Deliver Us From Evil Part II

7/27/2019 Deliver Us From Evil Part II

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Deliver Us From


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www.confidentchristians.org

God Creating Evil?

I am the Lord, and there isnone else. I form the light, andcreate darkness: I make

peace, and create evil: I theLord do all these things. (Isaiah 45:67, KJV)

The verse seems pretty clearthat God does create evil


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God Creating Evil?

Knowing the various literary techniques

used in the Bible helps solve this problem.This is a case of antithetic parallelism; thefirst is set against the second. What is theopposite of light? Darkness. But what isthe opposite of peace? Evil? No. This

leads us to consider that the KJV has apoor rendering of the Hebrew word .The NASB and other versions properly

render the word in this verse calamity:

I am the LORD, and there is no other, TheOne forming light and creating darkness,Causing well-being [peace] and creating

calamity; I am the LORD who does allthese.

(Isaiah 45:67)


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Aquinas Tries to Help

Not every absence of good is evil. For

absence of good can be taken (1) in aprivative and (2) negative sense. Absenceof good, taken negatively, is not evil;

otherwise it would follow that what does notexist is evil, and also that everything would

be evil, through not having the goodbelonging to something else; for instance, aman would be evil who had not the swiftness

of the roe, or the strength of a lion. Butthe absence of good, taken in a privative

sense, is an evil; as, for instance, theprivation of sight is called blindness

-Thomas Aquinas

But lets look at these next examples


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But we Still Have a Problem

We have this from Exodus in Godsdiscussion with Moses:

The Lord said to him, Who has mademans mouth? Or who makes him mute or

deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the

Lord? (Exodus 4:11)And this from Job:

The Lord said to Satan, Have you

considered My servant Job? For there isno one like him on the earth, a blameless andupright man fearing God and turning away

from evil. And he still holds fast his

integrity, although you incited Me against

him to ruin him without cause. (Job 2:3)


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which leads to more insight

As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And Hisdisciples asked Him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, thathe would be born blind? Jesus answered, It was neither that thisman sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God

might be displayed in him. (John 9:13)Behind this mans blindness was a purpose to glorify God. God issovereign over everything, including this mans blindness, so while anabsence of good existed, it existed for a higher purpose than mere

sight alone.


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Darkness can have a purpose

He made the moon for the seasons; The

sun knows the place of its setting. Youappoint darkness and it becomes night, Inwhich all the beasts of the forest prowl

about. The young lions roar after their preyAnd seek their food from God. When the

sun rises they withdraw And lie down in theirdens. Man goes forth to his work And to hislabor until evening. (Psalm 104:1923)

He sent darkness and made it dark; Andthey did not rebel against His words. He

turned their waters into blood And causedtheir fish to die.

(Psalm 105:2829)



Evil is a violation of

Gods purpose.- Ravi Zacharias



A More complete definition of Evil

Evil is an absence of good,resulting in a violation ofGods purpose.

A mere absence of good is not evil asAquinas points out, however it cannot be

defined to just be an absence insomething that should be present bydefault. God, through His own good

purpose, may will such a privation to bringabout a greater good.



The Lord has made everything for its ownpurpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil. (Proverbs 16:4)



No Good or Evil in Atheism?

Humans have alwayswondered about the meaningof life...life has no higher

purpose than to perpetuatethe survival of DNA...life hasno design, no purpose, no evil

and no good, nothing butblind pitiless indifference.- Richard Dawkins



No Good or Evil in Atheism?

If theres such a thing as evil, you assume theres such a thing as good.If you assume theres such a thing as good, you assume theres such a

thing as an absolute and unchanging moral law on the basis of which todifferentiate between good and evil.

If you assume theres such a thing as an absolute moral law, you mustposit an absolute moral law giver, but that would be God the one

whom the atheist is trying to disprove.

So now rewind: if theres not a moral law giver, theres no moral law. Iftheres no moral law, theres no good. If theres no good, theres no

evil.



The problem of evil, for instance, canhardly be separated from the problemof goodness. Were there no goodness

in the world, we would not even beconsidering the problem of evil. It is astrange thing. Dozens of times I have

been asked by patients or

acquaintances: Dr. Peck, why is thereevil in the world? Yet no one has everasked me in all these years: Why is

there good in the world? It is as if weautomatically assume this is a naturally

good world that has somehow beencontaminated by evil.

-M. Scott PeckPeople of the Lie



No Good or Purpose in Atheism

You cannot define good without defining purpose

You cannot define purpose without defining causeThe atheists /philosophical naturalists worldview has noultimate purpose or cause behind anything, therefore they

have no way of determining good.



Let your light shine before men insuch a way that they may see your

good works, and glorify your Fatherwho is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

kalos

Word Study - Good

pert. to being in accordance at a

high level w. the purpose of someth. orsomeone, good, useful. free from defects

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other earlyChristian literature.

Greek Meaning

Interpretation & Application

Again, you cannot call something bad without knowing what good is. And good,as defined in Gods Word, corresponds both to purpose (Gods) and speaks totheir being no lack in the object in question. Both (purpose and completeness)are embodied in this statement from James: And let endurance have its perfectresult, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:4)



Whence came



God saw all that He had made, and behold, itwas very good [no privation]. And there was

evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31)



The first Acts of Evil

You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were onthe holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You wereblameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was

found in you. By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled withviolence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain

of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the

stones of fire. (Ezekiel 28:1416)

And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven (Revelation 12:4)

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight tothe eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruitand ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6)



The Root Cause of Evil

Every drop of evil both moral and natural can be traced back toone thing: the misuse of freedom. God Himself is free, and Hecreated free creatures. Freedom is a very good thing, however

freedom allows the ability to act contrary to the good purpose ofGod. This is what Satan and Adam/Eve did.



Defining Cause

What caused evil? There are three possible options:1. Determinism: something outside of Satan/man caused them tosin. Ultimately this would have to be traced back to God. ButGod is perfect, cannot sin, and does not tempt anyone to sin (cf.James 1:13)2. Indeterminism: nothing caused evil; it just arose. Impossiblebecause God will not hold a being accountable for something that

just happened; no accountability without responsibility

3. Self-determinism: the evil in Satan and man was self-caused.



Conclusions Regarding



Conclusions

The attempt to reconcile an all-good and all-powerful God withthe reality of evil is called a theodicy Evil is an absence of good, resulting in a violation of Gods good

purpose The two major types of evil are moral evil and natural evil God did not create evil but created the possibility for it The root cause of evil can be traced back to the misuse of a very

good thing free will Evil came about from the self-determined actions of creatures

created with free will


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Deliver Us From

Deliver Us From Evil Part II

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