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Is God evil? Many people presume that since there is so much injustice in the world, then who else but God could have created such evil?
But does God really create evil? There are many times when I’ve asked myself if everything that God creates is really good. Because if God is good and everything that He created is good, where could all the bad things be coming from? Why is there evil when all that God creates is good? Why is there Satan and all the fallen angels? Where did their pride come from?And what about us people? If God created us to be good why do we keep on sinning and doing evil things? Have you ever asked yourself why is it that it seems so difficult to do good and it seems so easy to sin instead?
Then there’s the story of Adam and Eve. They were in Paradise! They were in God’s company! They had everything they needed. Why the hell then did they ever listen to that malicious snake that brought them all their troubles?
But of course, my Religion teacher in highschool said that the story of Adam and Eve was just a myth. That it was not true literally. Just imagine my shock upon hearing that blasphemy! I even thought of reporting that teacher for disciplinary actions for telling such a big lie to the entire class. But then again, I had no sufficient evidence then that He was lying, so I just kept my mouth shut and saved myself from trouble. Who am I to say that what’s written in the Bible are all literally true? The fact is, there were many passages in the Bible that are indeed symbolisms of the truth, and not the actual manifestations of the truth. In the Book of Revelations alone, the author spoke of dragons and monsters that merely represent future events, and not actual figures that will arise according to the prophecy. And so I learned that the truth may come to us in many forms. I also learned that there are still many things I have yet to know and discover on my own.
Years later, as I reflect on the story of Adam and Eve, I came across this weird idea. The idea of the story’s symbolism! Having been created by God, Adam and Eve are indeed good in themselves. After all, they have been created after God’s own image! However, what if we think of it in this premise, that God is not yet finished in His work? In a sense, He is still in the act of CREATING. And if He is, then we have not yet seen the final product, which is supposed to be GOOD!
Considering this, is it not true that in the New Testament (Philippians 1:6), Paul wrote that the good work God begun in us will be carried on to completion until Jesus Christ comes again? He isn’t finished with us yet. The GOOD thing HE wills to CREATE is yet to be! The Paradise being referred to in the story of Adam and Eve is not the Paradise prepared for us at the end of time; the Paradise being referred to is the very womb of God where both Adam and Eve came from. Upon being born, man soon reaches awareness by eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. From there begins his awareness of good and evil. From there begins his journey to explore the world, to battle with the imperfections of this life, only to be perfected in the end and to return in the arms of the God who created him. God indeed makes all good things. God does not create evil because evil is not created at all. Evil is the absence of good. Evil is darkness, which is the absence of Light. In time, God will make His Light shine forth to the furthest corners of the Earth and darkness shall be no more. There will only be goodness. There will only be the things of God!
Note as of May 7, 2008:
In effect, all things evil in the end shall exist not, in a way as though they have not existed at all.
Light has nothing to do with darkness. God separates Light from the darkness. It is only this Light which God has made. In earth time-space reality, we are still in the process of being separated, and it is the chance given us to choose whether we shall avail of the Light or remain to be in the dark.
As to the story of Adam and Eve, recent insights on the matter brought realizations of the Truth of the story which shall be discussed in another article.
As for the evil in the world that we see at the moment and the intervention a good God should have made, kindly read the following articles:
”How does God intervene without breaking His Laws?”
“Why doesn’t God intervene in man’s affairs?”
This article was was written by Jocelyn Soriano at ITAKEOFFHEMASK.COM
You are free to republish this post in your website or email as long as proper recognition is given to the author and a link back to the site ITAKEOFFTHEMASK.COM is provided.
Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
D. T on 
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Joyce on 
The below is part of an email exchange with a chaplain.
From Robert
I am open and have no beliefs. I know or I do not. I am intelligent and a philosopher (a searcher for absolute truths).
Reply from Gavin
Well, here I want to argue with you, and wonder what you mean by ‘know’.
Aristotle, Plato? Plotinus? Augustine? Aquinas? Descartes? Locke?
They all have different ways and definitions of knowing - I am most drawn to a combination of Plato Plotinus & Augustine myself.
Reply from Robert
Hello again Gavin,
I have jumped to this question leaving the most difficult and yet paradoxically the easiest to a later email (the nature and mind of God). The philosopher searches for absolutes. If he does not he is not a philosopher by definition. The word comes from the Greek philo philos, lover of sopher sophia wisdom sophos wise. That is a lover of wisdom or a searcher for absolute truths.
