Does God Create Evil?

Does God Create Evil?

by | Jun 17, 2018 | Difficult Scriptures, God

 “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7 KJV).

In the King James version of the Bible quoted above, this verse from the Book of Isaiah is one that has puzzled countless people over the centuries since that translation was made.  If God is good, we might naturally ask, how can he create evil?  But three lines of evidence show that the KJV translation is not accurate in this instance and must be revised in order to properly understand what Isaiah wrote.  We will look at the three factors individually.

First, the Hebrew word ra translated “evil” in the KJV of Isaiah 45:7 can mean moral evil, and it is often rightly translated that way in the Old Testament; but the word also has the meanings of physical adversity, calamity, disaster, injury, ruin, or even misery.  So while evil is a possible translation in Isaiah 45:7, it is only one of many and we must look at the immediate context of the scripture and the context of the whole Bible to see which meaning would be most appropriate in this verse.

Second, the immediate context of Isaiah 45:7 indicates that Isaiah did not have moral evil in mind when he composed this verse. Chapter 45 has a clear context in which God says he rewards obedience (for example, vss. 8, 17) and punishes disobedience, rebellion and sin (for example, vss. 9, 16). This immediate context makes it far more likely that Isaiah 45:7 is using the Hebrew word ra in the sense of calamity or disaster that comes upon the wicked as a result of their own actions. We can see this in the exact wording of the verse –  notice how “light and darkness” (two direct opposites) are compared with “peace and evil.” But evil is not the opposite of peace – this second pair of words should clearly be “peace and calamity.”

Finally, everything we are told throughout the Bible about the goodness and righteousness of God indicates that God does not himself create that which is wrong or morally evil.  The prophet Habakkuk tells us of God: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil” (Habakkuk 1:13); the Psalms tell us: “The LORD is upright…there is no wickedness in him” (Psalm 92:15); Isaiah himself tells us that “Those who walk righteously … shut their eyes against contemplating evil” (Isaiah 33:15).  These and a great many other biblical verses show that God clearly does not and cannot contemplate evil.

The fact that the Hebrew word translated “evil” has many other meanings, the fact that the immediate context of Isaiah 45:7 is one of the calamity of punishment for sin rather than the creation of moral evil, and the fact that the Bible is consistent in showing that God does not even look at evil all indicate that it is not moral evil that God creates, but the punishment that comes as a result of sin. 

That is why English translations made since the King James was translated in 1611 have almost all chosen to translate the Hebrew ra not as “evil” but with a word reflecting some kind of punishment. The New International Version, for example, translates the word “disaster,” as does the Holman Bible. The English Standard Version translates it “calamity,” as does the New King  James Version, which brings the English of the King James Version up to date.  God does not ever directly create evil, though he creates beings that may of their own free will turn to evil and bring punishment upon themselves. 

The Other Side of Honesty

The Other Side of Honesty

by | Jun 10, 2018 | Character

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We might not often think of it this way, but honesty has two sides – an “outside” and an “inside.” Honesty isn’t just about what we tell others, it is also about what we tell ourselves. In other words, full honesty is not only speaking the truth to others, but also speaking the truth to oneself.

Psychologists know that these are separate activities. We can deceive others while not deceiving ourselves in some situations, but we can also deceive ourselves (while not always deceiving others) at other times. The Bible contains many verses based on this truth.  We tend to notice and remember those scriptures which speak about telling the truth on the “outside” –  as when the apostle Paul wrote: “… each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor …” (Ephesians 4:25), but we may not always notice the distinction when scriptures talk about telling the truth on the “inside.”

Consider an example from the Old Testament.  In Psalm 15 David asks the question, “Who can dwell with God?” and begins his answer by saying: “He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart” (Psalm 15:2, emphasis added here and throughout).  Although the New International Version translates the final part of this verse as “who speaks the truth from their heart,” the preposition used in the Hebrew Bible means “in,” and this translation is followed by almost all other modern versions (ESV, NKJV, HCSB, NASB, NET, ISV, etc.).  The International Standard Version translates this verse with particular clarity: “The one who lives with integrity, who does righteous deeds, and who speaks truth to himself.”

This need to speak truth on the inside is the underlying meaning behind many other scriptures in the Old Testament, such as Psalm 51:6: “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being …” and Proverbs 23:7: “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” (NKJV). But how do we speak honestly to ourselves, or perhaps more precisely, how do we not speak dishonestly on the inside?  Here are four points we should keep in mind:

1) Know yourself.  We may know it intellectually, but we must continually remind ourselves that the Bible clearly teaches that the mind and its underlying human nature is not intrinsically good (Jeremiah 17:9, etc.).   Our first reactions are so often wrong ones, and then our minds may take over to justify them.  Speaking truth within ourselves begins with understanding ourselves (Lamentations 3:40, Psalm 19:12).

