So I haven't posted in forever, not like it matters... But anyway, this semester I took a course on Biblical Hermeneutics, which is the study of interpretation and translation in regards to the Bible. Well at one point in class the professor mentioned a passage in Revelation which refers to the sea being no more, and he interpreted that to mean that evil would be no more, because earlier in Revelation the beast, which definitely represented evil, rose up out of the sea, and so the professor proceeded to equate the sea with evil. Well, this did not sit well with me, and so I began to write furiously on the back of our handout(he loves handouts). Here is what I wrote:
"When John mentions/adds the fact that the sea will be gone (no more), I do ont think it is the case that he is referencing the evil represented by the sea. A close reading of Genesis 1 will show that there is no mention of the creation of the sea (water). "The Deep" is mentioned, and God separates the Deep into the sea and the sky. He does not create it, He only separates it. So the significance in John is that not only will God destroy created things but pre-creation things as well.
It is possible that one can still allude the sea to evil, since there is no explanation about how evil came to be. In this case, the Deep could be a possible source of evil, as most Christians will not tolerate the thought that God created evil. Which begs the question, If not from God, where did evil come from?
Personally, I believe that in some way evil came from God. Without evil, He cannot be glorified in every aspect of His being. His goodness cannot be glorified if there is no evil to compare it to. His mercy and grace cannot be glorified if we did not fall and become in need of it. Therefore, in order to be fully glorified, I believe God created evil. It's that or evil is also eternal. Once again, the significance of the destruction of the sea can be seen as God destroying something that He did not create, which would glorify His omnipotent power."
As you can probably tell, I was writing fast and didn't really pace myself enough to make transitions between thoughts, so it might a little difficult to follow, and I apologize for that. Basically the conclusion i came to is that either God is the creator of evil, and ultimately its destroyer as well, or evil, like the sea, is an eternal object like God, and that He is so powerful that He can destroy even other eternal things (which of course would make them a little less eternal than they thought =)).
I've never really heard any other suggestions for the origin of evil. I feel like Christians like to believe that Satan (or Lucifer) created sin, although they would probably never actually say it, because that means that God is not the only being with the power to create. Maybe He is, maybe He isn't. I'm not sure that we can really know. But my purpose in writing this is to put some questions in your head, and if you don't like it, that's too bad because you shouldn't be following me anyway...
As a long overdue follow-up to this post, I've come to a slightly different, more informed conclusion. It is not that God created evil or that evil is truly an eternal thing. I believe that evil is more the absence of good. Similar to the idea that darkness is the absence of light, not a thing in and of itself. "Evil prevails when good men do nothing." God's goodness, His righteousness, His glory and holiness can only be truly seen and understood in comparison to what we experience as a lack of goodness, righteousness, glory and holiness. I understand the purpose of light, and its benefits, when I come into the light from the darkness. Being able to see, when before I could not, is glorious. Having knowledge, when before I had not, is amazing. Being able to breathe clearly, having just come out of allergy season, is so satisfying. We come to love and understand the good things in life so much more, and we value them as they should be valued, after we have been deprived of them or experienced a period of time where they were absent. I appreciate and cherish a hug from my mother so much more when I've been away for a long time, deprived of her hugs. Its that same concept of "absence makes the heart grow fonder."
ReplyDeleteIn the case of evil, I believe that it is the absence of good. And we come to appreciate, love, and value God's eternal goodness when we have experienced a period of time without it. We become more able to glorify His Name in all its beauty and wonder when we have seen what its absence looks like. Evil, suffering, and tragedy leave us with a better understanding of what a world without God would be like, and should drive us right into His loving arms.
To touch once again on its origin, ask yourself this: When you turn out the lights, are you creating darkness? No. You are merely removing the light from the room. Evil is a removal of God from the world. Its a result of the separation of God and man in the Fall in Genesis. The bright side of this is, however, that we can now come to a fuller knowledge and understanding of the goodness of God and who He is in light of what we have experienced without Him.
My hope is that if this does not convince you, it has at the very least posed some serious questions for you to think about as you go about life.