Since God is Good Where Did Evil Come From?
Now that’s a big picture question I’m sure you’ve pondered too. After seeing a really stirring video of people being tortured and killed simply because of their religious beliefs and their determination to stay true to their God, I couldn’t help wonder why a God would allow people who obviously loved him so much to be tortured and killed like that. That question lingered all throughout my sleep. I started thinking that perhaps evil came from God himself since it was He who created the tree of knowledge of good and evil and set it as a test to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. However, seconds after processing such a notion an intensely mystical fear came over my body that I’ve never felt before in my life. That consciousness I believe was perhaps God’s way of setting me straight and letting me know that there’s no way He could be the source of evil! I didn’t make the mistake of thinking that again but the question still remained and I couldn’t concentrate on doing anything until I got my answer. So I prayed really hard to God to help me find the answer.
The next morning I did extensive research using the Internet and religious publications. I also scanned my brain for stored information based on my previous study of the Bible, science and religions other than my own. I didn’t want a biased opinion, I wanted the truth and here’s what I believe God directed me to find:
Put simply, evil is the absence of GOD!
According to Jan Rey Roa, evil does not exist by itself. Take a comparison of hot and cold. Hot is a measure of heat (energy). Cold is merely a term used for the absence of heat. Like cold, evil is merely a term used for the absence of God. Evil only exists in the absence of God which is why evil disappears in the presence of God.
When a creation, human or spirit, turns away from God they naturally become evil. It’s just like if heat were extracted from water, air or an object, it would simply be cold. The same thing happens to people who are devoid of God. They become “cold as ice” (see the book The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout.) That is because God is pure energy of love. When a human or spirit pulls away from God’s energy there’s nothing left but coldness, hate and evil. On the other hand, when a person draws close to God, they naturally feel his warmth and despite having problems and pressures of life upon them, they seem to have a sense of peace and thus emit that positive energy into their own lives. That is why the people mentioned at the outset could not be broken by their persecutors no matter how hard they tried because they were close to Gods energy. This gave them power beyond what is normal to cope with the trials they were enduring even to the point of death because they knew God could easily resurrect them.
We all have a choice of whether or not we want God’s energy to be a force in our lives. God does not and will not force himself upon us. We are given the freedom to come to him or not. It’s up to us. That is why God placed the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. It was not a test to Adam and Eve because “God doesn’t use evil to tempt anyone…” (James 1:13 Contemporary English Version). Rather, it was His way of letting Adam and Eve know they had a choice. They chose to reject God, which resulted in their experiencing the effects of evil – shame, sorrow and ultimately death. The devil also had a choice. He was not created a devil nor is he the maker of evil. Evil is simply a by-product of rejecting God. The devil rejected God and chose evil thus changing his status as a good angel into that of a wicked angel. In effect, he made himself Satan which means resister or enemy of God and that is why he is the foremost perpetrator of everything wicked.
As frail creatures, we may think that we cannot give God anything he does not already own. However, the one thing we are privileged to be able to give Him is our love by willingly obeying His commandments. With that being the case, God knew that some of his children would turn their backs on him, disobey His laws and principles, and thus bring on the consequences of evil (suffering, anguish, and death) to not only themselves but more importantly to those of his obedient children. The prime examples being Satan, Adam and Eve. Their malignant self love and bad choices brought detrimental consequences to all of earth’s inhabitants. That is why God put in place a plan to bring about salvation to his loyal children. The first part of that plan has already been put into effect when He offered his son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice to give us the opportunity to choose to serve Him out of pure love. As a result, we put ourselves in line to gain eternal life in perfection and happiness without ever dying the way He originally intended as long as we remain loyal to Him. The final part of that plan will take effect very soon now when God destroys all emitters of evil, the foremost being Satan the Devil, then his demons and finally sadistic humans who have chosen to withdraw from God’s love. Then and only then will the entire earth be filled with God’s energy of love.
We have God’s promise that he will never again allow anyone to cause evil to sprout by their selfish choice. The bible says “if you do wrong you will be rooted out.” (Proverbs 2: 22 Contemporary English Version). He also gives us this assurance, “and just a little while longer and the wicked one will be no more and you will certainly give attention to his place and he will not be, but the meek ones themselves shall possess the earth and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.” (Psalms 37: 10, 11 New World Translation).The choice is up to you!
Resources1. The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout2. New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures3. The Contemporary English Bible4. Malignant Self Love by Sam Vaknim, Ph.D4. PsychologyProfOnline.com5. Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us by Robert D. Hare, Ph.D