If God created everything did he not also create evil?

Question

Surely he created Satan if he created everything?

Answer 1

It would seem so, contrary varmint ain't he.

If he is all seeing and all knowing presumably he would see he had created a flawed species and expected it to fail at the first hurdle regarding an apple on a tree as well Hmmmm. All the thumbs down will now mention 'free will' but he must have given us that as well what a tease.

Answer 2

Evil is not a thing that is created.  Evil is the result of actions made against God will, commandments, laws.  God never do such actions, god never do evil.  Stealing is evil, God never steals; lying is evil, God never lie.

God did created Lucifer, who at the point of his creation and for an undetermined amount of time was a good angel.  Lucifer (the angel) later become Satan after his rebellion against God.

Answer 3

God made evil.  he made the devil at first and it was a beautiful angel he the devil got greedy wanted to be God.  and God sent him to h**l.  Thats how this whole evil thing started.  The devil wanted everyone to hate God and feel his pain he didn't want anyone to be happy.  So he started to try to deceive us for some it worked others it didn't.  I can go all day about the bible.  but I think you should read it.  

          

              2 all God Bless!

Answer 4

Yes God did create everything in the Universe. So yes God did create evil because The 1 True God, ALLAH is the only creator.

We all also have good in us so we are supposed to do the good and when we do the bad thing's we must repent to ALLAH and ask for forgiveness.

We are all supposed to try to do that good we have.

Even before satan became satan the acursed devil he used to do good so we are supposed to try and do the good.

Also note in ISLAM we do not believe satan was an Angel but he was a Jinn.

Answer 5

Nope.Mis-quote.God created everything good.Humans created evil when they chose sin over Him, and Satan turned himself over to sin.And God sent His only son to save his creations ( us humans) because He loves us so much.And he gives us the chance to accept him.

Which is better, think of it this way:would you rather live in a country where you are forced to be Catholic or whatever, even if it is "right", or would you rather live in a country where you can choose?That's how God made the universe.He gave us a choice.And we chose wrong;we chose sin, but he gave us another choice:Christ.If we believe in Him, we can be saved and made sinless.

Answer 6

Of course He did, he created evil to tests us...this life is a test

read this

Answer 7

Deep deep question for which I have no answer.

Answer 8

apparently the devil did it lol  

Answer 9

God did not create run, jump, hop, skip, chew, or sin (verb.) Satan chose to sin. Satan chose to become evil and tempted man to join in his rebellion against God.

Answer 10

you can't have good if there is no evil if it's not dark how do you know the light is on ????????????????????????????????????????...

Answer 11

If god created everything, then god is responsible for both good and evil and so deserves both praise and blame.  

Answer 12

Just reading through the answers here, I have to say that I find the notion that evil is the absence, rather than opposite, of good to be utterly repellent.  There are a thousand everyday acts we commit that are entirely morally neutral - are we to believe that these are evil?  The suggestion is that evil is a passive state of being, rather than an active process, which implies that, in answer to the original question, not only did God create evil, he created man in a sort of default state of evil.  So if we are to believe that God created man, and that God hates evil, then we are forced to conclude that God created man as a deliberate object of his own hatred, and that therefore God himself is evil.  Which is a paradox - there is no God.

Answer 13

Given that I follow no theism, if an individual states/believes that a God created everything then logic dictates that he/she also created the propensity for evil. Where the dichotomy lies, is in the matter of free will and individual choice. Simply because something "exists" within  your knowledge and belief, does not rule out the individuals decision whether to embrace that choice or not.

Parachuting exists, shooting my arms up with heroin exists, mugging exists, the act of knowing and believing these things are possible and are chosen by many does not mean I will make their acquaintance.

Evil exists, I choose not to embrace it, whether a God "created" it or not, I CARE not.

Avoiding "evil" makes for a happy life which is all too short, I would rather live with a smile for my fellow man.

No deity could ever judge me more harshly in life than I do myself.

