The Strand Study Bible

GENESIS GENESIS world really doesn’t apply. Reason being: The atheist and/or agnostic has no ground for the question to be asked in the first place. In the end, all atheists and/or agnostics are forced into the philosophy of Nihilism, which is the general rejection of established social conventions and beliefs, especially of morality and religion; a belief that life is pointless and human values are worthless, for there is no objective basis for truth. In order to answer the conclusion of the atheist and/or agnostic all one must do is add “one assertion” to the end of their conclusion. If you recall, they believe: (1) If God were all good, then He would not allow evil to exist; (2) If God were all powerful, then He would prevent evil from happening; (3) So either God is good, but not powerful, or God is evil; and (4) Seeing there is so much evil in the world, God is either evil or He must not exist at all. The one assertion that needs to be added to the end of their conclusion is: (5) If God is good, then He must have a good reason for allowing free-willed creatures to act in accordance to their freedom ( Jere 9:2 ). NOTE – The atheist and/or agnostic’s response is neither biblically nor philosophically correct. For example: Biblically speaking , a superior angel with a free will by the name of Lucifer produced the evil that existed before man was created. Lucifer, according to Isaiah 14:12, was created a good angel. However, because of free will and his willingness to use that free will to sin, Lucifer fell and his name was changed to Satan ( Job 1:6 ). Ezekiel 28:14-15 describes Lucifer this way before his fall: 55 Just because that which was created good chooses to become bad does not mean God created evil and should be blamed for it. Philosophically speaking , according to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality simply the absence of heat. Whereas there is no limit to the amount of heat that can be produced (we can have lots of heat, more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, etc.), there is a limit to how cold it can get. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can go no further. Therefore cold does not exist; otherwise we would be able to go colder than absolute zero (-458 F). Cold is only a word used to describe how we feel if we have too little heat. Cold is not the opposite of heat, just the absence of it. The same is true of darkness . In a very definite sense of the word, darkness is simply invisible light, and light is darkness made visible. Darkness is as visible as light to eyes that are equipped and attuned to perceive. Not only is there light (which is dark to the eye in the low end of the spectrum), but also beyond the upper range of light, which our vision can apprehend, darkness really consists of invisible light. Therefore, philosophically speaking, darkness does not exist. Like the word cold , we have created this word darkness to describe the absence of light. Therefore, just as cold is the absence of heat and darkness is the absence of light; so evil is the absence of good, and according to the Bible, since God is good, evil is nothing more than the absence of God –philosophically speaking. According to Genesis 2, like the angels before them, human beings were created good (Gen 1:26-31). Man was created to have a good relationship with a good God and to remain in dependence on Him. However, by one act of self-reliance and distrust man had placed himself at the center of his own universe and, sadly, discovered the meaning of evil. Evil, therefore, is the result of what happens when God is left out of the picture. Because the world’s philosophy excludes God (unless, of course, they too need someone to blame for their suffering when a natural disaster strikes), they see evil as having two sides: a logical side (called the logical problem of evil –How can a loving God allow evil to exist?) and a personal side (called the personal problem of evil –Why does suffering happen to me?) (Eccl 6:1-4 & 9:1-3). Whereas Christianity views evil from the biblical and philosophical point of view, the world views evil from the logical and personal point of view. For example: The logical worldview of evil goes something like this – According to the world, there are two kinds of evil: 1. Moral evil – acts of men (Gen 4:8 and II Sam 13:1-5) 2. Natural evil – acts of nature (or, as insurance companies put it, “acts of God”) (Job 1:12-19) The personal worldview of evil, on the other hand, goes something like this – If there is a God and He can stop evil from happening to me and doesn’t, He must be evil for not stopping it. Either that or He really doesn’t exist. Because the world looks at evil from a logical and personal viewpoint verses a biblical and philosophical viewpoint, the world has come up with three different psychologies to explain evil: 1. Naturalism (called naturalistic psychology) 2. Humanism (called humanistic psychology) 3. Transcendentalism (called transcendental psychology) Whereas Christianity sees evil as the product of free-willed creatures, the world sees evil as an accident ( naturalism ), as ignorance Thou (Lucifer) art the anointed cherub that covereth (leads); and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created , till iniquity (sin) was found in thee . Charles Massegee in Sanity in a Satanic Society notes: Let’s not blame God for making the devil. God had nothing to do with it. Lucifer was perfect when created by God, but he made himself the devil by his sin. 6 If there is a God and He is all-good, He would destroy evil. If there is a God and He was all-powerful, He could destroy evil. Seeing evil has yet to be destroyed, there must not be an all-good, all-powerful God.