"Evil", Why is it in the world?

Evil, it is all around us, every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every year, for centuries, since the garden of Eden. I believe that God gave man the choice to obey Him and follow His directives or to go his own way, resulting in "evil".

Free will was given to man by God, and when man takes his free will and does not follow God, good and evil are the results, rather than the will of God.

God did not make evil. Evil is the result of man's disobedience to God's priciples, and a lack of hearing God and a lack of receiving godly counsel from Him.

Did God "create evil"? No! Some will use the Bible verse: Isaiah 45:7, I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. This word, create, here, means that God is creating new conditions or circumstances. (see The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon). In some books of the Bible, like Genesis, create means to make something out of nothing. In Isaiah 45, it is used poetically. Another use of "create" in Psalms 51:10, Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Used here it means "transformation".

Some will say that if God created everything, then he had to create evil, because evil is here! Not so. Did God create houses? cars? telephones? boats? cell phones? Did God create your bad attitudes and actions? No, God did not! But, He did create the earth and all things visible and not visible to the human eye. He gave man the ability to make things, to come up with ideas and dreams and make them a reality. When God gave us free will, he gave us the ability to live godly, or in right standing before Him, or we can choose to do our own thing, which may be good or evil. Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Gen. 6:11-12 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

God did not create evil. When He gave men a free will, they brought evil into the world by their own thoughts and their own actions. Men apart from God have an evil heart, an evil mind.

Why doesn't God stop the evil? Isn't he powerful enough? These are good questions. If God is good, why doesn't he stop all of the evil and bad people that hurt others?

The answer comes back to the free will of man that God gave him. God told Adam and Eve that they could eat of all the trees of the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And what did they eat of? You guessed it! When they chose the knowledge of good and evil, they could no longer remain in the garden with God. They, in a sense, had to now live by the knowledge of good and evil. They no longer lived by the instruction of the voice of God.

We all are connected to the first man and woman. When they disobeyed and fell from God's presence, we all fell. We are all the offspring of Adam. Our only hope is in Christ Jesus. He takes us out of the old fallen creation and puts us into the new creation. We must live out our lives in this fallen world with God's grace, power, and mercy. We who are saved by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will enter into the new creation when this world dissolves.

At the end of this present world, God will do away with evil forever!!!!!! God will finally STOP evil, at the appointed time. There will be a new heaven and a new earth.

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Reading The Whole Bible

As a young christian, I studied the Bible by topic most of the time. I found it hard to try to read through. The old English is sometimes difficult for us to understand in our time. I like the old English translation and it is great for studying the scripture in Hebrew and Greek.

The Bible seems terribly BIG.... but I heard that it can be read in 72 hours!!!!!! If you read one hour a day, it would take 72 days to read it. If you read for 30 minutes a day it would take 144 days to complete. If you read 15 minutes a day it would take 288 days to read the whole book!!! This is less than a year!

I have finished a novel in less days than that! But with the Bible, I always take time to look up words, compare other scriptures etc. so this also adds to more time to read through the Bible.

About 10 years ago, I began reading through the Bible for the first time!!!!!!! I did it! I read through the Old Testament 4 times and the New Testament 6 times in two years.

Now, I have begun again to read through the Bible. I read one book and think about which book I would like to read next. I try to read at least 2 chapters a day. I would like to post what I am reading and make comments.
Have a great day everyone!

Salvation and Works: are they complementary to each other or opposed

To be saved, one must only accept the completed work of Christ Jesus. Confess with our mouth and believe in our heart. You are now in the family of God.

Now, will you remain a baby or will you grow spiritually?

God's word is filled with the idea that we should change and grow.
Hebrew's speaks to us not to remain as babes but to grow and be mature.
Philippians says to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

This does NOT mean that you are working for your initial salvation, you are not working for the Salvation that Christ gave His life for! You must work together with God to renew your mind, you put off the old man and you put on the new man, you put on the mind of Christ. All of these phrases say "YOU". It requires the will, the desire, faith, and choice to bring about change in your life to match your new spirit. You now have the Holy Spirit living within you. He is your teacher, He will lead you into all truth. Lies and deceptions have ruled in your life previous to your Salvation, now it is time for the Holy Spirit to speak truth into your life. Will you listen to Him or will you ignore Him?

This means that you must work with God, now, to get your new spiritual life working in your soul! God wants to get rid of the trash in your soul and put his desires in there. When your desires are changed into God's desires, you will be a different person.