As to what happens later? Let me be judged!  

Answer 14

God created Lucifer. Lucifer was created good. Lucifer invented evil, that is why he later was called "Satan" or "enemy " (of God).

Answer 15

Evil can only exist when we see good to compare it against ..... everything has to be in balance and in extremes, good and bad. God created a world for man to survive and have purpose and well being. Evil is simply a spin off that success and in a way, gives man a supreme purpose to live for.  Evil, exists in many, many forms ... from violence and pain ... to malignant cancers and terminal diseases.  It is man's over-riding need to overcome evil and all its effects that gives him supreme purpose. But life is not s one stop shop .... it is cyclic and lessons get learned over and over again ... perhaps one day we will get it right and evil will be non existant.  

Answer 16

In reality there is only Love. Love is manifest in this world of dualities as either love of others or love of self. Love of others is seen as radiating love outwards, love of self is seen as consuming love inwards.

Love of others is empathy, compassion, generosity, acceptance, forgiveness.

Love of self is greed, fear, hatred and anger.

Fundamentally of course physics is showing us that in reality separation itself is an illusion. We are all individual manifestations of the One infinite field of conscious energy.

Most people accept the definition of God as infinite without understanding the implications. Infinity is not just a really big number. If you add one to infinity it is still infinity. If you subtract one from infinity it is still infinity. By definition, nothing can exist outside of infinity - it is all inclusive. Therefore if you accept the definition of an infinite Creator you also are forced to accept that every atom, every emotion, every act and every thought is inclusive to the Creator. So is every sentient being you will every meet including yourself.

There is nothing BUT God. All is One.

One last thing, "evil" must here be defined as love of self. This has nothing to do with "sin" which is entirely a fabrication from the mind of men. God has no arbitrary list of rules for you to obey. God cares about only two groupings of souls - the individual soul and the totality of all souls. There is only one column on God's scorecard - how did you treat all of God's other children while you were here?

Answer 17

It is a very good question, and if we accept that the Creator is omnipotent, and "THE" Creator, than obviously He created everything, including evil.

The twist in the matter is, that the evil is us.

There is only the Creator and the creature. And we are the creature, and everything we see in the world around us is related to us.

And the Creator is Good and Benevolent, and unchanging.

We are "evil", as we are selfish, only caring about self fulfillment, only exploiting the others.

But we are created this way, so there is no point being depressed about it, but we have to actually realize this situation, and if we know we are "sick" we can seek the "medicine" for it.

So to summarize it, you are right, but there is a purpose for it, and it is up to us, not to the Creator to correct the situation, that is why it is created like this in the first place.

If you would like to go deeper, please visit the following website:

http://www.kabbalah.info/course/crisis/

All the best!

Answer 18

Question: "Did God create evil?"

Answer: At first it might seem that if God created all things then evil must have been created by God. However, there is an assumption here that needs to be cleared up. Evil is not a "thing" - like a rock or electricity. You can't have a jar of evil! Rather, evil is something that occurs, like running. Evil has no existence of its own - it is really a lack in a good thing. For example, holes are real but they only exist in something else. We call the absence of dirt a hole - but it cannot be separated from the dirt. So when God created, it is true that all that existed was good. One of the good things that God made was creatures who had the freedom to choose good. In order to have a real choice, God had to allow there to be something besides good to choose. So God allowed these free angels and humans to choose good or non-good (evil). When a bad relationship exists between two good things we call that evil, but it does not become a "thing" that required God to create it.

Perhaps a further illustration will help. If I were to ask the average person "does cold exist?" - his/her answer would likely be yes. However, this is incorrect. Cold does not exist. Cold is the absence of heat. Similarly, darkness does not exist. Darkness is the absence of light. Similarly, evil is the absence of good, or better, evil is the absence of God. God did not have to create evil, but rather only allow for the absence of good.

