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Does evil exist? Did God create evil?


The University professor challenged his students with this question.

"Did God create everything that exists?"

A student bravely replied, "Yes he did!"

"God created everything?" The professor asked.

"Yes sir", the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then God is evil."

The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question professor?"

"Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460? F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat."

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness
and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already said.
We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least is does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

The young man's name -- Albert Einstein

A few holes in what you've said James.

I understand what you are saying but God cannot create anything evil. How can a perfect Being create something that is not good? I believe (aka... anyone can correct me here) that the reason the tree was called that is because it was almost... well... not almost, it is a test. If you ate of the tree, going against God's command, Adam and Eve would know what it is to be present with God and be absent from Him (Evil).

Also, the reason that God looked at everything and called it good is because it was of His creation and majesty and power.

If it's a matter of opposite, then the only sins that would exist would be those of doing the things God told us not to, which isn't true. There are the sins of not doing the things God has told us to do... legitimate or not. You can be wrong in doing something legitimate, simply because God told you not to do it.

An example: If God told you to personally go to someone and say something and you chicken out... Now... not telling a person something isn't a sin... but because God told you to do something and you didn't follow through, it became sin.

Sin is anything that goes against God's will, legitimate or not. It is the lifting up of one's own thoughts and self above God. Without God.. there'd be no sin.. and I believe that is the point this is taken from. Sin/evil is simply the absense of God. It is only the absense of God that is needed in us for us to be condemned. It is the absense that causes us to sin because when you're saved and suddenly the presence of God IS there, then you have the ability to not do evil because of His presence. Without His presence, that is impossible.

I like this analogy very much though, thanks for sharing it Jeff.

A Christian group on Bebo.

Yeah, I see the agreeance here too.

The funny thing is I was thinking the answer before i read it. i've actually explained hate and misfortune this way. It must have been the same God talking to Einstien who spoke through me.

i love it.

God is amazing and never CHANGES heart