A Study on Evil - God Chose This World (Replay)

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September 25, 2007

Good afternoon family.

It's good to be back as I missed you guys.  Ryan, thanks for holding down the fort while we were out on vacation.  That's how it should be.  When your brothers/sisters are out, other brothers and sisters step in to fill the void.  So, again thanks bro-ham.  Today will be our final day on the study on evil.  Again, I was pulling a lot of this information from the chapter called Questions About Evil in the book "When Skeptics Ask" and I was urged by the Holy Spirit to share with you all.  I pray that you all got something out of it because if not I did *LOL*.  Well without delay let's go to it.

Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Yep, there it is again.  If you ever picked up a bible, the first sentence you read in the Old Testament is the above verse.  Pretty simple in idea, but let's keep in mind, God CHOSE to create this world.  You do realize that He had choices?  I mean why not - He is God and has all power in his hands.

In reference to evil, one might think that if God knows all things, why didn't He foresee that the world would be flooded with evil.  That's something that we cannot overlook as it is a valid question, but, you then have to ask the following question.  If God did not create this world, then what other options did He have?  God could have "a) not created anything, b) created a world without free creatures, c) created free creatures that would not sin, [or] d) created free creatures who would sin but would all be saved in the end."¹  By the way, I am not saying this is an exhaustive list for the Lord.  Let's look at each one briefly.

A) ...not created anything.  -  Yep, God could have not created anything but this is a moot point.  We know that God created something out of His love and made man in his likeness (see Genesis 1:27).   Had God creating nothing we would not be having this conversation.

B)  ...created a world without free creatures -  We've already answered this one before.  It is free will that allows us to love one another.   For God to create non-free creatures would be evil in itself. 

C) ...created free creatures that would not sin - Now this is a possibility.  Adam was created with free will and without sin before the apple incident.  "Jesus did it throughout His whole life (Hebrews 4:15)."¹  This is a great idea in theory but making theory reality is another thing.  This is like saying we can make a car that will never need "gassing up" or recharging.  GM, Ford, Nissan & Toyota could tell us this is a great idea but making it happen is a totally different story.  It's all pretty theoretical.  The way that God guarantees we would not sin is to alter our freedom a little bit.  See where this is going?  Tamper or altering our freedom to make us [not] do something is dabbling in evil.  Of course this is impossible of God. 

D) ...created free creatures who would sin but would all be saved in the end - Well this is almost like our world today but has one problem.  Not all will be saved and this goes against biblical teachings.  Mark 16:16 says, that "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."   We know that hell is real and all those who turn a deaf ear to the Lord will not go to heaven.  God does not force us to love Him as "forced love is rape; and God is not a divine rapist"¹ (this one was good, I had to use this quote).

So, God ultimately chose this world.  In this world we have freedom to choose and this choice is a grace from God.  In that we have free will, we are free to love God, free to hate God or free to be neutral.  Either way, the choice is up to us.  Evil is a matter of choice and we can either choose God or choose evil.  Even the evil that we cannot control or appear to be pointless (sickness, death, etc.) still give us choices.  In the midst of it all, we can choose God or not.  In the end evil will be overcome as God will separate good and evil with heaven and hell.  Again, I ask why not this world?  "Ultimately, we must trust God who knows the beginning from the end and sees the grand picture. He will have the final word and He will be vindicated."²

Be Blessed Gang and have a good one!


¹ Geisler, Norman and Brooks, Ron. When Skeptics Ask. Copyright 1990.  pp. 69-74.
² CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS AND RESEARCH MINISTRY.  http://www.carm.org/questions/suffering.htm-------------- snip ---------------
 Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:  http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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A Study on Evil - What's Its Purpose and Why So Much? (Replay)

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September 5, 2007

 Happy Hump Day Everyone,

It is truly a great day to be alive.  I started feeling a little under the weather these past couple of days but I've already spoken to this thing and I'm coming out!  Besides my wife and I have a vacation to attend next week, so no room for sickness *LOL*.  I could call the slight sickness evil but then that would be me choosing to remain sick instead of speaking directly to it and doing something about it :-) .

We've made some good headway thus far.  We've:  1) defined evil,  2) found it's origins,  & 3) talked about defeating evil.  Today we are going to talk about what is the purpose and why is there so much of it.  I mean let's be real, everything has a purpose right?  Even if it isn't always for the good there is a purpose and this leads me to believe that there is a method to God's madness (He's not really mad, just some slang yall :-)).  "There is a difference between our knowing the purpose for evil and God having a purpose for it.  Even if we don't know God's purpose, He may still have a good reason for allowing evil in our lives"¹. 

