Is God evil? (1 John 1)
1 John 1.5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. [tniv]
A University Professor once challenged his students to a question, "Did God create everything that exists?" One bravely answered, "Yes, He did!" The professor answered, "Does evil exist? If so, then God must have created it, therefore based on the principle that our works define who we are, we can assume that God must be evil!"
The professor now quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.
From the back of the room came a nervous voice, "May I ask you a question professor?" a young student asked.
"Does darkness exist?"
The professor responded, "Of course it does!"
The young student responded, "Haven't you taught us that darkness is in reality the absence of light. In fact using Newton's prism to break white light into many colours, we can study the various wavelengths of each colour. You cannot measure darkness. The only way to know how dark a space is would be to measure the amount of light present. Darkness is a term used to describe what happens when there is no light present!"
So the young man asked the question to the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"
A little hesitant, the professor responded, "Of course. We see it everyday in man's inhumanity to man. We see it played out in crimes and violence everywhere in the world!"
The young man replied, "Sir evil does not exist or at least not unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. Just like 'darkness', 'evil' is a word man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. Like the darkness which comes when there is no light.
Upon hearing this the professor sat down.
It has been said that the young man's name was Albert Einstein!
2 comments:
I think this story illustrates very well what absence of God in our lives represents – darkness and evil. I think it also shows what our lives will be like if we choose to be without God. Adam and Eve chose to be separated from God by their use of free will to disobey His command. Maybe this life is meant to give us a glimpse of life without God. Through understanding even a small proportion of the misery and despair that we experience without God in our lives we are able to see and avoid total loss in eternity.
Although everyone will go through suffering of some type in their life, when you have God with you, you are able to live in the light and ease the burden of your suffering. It is hard sometimes when we are faced with the hardships of life and everyday problems bring you down. We feel dragged into a world of darkness and swallowed into a great abyss. However, if we are able to ask God into our lives and allow Him to guide us we will not suffer. We may still feel physical pain, emotional turmoil, financial difficulty or any other worldly burden but our spirits will be brought above the darkness to live in the light of Jesus Christ. Our lives in this world will be bearable because this world is not our only existence; it is temporary and so are our worldly problems.
Life in the light of this world through Jesus Christ enables us to live beyond the darkness of this world which is caused by separation from God. So also is evil something that can be avoided not by our efforts but through our relationship with Him. Jesus Christ will guide us through life if we let Him and we develop a real relationship with Him and not try to be our own masters.
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Matthew 6:24
Although Matthew is talking principally about money I believe it can be applied equally to other things such as ourselves.
We make a choice as to whether we live in light or darkness, that is with or without God.
But what a thought! To think that that evil (darkness) exists because of the absence of God in our lives - how exciting to know that with God in our hearts we will always carry His light!
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