Evil
the absence of good
EVIL - to be unjust or injurious, to defraud, bad morals, wicked, corrupt, perverse, wrong, crimes
1. Having bad qualities of a natural kind; mischievous; having qualities which tend to injury, or to produce mischief.
2. Moral evil is any deviation of a moral agent from the rules of conduct prescribed to him by God, or by legitimate human authority; or it is any violation of the plain principles of justice and rectitude.
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
Also: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil
Evil is attractive and magnetic
If God is a good God then why is there evil? If God is all-knowing and all-powerful then isn’t He the author of evil? Did God create evil for His good pleasure? His enjoyment?
Did God create Satan so that He would have an adversary for His entertainment and or to pass the time? Did God create freedom of the will so that evil would be formed eventually?
All of these questions above are beyond preposterous. If God is the author of evil then He is also the author of lies and sin. If a king orders his servant to perform a crime, is the servant only guilty of the crime? Likewise a father orders his son to murder another, is the son only guilty of the crime? Or, are both the orderer and performer held guilty?
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17
Can evil project from the heart and divine will of God? No.
If God has allowed both angels and humans to choose to follow, stray, receive, or reject then does God hold the blame for this freedom of wills? Does that make Him responsible for evil?
Just as a king or government establishes an acceptable standard of behavior for their citizens, so did God establish a divine universal standard of acceptable behavior. God did not create robotic creatures that would serve Him out of pre-programming. Just as is indicated on my page entitled Religion vs. Relationship, our relationship with God must be two-sided and not a one-way street.
In conclusion, evil is the absence of good just as dark is the absence of light, or cold is the absence of heat. This is not a dualistic approach but an absence approach. Cold and heat are not opposites. Cold is the absence of heat. Light and dark are not opposites. Dark is the absence of light. Evil is the absence of good. God did not author evil but He did author the ability for an individual to love and be in good relationships.
I encourage you to lay aside any pagan notion that God is the creator of evil or that He desires anyone to die lost. He wants every man, woman, boy, and girl to be rescued from Satan, sin, and Hell.
Won’t you join me in the worship of the Author of all things that are good?
Examples of evil: Satan, demons, false religions, sin, and crime.
-- Jeremy Brown 2003
Origin of Evil:
http://wesley.nnu.edu/WesleyanTheology/theojrnl/26-30/30-1-05.html
http://wesley.nnu.edu/JohnWesley/sermons/071.htm
http://wesley.nnu.edu/JohnWesley/sermons/072.htm
Article by Luis Palau