FALSE STATEMENT
Since God created everything He is responsible for creating evil in the world.
OUR DEFENSE
Since God is responsible for all that exists it may seem plausible that God is responsible for the creation of evil. Logically one can deduce that if there was no God or if God did not create the earth evil would not be a part of it. However, the assertion that God is the creator or is even responsible someway for evil falls apart from a few different angles.
What Is Evil?
The first problem with this assertion is that it assumes evil is a created thing. It isn’t. Evil is not a material object that exists due to being brought into existence by some form of creation. In fact, evil is nothing more than an abstract concept or idea that we use to describe morally debased actions. To say God created evil just doesn’t make sense logically if we take notice of what the word evil really means.
God, is a creator God. He is in the business of creating. The bible makes this clear in the book of Genesis with the telling of the creation story.
We can even grant the asserter more ground and say that God also did not create good. Again, good is an abstract, immaterial concept that we use to describe things that are in opposition to what we would consider evil. The physical acts that one conducts is usually described as being good or evil. But you certainly can not bottle up evil or goodness to sell it or even use it as an object of trade.
When someone claims that God created evil, the first response really should be that evil isn’t an object of creation.
Chicken or the Egg
The next problem with the assertion is that if God did create evil, He would also have to be responsible for creating good. Again, assuming good and evil were created material, things. The question we would then have to ask ourselves is what was the state of God’s character before good and evil were created? Was God in some sort of neutral state completely unaware of what good or evil was until He decided to create it first for Himself? Well that would deny His omniscience. Or is God neutral now, still void of goodness or evil while goodness and evil merely exists outside of Himself? Which one did He create first? How could God create evil without the concept of good pre-existing? Evil, in its simplistic definition is the opposite of good. How could God create good without the concept of evil existing first? What is evil if good never existed to start with? What is good if evil did not yet exist? Did He just think of them both at the same exact time?
From a philosophical point of view I believe this just doesn’t come close to adding up.
Theologically
The last problem with this idea of God creating or being responsible for evil just doesn’t line up with the character and nature of who God actually is. This misalignment of God’s character happens when one mistakenly removes the divine nature of God and views God’s character in the same way we would view mortal, sinful man. Scripture makes it clear that God is righteous, holy and good.
“The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.” (Psalms 145:17)
“There is none holy like the Lord; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.” (1 Samuel 2:2)
“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isaiah 57:15)
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31)
“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:1)
The bible is simply full of passages that speak to the holiness, goodness and righteousness of God. It is precisely why God could not create evil. For God to create evil, He would need to go against His very character and nature of what makes Him God. God simply can’t go against who He is. This isn’t an issue of power or omnipotence as one may think but rather an issue of God’s character and nature. God simply can’t be both evil and good. He has to be one or the other and the evidence for what does exists makes it apparent God is not evil. Life contains too many good, amazing and wonderful things. If God was evil then we could surmise, I think with much certainty, that the end game of all life would meet some sort of evil conclusion. We can also look at the way mankind lives their lives in general. We all attempt to strive for goodness whether one accepts or denies the existence of God. Also, there is purely more evidence, based on the written word of God and the life of Jesus Christ that life does not conclude that way. In fact, the hope of God is for mankind to know Him and enjoy Him forever, coming to salvation by way of Christ Jesus. The end game is for us to live eternally with our creator and to enjoy life the way it was meant to be pre-fall. The end game, for those who follow Christ is good. It is very good. The end game for those who don’t follow Christ and come to know God won’t be good. But that isn’t because of some thing called evil created by God. It is because to deny the creator is to exist without the creator. As the creator is wholly good and represents all that is good, then to be without God would cause one to be outside of what is good.
Conclusion
When we look at the assertion that God created evil or is some how responsible for its inception we can see that it doesn’t add up. By looking at the definition of what evil is, taking a philosophical approach and even looking at what scripture says about God’s character, we simply can’t conclude God is responsible for evil. Evil, by biblical definition is classified as anything that is the opposite of what represents God. Evil, is living out sinful acts. Sin, is rebellion against God’s commandments which He established for our good.