Let's look at our good friend Job.  In Job 1:6-22, the Lord allowed Satan to test Job.  It was rather like a bet but God allowed Job to endure this suffering so that he might further call on the name of God.  In Jonah 1:17, it says, "But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights."  You might say that was just wrong, but you have to look at what happened.  The Lord had given Jonah orders to go preach, but he ran.  Well he was swallowed by the fish and allowed some time to think.  In the next chapter, Jonah 2, we see that Jonah prays to the Lord and eventually surrenders to the Lord's will.  Another example.  If you keep telling a child (like our child) to quit standing on the top of her toy box after a while you will have to stop talking.  One day she will eventually fall, but she will learn that she cannot stand and dance on the box any more.  It's the little ways God uses evil to stop us from allowing greater evil to consume us.

"But good gracious Antoine, what about all the other evil that seems to be running rampant?"  Well, to answer this question we have to look at the gift of free will that was given to us by God.  As human beings we have choices to make.  Unfortunately, not all of us make the choice to follow God and because of this some choose the path to hell.  You can bring a horse to water but you can't make him drink.  In other words, you can show people the right way, but ultimately they must choose that path.  So, to wonder why is there so much evil, you have to analyze the human race and not God. 

Before I go, I wanted to leave you guys with some scriptures about how not to choose to evil and how to follow God:

1. John 3:18
2. John 3:36
3. John 5:39-40
4. John 8:24
5. John 12:48
6. Luke 10:16
   

 Be blessed gang and have a good one.

¹ Geisler, Norman and Brooks, Ron. When Skeptics Ask. Copyright 1990.  pp. 65-------------- snip ---------------

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:  http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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A Study on Evil - Why Can't Evil Be Stopped (Replay)

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September 4, 2007

Good Morning Family,

I pray that everyone had a good Labor Day yesterday, although it seems like more people work now-a-days on Labor Day than have the day off.  In continuation with our study on evil, today we will tackle the question of "why can't evil be stopped?"

To ask "why can't evil be stopped" implies that there is a counter question.  That would be "why can evil be stopped" and as Christians, this should be our view on questions such as this.  However, even for Christians this may be a tough question to answer.  Typically the argument goes something like this:

1. If God is all-good, He would destroy evil.¹
2. If God is all-powerful, He could destroy evil.¹
3. But evil is not destroyed.¹
4. Hence, there is no such God.¹

Hmmm.  Numbers 1 & 2 makes perfectly good sense to us thus far, but because of 3, number 4 throws up a red flag to any Christian with an ounce of Jesus in them *LOL*.  To say that God cannot do such a thing suggests that He is not the omnipotent God who we claim He is.  That is rather counter productive to anyone who follows the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Exodus 15, we see just a sample of after-effects of God's power against evil:

"(6) Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.  (7) And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble."

This was the children of Israel after God had plunged the pharaohs army into the sea, who were coming to destroy them.  God DEFEATED evil in this scenario. So the question is still "why can't evil be stopped?". 

"If someone said that God should stop evil and suffering, then should God then stop all  evil and suffering? If God only stopped some of it, then we would still be asking the same question of why it exists. So, if we want God to stop evil and suffering, then He must stop all of it. ...He must stop that person from thinking his own thoughts. To do that, God must remove his freedom of thought. Furthermore, which person on the earth has not thought something evil? God would be required, then, to stop all people from exercising their free will. This is something God has chosen not to do."²

Destroying evil would be destroying the gift of freedom which allows us to love one another.  As we learned last week, if God did this, it would be an act of evil in itself.  God is not capable of evil but of only love.  The real answer is that God can defeat evil.  There is a difference.  To destroy something means to "do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of" or to "destroy completely; damage irreparably"³.  The definition of defeat is to "win a victory over". ³  With destruction you do not damage one thing, but it can have lasting side effects and/or inadvertently destroy other things.

Take for example 9/11.  When the terrorist decided to fly planes into the World Trade Center, their plans were to cause the destruction of 2 planes and to damage the 2 buildings.  However, the end result is that 2 buildings along with a couple surrounding buildings were completely destroyed.  Even Bin Ladin himself said he was shocked the buildings fell as that was not in the original plan.  As a contrast, the US and Coalition troops are in Iraq trying to defeat the enemy.  To defeat the enemy means they are to be no longer operable to cause havoc or destruction.  So they are not necessarily "irreparably damaged" but defeated to the point where they can no longer operate.  Or, to look at it another way, they have been disbanded or dismantled.

