Did God Create Evil

At an unknown college there was a professor with a reputation for being tough on Christians. At the first class every semester he asked if anyone was a Christian and proceeded to degrade and mock their statement of faith. One semester he asked the question, and a young man raised his hand when asked if anyone was a Christian. The professor asked, “Did god make everything, young man?” “Yes, he did, sir,” the young man replied.

The professor responded, “If God made everything, then God made evil, and if we can only create from within ourselves, then God is evil.” The student didn’t have a response, and the professor was happy to have once again proved the Christian faith to be a myth. Then another young man raised this hand and asked, “May I ask you something, sir?” “Yes you may,” responded the professor. The young man stood up and said, “Sir, is there such a thing as cold?” “Of course there is, what kind of a question is that? Haven’t you ever been cold?” “The young man replied, “Actually, sir, cold does not exist. What we consider to be cold is really only the absence of heat. Absolute zero is when there is absolutely no heat, but cold does not really exist. We have only created that term to describe how we feel when HEAT IS ABSENT.”

The young man continued, “Sir, is there such a thing as dark?” Once again, the professor responded, “Of course there is.” And once again, the student replied, “Actually, sir, darkness does not exist. Darkness is really only the ABSENCE OF LIGHT. Darkness is only a term man developed to describe what happens when there is no light present.” Finally, the young man asked, “Sir, is there such a thing as evil?” The professor responded, “Of course. We have rapes and murders and violence everywhere in the world; those things are evil.” The student replied, “Actually, sir, evil does not exist. EVIL IS SIMPLY THE ABSENCE OF GOD. Evil is a term man developed to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. It isn’t like truth or love, which exist as virtues like heat and light. Evil is simply the state where God is not present, like cold without heat or darkness without light.”

The professor had nothing to say…

Have you ever been stumped or trapped like the first student in this story? I have and it’s not fun. I much prefer being like the second student, be prepared and having quick answers. I find myself listening to lots of talk radio just so that I will be prepared when someone asks me some off the wall question or tries to trap me. I Peter 3:15 exhorts us to be prepared to give a ready defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness, and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

In sports there is a saying, “THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE”. This works well in sports because if you don’t give up any runs in baseball, points in football, buckets in basketball or any goals in hockey (note the blatant disregard for soccer here), then you can’t lose the game. Sometimes we think that we need to know how to explain the molecular structure of an atom to prove creation when all we really need to do is defend our beliefs in a quick, clear, and concise manner.

What are you currently doing to make a ready defense? How are your apologetics? Are you so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good?