The Creation.... of evil
If God created all things, then evil must be one thing He created, right? But if He created evil, then how can we call Him good?
It may sound contradictory, but with explanation I hope you will see that far from creating evil, God at most allowed it to enter the world but for a very good reason.
In an attempt to answer the question of why didn’t God create so that evil does not exist... a consequence of this hope, which most people do not think about, is if God created the world so that evil does not exist, then He would have to create us in such a way that we would be incapable of doing evil. But not only doing evil, but choosing evil, taking away free will.
Although this consequence sounds wonderful (it would be nice to not even be tempted to do evil, and vice versa to know that you are safe from other people who might have otherwise choosen to do evil), then comes a question that everyone should take a moment to ponder. Can one truly love when there is no choice?
Both Atheists and Theists are on the same page on this one. The answer is resoundingly, No!
“The man who wants to be loved does not desire the enslavement of the beloved. He is not bent on becoming the object of passion, which flows forth mechanically. He does not want to possess an automaton, and if we want to humiliate him, we need try to only persuade him that the beloved’s passion is the result of a psychological determinism...If the beloved is transformed into an automaton, the lover finds himself alone.” ~ Jean-Paul Satre
“When love is a compelled state of mind enforced by design, it is not love and in fact with reasoning actually is a precursor to loneliness. Love by choice within the parameter of the trust that is sacred is a guarantee of legitimate meaning. To desire love without the freedom not to love is to ask for something other than human.” ~ Ravi Zacharias
The next question should become, where is the connection? What does choice have to do with evil in the world? To do away with free will is to do away with love. So to do away with evil would mean that the free will to do evil would be taken away, therefore to do away with evil you would also have to do away with love.
Let us ponder a presumptuous line of thought. Let us ponder on the wisdom of God creating the world as it is. Was it the wisest choice? Was it the best one? Let us look at the options God had before He created:
1) Do not create anything. That would serve Me no purpose as nothing would change.
2) Create a beautiful world with a creature (man) who can freely choose to love Me back, but who could and most assuredly would at some point freely choose to reject Me causing all sorts of evil and pain to enter the world by his actions.
or
3) Create a beautiful world with a creature who must love Me.
Now what good could come of the third option? It would be like programming a computer to give you a compliment every time you turned it on. “Boy, you look lovely today!” It would mean nothing! What good would a world full of automatons do for a God of love? Why would a sovereign God create a world of robots?
But with the second choice there is such pain and evil. What good does that do a God of love? Thankfully with God’s wisdom comes a solution. Salvation. Evil did not only cause us pain, but it separated us entirely from the God who loves us, Christ’s death did not eradicate evil, pain or suffering, but it did heal the connection between God and his children (for those who would accept it) with a promise of a time to come in which God himself will be our comfort.
So may I ask of your opinion. Did God choose wisely? Which would you have chosen? Nihilism (nothingness), Automatons, or Humanity?
Jared Williams
It may sound contradictory, but with explanation I hope you will see that far from creating evil, God at most allowed it to enter the world but for a very good reason.
In an attempt to answer the question of why didn’t God create so that evil does not exist... a consequence of this hope, which most people do not think about, is if God created the world so that evil does not exist, then He would have to create us in such a way that we would be incapable of doing evil. But not only doing evil, but choosing evil, taking away free will.
Although this consequence sounds wonderful (it would be nice to not even be tempted to do evil, and vice versa to know that you are safe from other people who might have otherwise choosen to do evil), then comes a question that everyone should take a moment to ponder. Can one truly love when there is no choice?
Both Atheists and Theists are on the same page on this one. The answer is resoundingly, No!
“The man who wants to be loved does not desire the enslavement of the beloved. He is not bent on becoming the object of passion, which flows forth mechanically. He does not want to possess an automaton, and if we want to humiliate him, we need try to only persuade him that the beloved’s passion is the result of a psychological determinism...If the beloved is transformed into an automaton, the lover finds himself alone.” ~ Jean-Paul Satre
“When love is a compelled state of mind enforced by design, it is not love and in fact with reasoning actually is a precursor to loneliness. Love by choice within the parameter of the trust that is sacred is a guarantee of legitimate meaning. To desire love without the freedom not to love is to ask for something other than human.” ~ Ravi Zacharias
The next question should become, where is the connection? What does choice have to do with evil in the world? To do away with free will is to do away with love. So to do away with evil would mean that the free will to do evil would be taken away, therefore to do away with evil you would also have to do away with love.
Let us ponder a presumptuous line of thought. Let us ponder on the wisdom of God creating the world as it is. Was it the wisest choice? Was it the best one? Let us look at the options God had before He created:
1) Do not create anything. That would serve Me no purpose as nothing would change.
2) Create a beautiful world with a creature (man) who can freely choose to love Me back, but who could and most assuredly would at some point freely choose to reject Me causing all sorts of evil and pain to enter the world by his actions.
or
3) Create a beautiful world with a creature who must love Me.
Now what good could come of the third option? It would be like programming a computer to give you a compliment every time you turned it on. “Boy, you look lovely today!” It would mean nothing! What good would a world full of automatons do for a God of love? Why would a sovereign God create a world of robots?
But with the second choice there is such pain and evil. What good does that do a God of love? Thankfully with God’s wisdom comes a solution. Salvation. Evil did not only cause us pain, but it separated us entirely from the God who loves us, Christ’s death did not eradicate evil, pain or suffering, but it did heal the connection between God and his children (for those who would accept it) with a promise of a time to come in which God himself will be our comfort.
So may I ask of your opinion. Did God choose wisely? Which would you have chosen? Nihilism (nothingness), Automatons, or Humanity?
Jared Williams