He wants you to think the way he thinks.
He wants you to act like he acts.
This is working out of your salvation. He wants you to "look" like you are saved!!!! God wants you to let your Salvation run it's course in your whole life. Salvation is the beginning of your experience with God. You are saved for a purpose. God does not intend for you to get saved and remain immature in spiritual things. He wants grown sons. The Book of Revelation speaks of Christ having a "Bride", are you mature enough to be a bride?

When his will gets worked into your soul, then you also have changes in your soul and then your body, like not getting drunk, not stealing, hateful, spiteful, unforgiving, mean, put off the old man, etc.

On the other hand, you will be more loving, kind, forgiving, gentle, long suffering, more joyful, more thankful, the fruit of the Spirit should begin to manifest in your life, and make you a light in the world of darkness.

We were created unto good works. A christian should be doing the good works of God! Everyday, everywhere, listening to the direction of the Holy Spirit. Jesus went about doing good, so should we.

The key, I believe is are we honestly following the Lord? Are we just social christians void of the life of the Spirit. God knows our hearts, he is the judge. You know if you are walking with God.

I question if a person is really saved if they are REFUSING to be changed. I believe that a person may accept Christ as their savior but remain ignorant to walking in godliness.

All professing christians must be part of a bible believing church so they can hear the truth and grow. Their salvation is only the beginning of a new life. They need to learn to grow.

You cannot work for your initial salvation. The End!
BUT, you must work with God to get your salvation functioning in your soul life, so that the purity of your new spirit is flowing into your soul.

Books, Should Christians Read Other Books?

I have heard people say that Christians should not read other books about the bible. They say, why should we read what sinful men have written. I heard one man say it is too bad that it took a certain man to write a book about what was already in the bible and people all over the world are reading this particular book about our purpose, (The Purpose Driven Life). I praise God that he has revealed to men of God another way to get the Gospel out there!!!!! Sure there are some religious books we should not read. Any book you pick up, listen for the Holy Spirit to hear if you should continue to read it or if it is error. Everywhere you go you must discern whether something lines up with the word of God or not, not just books. Books are written expressions of thought? Speech is also an expression of thought. You can have godly thoughts or ungodly thoughts. Writing it down does not change it or make it less because it is written. When a preacher or a teacher ministers the word they also are giving you the thoughts of the mind in verbal form. Do you listen to them? All speech and written words should match the Bible.

The Apostle Paul wrote many of the New Testament "letters". He quoted some Old Testament and added some of what the Holy Spirit revealed to him, and it agreed with the whole of the Pentateuch/Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms. What of James, Peter, John, Luke, Mark and Matthew, and the writer of Hebrews?????? These were men of God writing to explain to all of us the ways of God. They were not "sinful" men, They are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. What they wrote was godly, and of God.

Maybe back in their day, some thought they should only read the Old Testament books and stop reading these strange letters/Epistles that these men were writing and having passed around in the churches. Thank God that those letters were passed around and that they should write about the risen Lord and His "revelation" on what the Old Testament said about Him. A letter may go places, that the writer may not be able to go to.

I believe that when you are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ that you are a new creation, He calls us kings and priests, we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. We are created unto good works. I believe that we can write books, speak, and do many things that are godly and right and correct. Do we sin? yes, sometimes, but that does not make us so "sinful" that we cannot speak God's Truth.

The Devil, Is He Equal To God?

The Devil is a being made by God. He has no power but that which God gave him as an angelic being. He is not infinite, not all powerful, not all knowing, and he is not everywhere! God is infinite, all powerful, all knowing, and He is everywhere! There is no contest.

What about the Devil's rebellion? It appears from reading through scripture, that angelic beings had self awareness, and because they have a sense of self, they could cooperate with God or even want to be in His place as God of all creation.

The Devil wanted to take over God's throne! Because of the abilities God had given him, he thought he could manipulate creation away from God. But like all beings which God has made, angels and men don't know anything compared to the Creator. In the end, the Devil and one third of the angelic hosts were cast out of God's heavenly presence.

God's wisdom and knowledge is far, far, far above that of angels or men. We think we are pretty smart and knowledgeable, but really, we know just enough to operate in this world. God lets us know what we need to know, but there is a vast knowledge and wisdom that is infinite, that belongs to God only. Who are we, men or angels, that we think we can oppose God?

The Devil and one third of the angelic host were the first to rebel against God. They were cast into the earth. And we know that the Devil deceived Eve into disobeying the command of God. And then, from that point, evil entered into the earth through men. The Devil then was able to move his mission into the earth when man left the wisdom of God and fell into the lies and control of himself.

I don't believe that evil or sin would have gone any further than the tree of the knowledge of good and evil without the agreement of Adam and Eve.

Please let me hear what you think about this.