The problem, is what is one man’s truth is another’s untruth. And how can you be certain of an absolute. Many people will tell you that there is no such thing as an absolute truth and my answer would be to quote…
What is absolutely true is always correct, everywhere, all the time, under any condition. An entity’s ability to discern these things is irrelevant to that state of truth.” - Steven Robiner
So our ability to discern/discover an absolute does not mean that it does not exist only that we do not have the relevant true information and even if we do the ability to perceive and understand. Rene Descartes said The first precept was never to accept a thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt. Even being without a single doubt does not mean that you are right. Take for example my existence here in this world. Neo in the film The Matrix was shown by Morpheus (They chose the name of the Greek god of dreams) that the world he thought was real was an illusion (see also two other films Open your Eyes also remade as Vanilla Sky). I KNOW for certain that I do NOT know if this world is real (including you of course). I could only know absolutely if I woke up from it. And even if it is real (whatever that means) I know that everything here that we think is natural may be the result of an evil deceiver’s manipulations. Descartes meditated on God being an evil deceiver but concluded that it could not be true as God is perfect (he meant in a good moral way). But his argument is flawed, as there is no absolute proof that God is perfect (far more proof here that he is not..look at the design/nature of his work). A perfect God complete in love, compassion, truth, caring and concerned for everything and everyone doing nothing bad would reveal itself and put right everything that was wrong. Moreover he would not let it be or go wrong in the first place. The answer to that old question if given is usually that he moves in mysterious ways and who can understand the mind of God. That answer is for unintelligent silly people who would ignore the truth before them. If it (God) were perfect in that way it would not produce/make anything inferior to itself (men/women). If you had a young child Gavin would you say…look at and admire/worship me your parent because I am clever and can do many things that you cannot. If you did, you would be mad Gavin. Now consider an entity which does exactly that…is that entity (God) mad? Or will you turn aside from an unpalatable truth? Interestingly concerning these thoughts there are two conflicting passages in the bible. God says in the Book of Daniel (4:35) that he can do what he wants in the world and its inhabitants. Satan in the book of Matthew (4:9) talking to Jesus claims ownership of the world. If both these passages are true then God aka Satan is indeed the great deceiver. The problem with all the philosophers is that they without realising it had been corrupted/flawed by the very fact that they had been born, raised and lived in the world which must have had an influence on their thinking. If you look at their backgrounds, it becomes apparent how much the society they lived in with its then understandings had influenced their thoughts. Augustine is a good example. Talking nonsense about the soul. The speculative soul is like the speculative sub atomic particles in quantum mechanics (all in the mind). They had without realising become corrupted by the world in which they were born and raised and being a part of it (as is everyone now). As the world is and was chaotic their meditations trying to make sense of it are worthless. It is like someone trying to make sense of the ravings of mad men/women in an asylum. What they should have been asking is why the world is as it is. From a distance it looks fine (the world) but does not stand up to close examination. One example. People admire ferocious predatory animals. Look at the beautiful magnificent lion they say. And when it kills its prey, they say its only nature and therefore acceptable. I see a vicious uncaring killing machine when I look at a lion. I am not fooled/deceived by its appearance. I would rejoice if it became extinct. Every thing on this planet is trying (and succeeding) in killing everything else. What we call nature is violent, vicious and cruel. Yet we not only accept it but admire it as well. I KNOW that this is ugly and wrong Gavin.
Consider sin in the sexual sense Gavin. Imagine a distant planet with two continents divided by water. On one continent, the genitals are regarded as sinful not to be exposed. On the other continent, it is only the mouth that is regarded as sinful not to be exposed (how pink and moist with its moving tongue). I KNOW that in this case as in others sin is subjective NOT objective. I KNOW that to deliberately maliciously lie and hurt both mentally and physically is wrong Gavin.
Consider the sun Gavin. A violent ball of hot hydrogen in the dark vacuum of space that by a process of nuclear fusion (turning hydrogen to helium) is producing vast amounts of energy. If it were not for the earths iron core and magnetic field no life would be possible because of the lethal radiation. Consider how weird and grotesque this is Gavin. I KNOW that it is grotesque and if it is deliberately designed and made the entities mind that did so is weird and grotesque.
As I said, I know or I do not. That which I do not know I can only speculate about in a logical intelligent manner. And while I know that I might only have a few absolutes before I die it is enough for me to understand how little I know but paradoxically just how much.
Regards Robert
All I had to do was read the Bible to discover that God is sickeningly evil. I mean, look at what “He” commanded the Israelites to do, on a daily basis…they were to kill one or another sort of non-threatening animal, sprinkle its blood around their temples, and burn its carcass on an altar because–and I quote the actual utterance of the “Lord”, here–”it has an aroma pleasing to My nostrils”.
That is, I assure anyone who still doubts, JUST for starters. There are a lot of pointless excuses made for the abominably cruel, spiteful, violent and downright INSANE tendencies of the being known as “Yahweh” and more commonly by modern-day Judeochristians as “God”. But they’re all mental gymnastics performed by believers who just want some way to bypass this basic truth about their deity: that this God is crazy as a bedbug, and if “He” did create humanity, it was as something to play with the collective mind of for “His” sordid amusement.
That’s not the kind of God who gets to be trusted with MY eternal soul. And you probably will moderate this comment off your board, because no Christian views someone who rejects God as having an opinion worth knowing or tolerating. (If you don’t do that, I claim that you’re the exception to the rule, and I praise you in advance for this. But I’ll also be very surprised if I actually see this here, tomorrow…)
Mesila 333´s last blog ..Someone please code one, now.
@Mesila 333 - I definitely agree with you that a God who will command people (not just animals) to be slain, including children, (as in cases of war) is not one we can call good. But in my own personal experience, I do not judge God based on what I read and what other people write, even if it’s the Bible (especially if a text is taken literally). God is more than what man can ever completely understand, and if we ever hear him command us to do evil, maybe it is us who have filtered his will into something evil. It is our interpretation of God that is not right, our interpretation of what He commands us to do. I know that deep within you, you do not believe in such an evil God. May your heart be blessed all the more as you continue to seek the truth!