This is what God can do. "When will God defeat evil" is the real question at hand.   Just because it hasn't happened yet, does not mean it will not happen.  He will defeat evil some day.  God does not operate in our time, but rather when He sees fit.   Ecclesiastes 3:1, says "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven".   Net/Net, Those who wonder the answers to the question will have to wait a little longer as God has not deemed it the proper season to defeat evil.   "Apparently God would rather wrestle with our rebellious wills than to reign supreme over rocks and trees"¹.

Be blessed gang and have a good one!


¹ Geisler, Norman and Brooks, Ron. When Skeptics Ask. Copyright 1990.  pp. 63, 65
² CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS AND RESEARCH MINISTRY.  http://www.carm.org/questions/suffering.htm
³ WordNet.  http://wordnet.princeton.edu/.  "destroy, defeat"
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Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:  http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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A Study on Evil - Where Did Evil Come From? (Replay)

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August 29, 2007

Good morning family,

I pray that all are doing well this day.  Today we will continue our study on the topic of evil.  This week we will tackle the question of "Where in the world (or out of this world) did evil came from?"  Last week, we were wrapping up how we defined evil which gave us a different way of looking at it.  We did leave one open question which was "Did God create evil?".  Well the wait is no more because now you get your answer. 

Revelations 1:8 "'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.'"

In the beginning there was God and He created the heavens and the earth.  This same God we have is a perfect God....one without blemish.  So, if this is the case why do we have evil in the world today?  One would have to think that the flow of things would be broken, right?  A perfect God creates perfect creations which cannot do what is imperfect.¹  One look at humans and you'd immediately conclude that we are by far not perfect at all, so what happened?  Does this means that God is now not perfect?

Dah Haaaa!  The problem is how we view perfection.  Just what is perfection one may ask?  According to WordNet, perfection is "the state of being without a flaw or defect".²  However, this would contradict what we would understand God to be.  Let's look at something:

1. God made everything perfect¹
2. One of the perfect things God made was free creatures.¹
3. Free will is the cause of evil¹
4. So, imperfection (evil) can arise from perfection (not directly, but indirectly through freedom).¹

The one thing that God did was to make us perfect.  As a part of that perfection, God gave us freedom so that we can love freely.  After all you'd have to agree that "forced love is not love at all..."¹  Look at yesterdays WFTD, the "Ultimate Commandment".  In this commandment plain and simply God told us to love one another.  There is not enough love in the world to ever have loved enough.

However, because we were made with this freedom to love, we also have the choice to choose good and/or evil.  God did not create evil but because of our design, it made evil possible.  God knew this, in the very beginning.  Remember Satan was an angel in God's kingdom?

Ezekiel 28:13-17 says, "(13) You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.  (14) You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.  (15) You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.  (16) Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.  (17) Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings."

Satan was also given the freedom to love and honor God, but He chose to love and honor himself.  He thought he was higher than God, but was quickly excused from his post.  Again, look back earlier.  We said that God gave us this freedom in order to love one another.  God wishes us to love as He also loves us.   If He forced us to love, that in itself would be an act of evil which with God is not possible (we'll talk more on that later).

Until next week folks, be blessed and have a Happy Hump Day!



¹ Geisler, Norman and Brooks, Ron. When Skeptics Ask. Copyright 1990.  pp. 61-63
² WordNet.  http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=perfection
³ SATAN, THE ADVERSARY OF MANKIND.  http://users.aristotle.net/~bhuie/satan.htm
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Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:  http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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A Study on Evil - What is Evil? (Replay)

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August 22, 2007

Good afternoon family.

Today we are going to dive into our first of many studies on evil.  I am going to pull a lot of the lead studies from the book "When Skeptics Ask" by Norman Geisler and Ron Brooks.  In addition, there will be references from the Bible along with any other reference that the Holy Spirit leads me to use.  Without further delay let's hop to it.

In order to begin a study on something, I think we must first lay some ground work.  What is Evil?  I think this is a relevant question to the study.  Have you ever really put much thought into it or can you merely identify evil when you see?  Is it one of those "I know it when I see it type of things"?  Well, its alright if you haven't thought about it, but I have pulled a few meanings for us.

Evil is....

1. “...a term describing that which is regarded as morally bad, intrinsically corrupt, wantonly destructive, inhumane, selfish, or wicked. In most cultures, the word is used to describe acts, thoughts, and ideas which are thought to (either directly or causally) bring about withering and death —the opposite of life.” ¹
   
2. "...when good that should be there is missing from something....Evil is, in reality, a parasite that cannot exist except as a hole in something that should be solid. In some cases, though, evil is more easily explained as a case of bad relationships”²
   
3. “...morally reprehensible : SINFUL, WICKED... arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct”³

Taken these three definitions, we have a little something in which to work.  Almost all the time we look at evil from the standpoint of definitions 1 and 3.  You usually say, that this person is evil either because of their attitude, thoughts, etc.  Or, you say that some particular actions or conditions are evil (e.g., murder, child molestation, war, having cancer, etc.).  This list can go on and on, but all of these point to acts or end-results of evil.  They do not tell us what is evil.  Definition 2, goes a little deeper and identifies the entity of evil itself.

