Why Create Evil?

[Lizzie08]

I’m not exactly sure whether or not these questions belong here, but i’m going to put them here anyways! Well obviously…

If God is all knowing, and loving, then why did he create satan and the other angels that turned against Him? And if He also knew that satan would be agaisnt His “children”, and bribe us to total damnation?

Yes this question is simular to asking, why is there evil? But isn’t satan the source of all evil? So why create him?

Last but not east, why did God even create the “forbidden fruit” if He knew that Adam and Eve would eat from it?

Thank you for your time

 

[jhigh]

I’m not exactly sure whether or not these questions belong here, but i’m going to put them here anyways! Well obviously…

If God is all knowing, and loving, then why did he create satan and the other angels that turned against Him? And if He also knew that satan would be agaisnt His “children”, and bribe us to total damnation?

Yes this question is simular to asking, why is there evil? But isn’t satan the source of all evil? So why create him?

Last but not east, why did God even create the “forbidden fruit” if He knew that Adam and Eve would eat from it?

Thank you for your time

Because how fulfilling would it be to have us love Him and commit our lives to Him and worship Him absent any choice? It is only in the context of our being free to choose to reject Him, that our worship of Him has any meaning.

 

[JRKH]

Consider this.

Dark is not something - it is the absence of something. Dark is the absence of light.

So -
Is Evil something that is created? Or is Evil the absence of something created?

The Bible says that God is Love. God creates from Love so everything created is Love.
But God also grants, out of Love, freedom of action that we call “free Will”. Thus if we choose to NOT Love, to Reject Love and God, then that rejection, that absence of Love is given the name “evil”

(Also have you ever noticed that “evil” is “Live” spelled backwards? I always thought that tintersting.)

Peace
James

 

[Bohm_Bawerk]

I’m not exactly sure whether or not these questions belong here, but i’m going to put them here anyways! Well obviously…

If God is all knowing, and loving, then why did he create satan and the other angels that turned against Him? And if He also knew that satan would be agaisnt His “children”, and bribe us to total damnation?

Yes this question is simular to asking, why is there evil? But isn’t satan the source of all evil? So why create him?
)

This is a question that we may never really get an answer to. We must understand that there is only so much we can learn about God in this world. After all, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

That said, you have to understand that several philosophers (as JRKH pointed out) such as St. Irenaeus (if memory serves me correct) have defined evil as the “absence of God”. So evil doesn’t exist in it’s own right; it merely exists when goodness has departed.

As to why God created the devil, I have read that God knew what the devil would do, but the thing about God is that He always thinks the best of everything He creates. So in His mind, He would probably be like “Oh, I know he’s going to rebel, but let’s just give him a chance to prove himself!”. This would probably explain why God creates people who are going to end up in Hell anyway…God thinks the best of everything He creates, but it is His creation that let themselves down. In addition, one could probably argue that the devil serves a useful function in God’s economy. Remember, that God wants those who love Him to be with Him. The existence of the devil removes that portion of society which hate God…

Of course, this could be wrong. I’m merely stating the little that I’ve read about this topic. The main point however, is found in the aforementioned quote in the Book of Isaiah.

Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk

 

[Non_sum_dignus]

He didn’t create evil. He created children with free will.

 

[aball1035]

Consider this.

Dark is not something - it is the absence of something. Dark is the absence of light.

So -
Is Evil something that is created? Or is Evil the absence of something created?

The Bible says that God is Love. God creates from Love so everything created is Love.
But God also grants, out of Love, freedom of action that we call “free Will”. Thus if we choose to NOT Love, to Reject Love and God, then that rejection, that absence of Love is given the name “evil”

(Also have you ever noticed that “evil” is “Live” spelled backwards? I always thought that tintersting.)

Peace
James

Good post. Evil isn’t anything in a sense. Whatever God created is good, including Lucifer at the time. Lucifer was good, but chose to lose goodness and thus evil came into the world with the other fallen angels. Only when people chose to not do good is there evil