ORIGIN OF EVIL

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By Akin Ojumu

I must confess that I do not particularly understand the point of this commentary. There are so many erroneous assertions in here that it’s impossible to address them all.

First off, I don’t know where this individual got the idea that the sovereignty of God is “political”.

“God is spirit and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24).

God operates a spiritual, and not a political, kingdom. To equate the sovereign rule of God to that of earthly kingdom of sinful men who are full of evil is an abomination of the highest order.

The earth is a colony???? Never heard that one before.

According to Dictionary.com, “Colony is a country or area under the full or partial political control of another country, typically a distant one, and occupied by settlers from that country.”

So, if, as we read in Psalm 24:1, it’s indeed true that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,” how can the earth then be God’s colony at the same time?

The Book of Genesis describes in great detail the creation of the heaven and the earth. When exactly did the Creator of the earth become the Colonizer of a realm He created?

Now, allow me to address the origin and source of evil.

In Genesis 3, we read about the fall of man. The day Adam and Eve fell for the deception of Satan was the day evil entered the heart of mankind. From that day forward, the heart of man became completely taken over and totally consumed with evil. 

You can trace the pathology of the human soul to that encounter with Satan. That singular event is the source of evil in our world. Prior to Genesis 3, the world was as God made it, VERY GOOD.

The Almighty God, the creator of the universe, is ALL good and ONLY good. When God finished the work of creation, everything He made was good. That goodness, which existed in the original creation of God is a reflection of the goodness of God which is the very nature of God.

There can be no evil in a good God. The idea that evil came from God or that God created evil is as blasphemous as anything erroneous that can be said about God.

And here is how I know that God could not have created evil or that evil cannot come from God.

If God created evil, then God would be both good and evil. If God were both good and evil, there would be no hope for the ultimate triumph of good over evil which the Bible promises. If God were Himself evil, He could not therefore triumph over evil, so good could not triumph. 

If God were the source of evil, He would have to be evil Himself. And if He were evil Himself, then there could be no basis for salvation, for God could not save us from evil if evil was in His nature.

God is not the source of evil. Evil exists outside of God. In fact, there is no such entity as evil. In actual fact, evil is the absence of good, which in turn is the absence of God. Evil is the absence of righteousness and goodness that only come from God. Where the nature of God is absent is where you will find evil.

When God created mankind, He gave us intellect, reason, and choice. Our intellect is what enables us to understand the created world around us. With our reasoning, we are able to use our understanding to affect our behavior. And our choice enables us to determine what behavior to manifest.

Evil comes into existence when mankind use their intellect, reason, and choice to contravene God’s command. Disobedience to God is the source of evil in the world. God created absolute perfection. Just as darkness is the absence of light, it is when there’s absence of absolute perfection that evil emerges.

The evil in Pharaoh’s soul did not come from God. It was Pharaoh’s antagonism towards God that corrupted his soul. Ahab and the other false prophets did not lie because God made them do it. Their lies were as a result of the absence of the righteousness of God in their soul.

So, if I’m to sum up what’s wrong with this commentary, I chuck it all up to a common error of quoting Scripture out of their proper context.
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This commentary is actually a response to another commentary on which I was asked to provide an opinion. None of the information conveyed is original to me. I borrowed copiously from Pastor John MacArthur, a gifted teacher and expositor of Scripture.

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