Yes great point!
we need to believe Him and His promises.
Instantly i enter peace knowing they are always at work and eternal.
I
Evil
- Thread starter Wan
- Start date
we need to believe Him and His promises.
Instantly i enter peace knowing they are always at work and eternal.
I
Of course it depends on the meaning of "Evil". The word evil means calamity. A specific calamity may or may not be a sin.
the Hebrew word ro, translated evil, has no moral bias such as we usually associate with it. In the following passage quoted, the evil is done by the hands of the Son of God.
Psalms 2:0.......:He shall deal out EVIL with a rod of iron when He comes again".
This same adjective is used to describe the ill-favored cattle (kine) of Pharaoh’s dream in Genesis 41:3......
"And behold seven other kine (cows) came up after them out of the river, ill-favored (Evil) and lean fleshed, and stood by the other kine upon the bank of the river.
You said..........
"If all sin was evil, we'd all be evil, even Christians, because we all sin."
Romans 7:19-20.........
"For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me."
Hmmmm???
Moral evil is sin, and all sin is the disobedience to God's Word and God does not demand that His people sin.
Calamity usually leads the list of evils that have nothing to do with morality or immorality.
Evil, as spoken of in the Scriptures, is an act that smashes and demolishes and brings with it a train of trouble and distress, but it is neither right nor wrong in itself.
An earthquake is evil because it is a calamity, but it has no moral bias. However, if you purposely blow up your neighbor’s house, that is a calamity that most certainly has to do with morality (or more accurately – immorality). That calamity is evil AND it is a sin!
Law of FIRST Mention!
thx, tie-po on my part.
I live to serve!!!!!!!
Hello Wan;
It's been a year since you posted Evil and I totally overlooked it. I read the entire thread and everyone contributed good posts on this subject.
I read in James 3 about the taming of the tongue (including writing.) When I read in verse 7 that the tongue is a restless evil, full of deadly poison, and in verse 10 that out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. It really cut to the heart.
Wan, I would like to know what you describe as acts or signs of evil?
God bless you, sister.
Hello Via
Let me ask you. Are you sure it was a planted tree?
You have a family tree. It outlines who you are. We know that Lucifer was already fallen at this point. Consider Lucifer was a great being at one time. We can only imagine what he may have all been capable of. Before he stepped out from God I expect he had a lot of wonderful good works but as soon as he fell all that good stuff was thwarted. Could it then be considered good and evil. Consider now that he is fallen all he wants to do is spoil God's work and what better way than to get Eve to believe a lie. When Eve accepted the lie isn't that eating it? In Revelation John is told to eat the book and it was sweet in his mouth but bitter in his stomach. I think we all understand this being a reference to the word. Isn't it then possible there is a parallel here?
Genesis 2:8-9.......
“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”.
From the actual words of Scripture...... It was a real tree.
For your thesis to be correct, the meaning and CONTEXT would have to be altered so as to make it a metaphor.
So then.....The prohibition from the Tree of Life was a test of Adam and Eve’s obedience to God. After Eve was created, it also became a test of their faithfulness to God. Did they want to obey Him? Would they obey Him?
They did not obey. They were not faithful. They did not believe Him.
They failed the test the moment they ate of the tree. That act of disobedience gave Adam and Eve the knowledge of evil. They knew the difference between good and evil after they ate of its fruit. Apparently, God gave this name to the tree because He knew Adam and Eve would disobey Him. The only way they would understand evil was by disobeying God. That is, once they became a sinner they would understand evil. They would bring sin into the world and they would understand good and evil personally. Adam and Eve had the “option” to choose righteousness or evil.
We all have that choice to make in our lives!
Just as it is tough for a partially blind person to see color and a partially deaf person to make out specific words, so it is difficult for Christians to fully comprehend evil; an unbeliever even less so.
How do you define "religion" or "religious components" in relation to the question of evil?
As for me, I don't have a religious bone in my body, because, to me, "religion" or "being religious" is something anyone can do when we consider that evolutionary theory among so-called "atheists" is itself a religion...whether they're willing to admit that or not.
