Where did evil come from?

What made the first created people decide to disobey God? What about the angels who were created to serve God but rebelled against Him? Where did evil come from? Fortner attempts to answer that question in today’s devotional yet his answer seems to fall short. It seems true that God was not surprised by evil, but to say that God ordained makes me think we are puppets.

Would an Internet search provide the answer? I took seven hits and found these results:

1. Unlike God and the angels, we have no power to resist evil and will always yield to its attraction. This fits the biblical descriptions of fallen humanity, but it was not true of Adam and Eve before the Fall. Sin entered the world then, not before they sinned. It suggests God created them with a propensity to sin, but they were made in His image so that isn’t right either.
2. God created evil. This page quotes Isaiah 45:7 as saying: "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." However, this is a misinterpretation of the word “evil” which actually means “calamity” and usually refers to events resulting in loss or misfortune. Yet God can use calamity for His good purposes. We might call them ‘evil’ but biblically, evil is totally destructive and anti-God. This website also says that evil originated with Satan, and asks why God didn’t nip it in the bud by destroying Satan. However, that does not explain where the devil got the evil idea to rebel against God.
3. God created humans with the power to choose so there was always the possibility that we would choose to do evil. This seems closer to a good answer. Alvin Plantinga says, "To create creatures capable of moral good, therefore, (God) must create creatures capable of moral evil; and He can't give these creatures the freedom to perform evil and at the same time prevent them from doing so. As it turned out, sadly enough, some of the free creatures God created went wrong in the exercise of their freedom; this is the source of moral evil." In other words, evil happened not through nature or nurture, but choices.
4. Evil is the absence of what should be. God said His creation was ‘good’ and His intention was that we love Him and one another. However, love involves making a choice (otherwise we are robots). The opposite of choosing love is evil and it must exist if love is to exist. This short video explains better than my short paragraph. 
5. God created the ability to choose, from another short video that sounds almost like a pat answer. It focuses our God-given capacity to make choices and says Adam and Eve exercised that freedom and made a wrong choice. By doing this, sin entered the world. Yet the rebellion already existed for the angel Lucifer — who was also allowed to choose, and he decided he wanted to be god, to usurp his Creator. So evil in humanity is the fault of a wrong choice, and before that happened, evil came into the world because of another wrong choice. (Dr. Woodrow Kroll)
6. God allows evil for a time to test us. The sixth page is a cult definition, similar to those above but shallow. It falls short in explaining where evil comes from and has a non-biblical idea of redemption. However, it does show that all ‘religions’ struggle with this question about evil.
7. Evil evolved. The last page takes the idea that evil gradually evolved because of human fear and jealousy. The author does not believe the Bible is the Word of God, and his ideas are fanciful but without substance or based on any authority but his own ideas.

Reading these helped me understand the diversity of opinions. Some of them took verses out of context to explain their point of view and that is always unwise. Others did not consider the entire biblical message, also unwise. I landed on #4 and #5 as ringing true to the purposes of God. We cannot fully grasp this and other inaccessible answers because we do not have a full capacity to understand God. One thing is certain:

“For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19)

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I know that You can stop sin. You did that with a pagan king (Genesis 20:6) and have done it many times for me. Yet You did not create robots. We are people with the ability to choose. Sin messes us up, even that ability to choose is messed up. However, redemption through faith in You restores our God-given faculties. Without You, I cannot do anything good, but with You I can obey You. Evil does not have to win — because You defeated it on the Cross.

Climbing the Learning Curve, Part Two

In theology circles, argument is made whether Paul wrote the last part of Romans 7 describing himself as a Christian, or this was his struggle as a non-Christian. Because of the record in Acts that said he was persecuting Christians before he met Christ, I’m of the opinion that he wrote this after he was saved. He didn’t seem to struggle with sin before that.

After a few sentences about his fight with himself over not being able to do what he knew was right, yet doing sinful things that he didn’t want to do instead, he said,

But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:17-25)

My other reason for thinking he was a Christian when he wrote this is that every Christian I know has the same struggle. I know in my mind what God wants from me, and in my mind I want to do it, but my body will not cooperate. Sometimes my mind will not either. That is why Paul also wrote:

Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. (Ephesians 4:23)

The Bible tells me that when I become a Christian, God gave me a new mind, the mind of Christ. However, I’m not automatically able to think His thoughts. While I immediately experienced many new attitudes, I often faced life’s challenges by habitually turning to my old patterns and got into trouble because of it.

Since then, I know that learning to think like Jesus means learning to know what He is thinking. It also means being able to recognize which thoughts are from Him. Over the past years of being His child, I’ve been rebuilding my mind and trying to fill it with good stuff. The Word of God is always the starting place.

The Bible offers so much on mind renewal and advice on how to think in certain situations. It also offers direction on how to think when nothing much is happening. For instance,

Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:8)

Meditation is not easy for a mind that is continually looking for new information. This is a trait of my spiritual gift, and sometimes annoying. I once took a book to an NHL game, not because the game is boring (I like hockey) but because it didn’t give me enough to think about. Of course the razzing I got ensured that I never did it again, but this illustrates my struggle. I seldom review the past, which might be a good thing in my case. Instead, I forge ahead without learning much from my mistakes.

Yesterday I considered how my eyes and body are tired in the evenings. At that point, my mind often shifts into neutral too, but the only way to accommodate a neutral mind is by going to sleep or by watching television. (Isn’t that the truth!) This happens when it is too early to go to bed, but my eyes are not up to reading or doing close work. I can watch television and even engage my mind, but thinking while watching TV is hard work so I don’t. This is not a good thing; there isn’t much on the tube that falls into the noble, just, pure, lovely categories. So I’m stuck puttering about and start feeling hungry.

I am asking God to show me why I want to eat when I am full from supper. Today He offers this clue: my mind is never tired and if I try to treat it like it is by watching television or otherwise, it protests. For some reason as yet unclear, it starts sending me “feed me” messages, but instead of realizing this is the voice of a bored mind and feeding it, I head for the frig.

I need another solution for this overactive mind, and while I have lots of ideas, I need to wait for God to give me the solution He has in His mind. In the meantime, I’m still reading Scripture and still working hard to practice the art of thinking about what I’ve read.