “wicked one”. So who is that?
(Revelation 12:9) “So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.”
According to the bible it is not God misleading man but rather the god of this system of things, the original serpent the known as the Devil and Satan.
No where does the bible ever make the claim that Jehovah God or Jesus Christ are ruling this world. Just look at the world does it look like it is under God’s control. Thus we have this hope.
(Psalm 37:10, 11) “Just a little while longer, and the wicked will be no more; You will look at where they were, And they will not be there. 11 But the meek will possess the earth, And they will find exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”
Jesus said: (Matthew 24:7, 8) “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. 8 All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.”
Jesus said: (Matthew 24:37-39) “For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. 38 For as they were in those days before the Flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39 and they took no note until the Flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.”
Jesus said: (Matthew 24:42) “Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”
Jesus said: (Matthew 24:44) “On this account, you too prove yourselves ready, because the Son of man is coming at an hour that you do not think to be it.”
I let the bible speak for itself. These are not my opinions but what the bible says. Some of you may read this and get mad because it is not in harmony with the article above. Then others may embrace it. Then there will be those that say. See this thread was started to create the dialogue. To all I close with this ….if you are humble …
Jesus said: (John 8:32) and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
You have completely misunderstood my blog. Please take the time to read it again. Read it slowly. Hopefully you will see that I am by no means blaming God for the evil men do. In fact, I am saying the exact opposite.
You, said “Is God ultimately responsible for the evil in the world? Yes, but only in the sense that He made you free! Should you curse Him for making you free? No, you should worship Him! You should praise His holy Name!” Ultimately responsible is what you said. The bible says (Proverbs 19:3) “It is a man’s own foolishness that distorts his way, And his heart becomes enraged against Jehovah.” It sounds like you are saying that since God is the creator he is responsible for the creation even though the creation has free will. Consider parents who raise a child and teach him or her right from wrong. Now older the child goes out and robs a bank. Would you then say that the parents are ultimately responsible for a decision their child made. Of course not. Thus the bible says (Genesis 1:31) “After that God saw everything he had made, and look! it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.” Blaming God for the wrongs in this world even in the most of infinitesimal ways is not reasonable nor does the bible support that thinking. You can not deny what you have stated.
You wrote,“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” Isaiah 45:7 KJV This is not a blanket statement, Jehovah God is showing his power over man and his enemies. Peace is for those who would be obedient, evil or calamity would be towards those attacking his people. He used light and darkness as a reference as to how easy it would be for him to defeat his enemies. That has already been done. So this prophecy was written 200 years before it was to be fulfilled and thus Babylon his enemy was destroyed because he brought about a calamity or as the KJV says evil for their disobedience. He was not talking about the evil in this world he was talking about a specific group of people who oppossed him in a specific situation. And one last thought, by not mentioning the devil, satan you have misrepresented the truth. Now sir you should re-read my previous comment to get the real answer. I will say this, I get a little upset when a person wearing a title distorts the bibles message. You placed a lot of your own opinion in your article. I encourage you to stick to the scriptures they speak fro themselves loud and clear. I will applaud you as a humble man to even allow my comment to be approved for others to see. Though you and I may disagree I tell you what, I have a LOT of respect for you as a man and a person. A lot can be said for your humility in a large way.
Believe me, you do not believe in the existence of the devil more than I and you will never hear me blaming God for man’s actions. You have misunderstood my blog. But that is okay. No need to argue with you. Wish you well.
I totally and completely agreed that Evil exit because of the present of freedom to choose.
thanks Bishop, and may God strengthen you day by day .
God is good, and there is no evil in Him, its mankind who sits in the counsels of the ungodly to misused His freedom for evil….. On the other hand its God Who created the tree of knowledge, good and evil, but not for the purpose of corrupting mankind, but He is God, and have a good reason for creating the tree of knowledge, good and evil. And He also created the tree of life, He give mankind a choice, and a warning.. “You can eat of the fruits of all the others trees in the garden of Eden,… including the tree of life, but dont eat of the tree of knowledge good and evil” …… unfortunately, the adversary corrupted the mind of Eve with ungodly counsel against Gods command, and Eve corrupted Adams mind also….. both conspired against Gods counselled and abused their freedom in glory with God… In the Theodocy of God, He gives mankind free will to willingly and obediently submits to Him…. He never said what you will really attain when you obeyed. But, He always warned mankind of what will become of them if they choose to disobey and have their own will.. But, when they believed and obeyed, its surprising what they could accomplished and attained. Since its usually above all they are thinking, and planning, and most glorious and eternal…….. Thanks Bishop!!!!!
So true Bishop! What an eye opener. Thanks.
Great food for thought. Thank you for helping us answer such question Bishop!
Woo! Bishop dis is a powerful revelation. dis is d quest da many ask in order to intrape we da preach dis gospel of d kingdom. Dis message gave us d answer. Thank u Bishop.
This is profound and insightful. It is a blessing, thank you Bishop. Just today I was confronted with this question. For instance, Why did God not stop Adam and Eve from eating of the tree. Why did God not destroy Satan for his unsuccessful cope plot? In Exodus 4:11, it reads “And the Lord said unto him, who made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb or deaf, or seeing or the blind? Have not I the Lord”?
Awesome Message Bishop! Thank you and God bless you.