There are many lost souls who populate many of the seats within institutional church organizations...such as those who go through the motions of works-based salvation meted out like an IV drip infusion while trying to progress toward salvation through their works-based rituals, which is religion on steroids, and whom the Lord will reject outright according to His own words in scripture:
Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And the response will be:
Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
It's interesting to see the many slick, slight-of-hand interpretational twists that have been applied against that verse to try and make it out to not apply to their personal beliefs, and yet...there it is, all in red lettering!
So, as I stated...to me, being religious is obviously something anyone can do in life, only to be rejected by the Lord of Glory!
So, given that the only authoritative source for identifying evil and its origins and its modus operandi, anything else brought in as a defining "authority" is rendered secondary to the Bible if and when it disagrees with the Bible.
MM
Didn't Jesus say that the devil sows tares in with the wheat...so I kinda wonder if the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil was sown or planted by Satan and of course the tree of life is the one planted by God.
It could have happened overnight when God was sleeping.
A lot of evil things require cover of darkness, and we know that a lot of bad things happen from midnight until dawn while others are asleep - evil schemes plotted, homes burgled and broken into, people getting drunk, prostitution...
It could have happened overnight when God was sleeping.
A lot of evil things require cover of darkness, and we know that a lot of bad things happen from midnight until dawn while others are asleep - evil schemes plotted, homes burgled and broken into, people getting drunk, prostitution...
Since only God creates, and according to this passage God put it there..
Genesis 2:8-9 KJV
And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. [9] And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Good stuff. It is clear from the mouth of God that there will be a lot more people in hell than in heaven.
Hello Lanolin;
God did not allow Satan to plant the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but God Himself planted the tree.
The tree was one of God's early teachings of command to Adam with choice / free will.
Matthew 13:24-30, 24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ” - NKJV
Jesus was using "sowing tares among the wheat and going his way" as a metaphor, a separation of obedience and disobedience.
When I found myself many times in a fine mess or debacle, I used to blame God for sleeping. The truth is God does not sleep and His Word tells us so. What a relief. Whew!
Psalm 121:4, 4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. - NLT
People love to celebrate their sin in darkness because they cannot be seen in the light.
Jesus said in John 3:19, 19 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. - ASV
God bless you, sister.
Broadly speaking, I see evil as being that which brings about an evil (or harmful) outcome. Oftentimes evil outcomes arise from people who are not attempting to bring forth evil. For example, parents who coddle or abuse a child in hopes of producing a strong and respectful adult but end up producing a broken person lost in addiction. The outcome is evil despite the intentions of the parents.
Contrarily there are those who specifically work to bring forth evil. I suppose those are people who truly deserve be called evil. Examples abound, for example, Nazis in WW2.
The Bible is very clear on this subject. Any attempt to act upon our own will, as opposed to God's will, is evil. It does not matter our intentions because even if we don't fall into the latter category of evil, we certainly fall into the former, for the simple reason that we can't bring forth good. Even if we create what seems good at the moment, we can't predict or control the downstream effects.
Just to add the Scripture.
AMP Mark 10;18
Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is [essentially] good [by nature] except God alone.
Its funny when I find these gems ( this post and the added scripture) to double my faith.
oh ok
But then if we do anything thats not in Gods will then what does God want us to be His puppets? I mean I could say God take my brain and not even think for myself right?
But isn't this what we are taught to do by our parents and schools and workplaces.
Otherwise wouldn't we just submit to whoever is authority, but they could be evil too.
But then if we do anything thats not in Gods will then what does God want us to be His puppets? I mean I could say God take my brain and not even think for myself right?
But isn't this what we are taught to do by our parents and schools and workplaces.
Otherwise wouldn't we just submit to whoever is authority, but they could be evil too.
As for forbidden tree didn't God tell Adam and Eve about it so they could avoid it. He didn't want them tasting good and evil, just from the tree of life. If it was tree of good AND evil did that mean it had two different types of fruit on the one tree. Did they look the same or would they have been obviously different?