Evil can be a case of bad relationships of good situations.  What do I mean by this?  Well Norman Geisler uses the following example:

"...If I pick up a good gun, put in a good bullet, point it at my good head, put my good finger on the good trigger and give it a good pull....a bad relationship results."²

More than likely the results end in death or a very bad medical situation.  Everything is good in the situation, but the relationship of all results in evil.  A murderer did not go to find a bad gun, a bad bullet, and point it at a bad head.  They chose to use those good things in relationship to cause a bad effect.  If this is the case, this means you can either be of faith or of the world - you can either accept that it exists or you can live in denial but evil is present and does not discriminate.

But this leads us to another question.  Isn't God all powerful and all knowing?  If He is the creator of all things, didn't He create evil?  Well, God did create all things, but then again evil is not a physical thing :-) .  Rather, "[i]t is a lack in things."²   Sounds a little confusing but look at our second definition.  Evil is either a hole, which is a missing part of a thing, or it is a mix of bad relationships (which is still not a thing).  Don't be confused by me referring to evil as an "it" and assume it's a physical, tangible thing.

Since we are talking about physical and tangible things, lets talk about what God created.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (He really did, you should read Genesis sometimes :-) ). In Genesis 2:9, God created all the trees:

"And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

Notice that in here, God created the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Now, if we remember correctly, God told Adam (and Eve as well although she came afterward), that he can eat of any tree in the Garden of Eden, but the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (see Genesis 2:16-17) .  Could this be because He new something that Adam didn't know?  The tree of life ensured that Adam and Eve had eternal life.  They did not have any worries but only were forbidden to eat from one tree.  Then here comes the serpent urging Eve and Adam to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil hence the downward spiral (see Genesis 3:4-6).

Genesis 3:21-23 - "(21) The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. (22) And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." (23) So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken."

Hmmm, I may not be a rocket scientist, but do you think God was maybe trying to protect his creations from knowledge that could lead down the wrong path.  Before this event Adam and Eve had no idea what was good or evil.  Of course knowledge is power, whether it be good or bad.  In some cases to know is almost worst than not knowing at all.  For example, the knowledge of enriching radioactive elements was probably a bad thing.  Because of this knowledge we now have the Atom, Hydrogen, and a slew of other bombs in which we are probably not familiar.   In any case, God had us protected with simple instruction, but one thing started the domino affect.  God made us free creatures and this gives us the freedom to make our own decisions.  This is not a bad thing, but look at the decision to eat from the forbidden tree. 

This will lead us into next WFTD topic which will be on the origins of evil.  Stay tuned folks and pray for this study as the Holy Spirit has His way with me.

Be Blessed and happy hump day!


¹ Wikipedia.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil
² Geisler, Norman and Brooks, Ron. When Skeptics Ask. Copyright 1990.  pp. 60-61.
³ Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.   http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=evil
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Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:      http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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A Study on Evil (Replay)

Back in 2007, I read the book, "When Skeptics Ask" by Norman Geisler & Ron Brooks.  While reading the it, I was prompted to look more at evil and decided to share my findings.  This study lasted to what equated to 6 days worth of write-ups, but it was over the course of a month.  Today will be only the introduction.  Be blessed folks!

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August 21, 2007

Good afternoon family.

I hope that everyone is doing well today.  Yet again, it is another scorching 102 degrees outside and my grass looks like hay but that's a different story :-) .  Today, there is not really a WFTD per say, but rather an introduction to a study in which I am about to embark.  I should have said that we all are about to go down this road on the study because I will be sharing all of what I receive.

Why a study on evil you may ask?  Why not?  The question of the existence of evil in the world is a big hindrance to some individuals believing that God is real.  You get questions like, "If God is real then why does He allow so much evil in the world?".  When it all boils down to it, that is a valid question and it deserves a serious look.  Look at Judas, who betrayed Jesus.  In the very beginning, Jesus knew who would betray him but yet he said nothing.  Let's look at John 6:68-71:

"(68) Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. (69) We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."   (70) Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" (71) (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)"

Jesus had just finishing teaching that He was the bread of life and the many disciples had a hard time believing it.  All but twelve of them deserted Jesus, but still there was one of them possessed by evil.  So, it's not like evil just started.  It's been around for a long time so it is worth taking a look.

Until next time, when we begin our journey.  Be blessed.

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Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:      http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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