Look at the example of Job in Job chapters 1-2. Satan wanted to destroy Job, and God allowed Satan to do everything but kill Job. God allowed this to happen to prove to Satan that Job was righteous because he loved God, not because God had blessed him so richly. God is sovereign and ultimately in control of everything that happens. Satan cannot do anything that God does not allow. God did not create evil, but He allows evil. If God had not allowed for the possibility of evil, both mankind and angels would be serving God out of obligation, not choice. He did not want “robots” that simply did what He wanted them to do because of their "programming." God allowed for the possibility of evil so that we could genuinely have a free will and choose whether we wanted to serve Him or not.

Ultimately, there is not an answer to these questions that we can fully comprehend. We, as finite human beings, can never fully understand an infinite God (Romans 11:33-34). Sometimes we think we understand why God is doing something, only to find out later that it was for a different purpose than we originally thought. God looks at things from an eternal perspective. We look at things from an earthly perspective. Why did God put man on earth knowing that Adam and Eve would sin and therefore bring evil, death, and suffering on all mankind? Why didn’t He just create us all and leave us in Heaven where we would be perfect and without suffering? The best answer I can come up with is this: God didn’t want a race of robots who did not have a free will. God had to allow the possibility of evil for us to have a true choice of whether to worship God or not. If we never had to suffer and experience evil, would we truly know how wonderful heaven is? God did not create evil, but He allowed it. If He hadn’t allowed evil, we would be worshipping Him out of obligation, not by a choice of our own free will.

-Till He Returns

God Bless

Answer 19

I am also interested to see the Christians answering that!

EDIT: Contending for the faith: ey, man! You have a very good argument on that and I have to admit that it explains that. You might get a best answer, I guess... But I still don't understand the infinite existence...

Answer 20

God created!

There are opposites for his purposes.

Ultimately all limitation/evil is for those you think they are the Body

We are spiritual beings who remain untouched by duality once God's purpose manifests in our lives.

Evil is the promotion of material values which interfere with our spiritual journey.

Answer 21

he didn't create evil, but allowed there to be evil

evil only exists because it is the absence of good

with evil we have choices to make, the choice to choose good or bad, God does not want robots

he gives us free will, the freedom of choice

Answer 22

this is how islam understands this

If you think that there is only one world then you have a problem. This issue here is that can their be injustice, can God allow injustice in the world?

If I have a pen that is mine, I can throw it in the air, I can use it or I can break or give it someone else its got nothing to do with anyone else. Its my pen and I'll do what I want it.

Likewise the whole world, what seen and unseen, belongs to God/Allah so how can you be unjust with anything he owns?

No way.

If someone believes God to be Love like the christans do then there is a problem which is better known as the problem of evil.

There is no problem in Islam we believe that both evil and good are created by God and its part of divine wisdom that someone is poor and other person is rich. I know if I was rich I would be a much worse person than I am now and I am not much good now anyway!

Muslims know that the rich of this world have more to be taken into account for than the poor. Its stated that the poor enter heaven years before the rich.

Also what the poor don't get in this world they we be recompensed any loss in Paradise.

This is with the important condition that the person is muslim because disbelieving in God/Allah means no reward.

God/Allah is alive and its part of his majestic mercy that he does not destory us for rejecting him because if i owned someone and he said someone bad about me I would want that person to be punished. God/Allah, out of his mercy allows that person to have another chance then another one to come back.

Feel free to email me, if I have not explained this well

Answer 23

God didn't creat evil. it was created by satan who lied to adam and eve in which they ate the forbidden fruit and therefore we have evil

Answer 24

God created Lucifer. he was a good Angel but  became evil after his creation. So we can say that God created, the good Lucifer, not the evil.  Or we can say, yes God created evil, because He created Lucifer even though he was an angel, later became evil!   It depends on the way you want to se it!  Same thing with Adam & Eve!!...  you judge!!

God created everything but it was not his will that his creation became mean bad or evil. He gave us free will.  

Answer 25

i like this question alot.

im interested.

:)