2) Don’t avoid inner conversations you need to have. We have all heard the words “I don’t want to talk about it” or “I don’t want to think about it,” but speaking truth to ourselves often means not allowing ourselves to avoid the inner working-through we need to do regarding problems we do not want to face. As Christians we know that God often directs our “conscience” through his Spirit (John 16:13), but we cannot speak truth to ourselves or follow the Spirit’s guidance if we are avoiding truthful “conversations” that should occur.

3) Don’t allow divisions between what you say outwardly and inwardly.  Whenever we find we are thinking something different from what we are saying out loud, we need to stop and assess the situation carefully. Most of us are deceiving ourselves in small ways every day, and we can only overcome this pattern through constant vigilance.  Divisions between what we say and think – outside and inside honesty –  create psychological dissonance and put us in the position of being what the Bible calls a “double minded” person (James 1:8; 4:8).

4) Police your personal narrative. We have to separate ourselves from the narrative we construct about why we do what we do if we are to speak to ourselves truthfully and be able to grow and overcome our own nature. This involves not only being conscious of what we’re doing, but also asking ourselves why we’re doing it. Most of us have internalized a number of rationalizations about various aspects of our behavior, but anytime we find ourselves feeling that we are too old, too busy, too sick, too poor, too tired, or anything else that stops us doing what we know we should do, we need to “pull over” our own attitude and examine our own excuses. Likewise, whenever we do what is not right because we feel we owe it to ourselves, others are doing it, it’s only a small sin, we are just weak, or whatever, we need to police ourselves also.  Perhaps the greatest part of spiritual growth involves assessing, and if necessary rejecting, our own rationalizations.

Ultimately, learning to speak the truth to ourselves is a never-ceasing process that underlies spiritual growth itself.  Being honest with ourselves is a daily, hourly, and even minute-by-minute endeavor, but don’t let that fact ever discourage you –  it just means that being honest with ourselves reaps constant, ongoing benefits and rewards.

Safe House: The Story of Rahab

Safe House: The Story of Rahab

by | Jun 3, 2018 | Women of Strength

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“Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies …‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’ So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there  (Joshua 2:1).

In this ancient spy story, whatever else the two spies did in Canaan is not disclosed (if this were a modern intelligence report, the information might have been redacted!), but the Bible tells us the spies came to the house of the prostitute Rahab.  Perhaps God led them there because He was willing to save this woman of faith, but it is also possible that her house which was “on” or “in” the great wall of the city (some ancient “casemate” walls contained rooms in which people lived) was actually an inn. This tradition is mentioned by the 1st century historian Josephus, as it was not uncommon for inns to function as brothels in the ancient world. In any event, the spies came to the house of Rahab and were hidden there from the king of Jericho who was searching for them.  This was, as one-time CIA director Allen Dulles remarked, the first known “safe house” for spies in history – and it proved, of course, to be the only “safe” house when Israel destroyed the city!

The story of the Canaanite woman Rahab and her house is an interesting account at a number of levels – not least that of understanding the right kind of faith that we should all have. Rahab is included in Hebrews 11, the Bible’s “Faith Hall of Fame” chapter, for this specific quality: “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace” (Hebrews 11:31, NKJV).

But we might question here exactly how Rahab exercised faith.  Certainly she believed that God was with the Israelites, but the Biblical account makes it clear that most of the inhabitants of Jericho felt exactly the same way.  Notice what Rahab told the spies:

“I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed … for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below” (Joshua 2:9-11 and see also Joshua 5:1).

Clearly, the inhabitants of Jericho had human faith in the fact that God was with the Israelites. So what made Rahab different?  From the perspective of Jericho she was just a traitor who sided with the enemy, but from the perspective of the Bible it was precisely her actions to save the Israelite spies that made her faith real.  The other inhabitants of Jericho had the same information she had, but they reacted differently to the same knowledge. Once the Israelite army reached Jericho we see the people of Jericho’s reaction: “Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in” (Joshua 6:1).

Rahab not only protected and helped the spies when they were with her, but also exactly followed the command she was given to distinguish her house by a piece of red cloth (Joshua 2:18-19), perhaps symbolic of atoning sacrifice and certainly reminiscent of the Passover placing of blood on the houses to be spared (Exodus 12:13).  Her actions may have been simple ones, but they contrast starkly with those of the other inhabitants of Jericho: while they hardened their attitudes and shut themselves in, Rahab reached out and was obedient to what she was told to do. 

It is not that Rahab was physically saved by “works,” but by working faith – belief that was active – as Hebrews says: “Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe.”  Joshua 5:1 and Joshua 2:9-11 show that the other inhabitants did believe, but not with full, active belief – which is what Hebrews must mean. Unlike her believing but fearful neighbors (James 2:19: “…the devils also believe, and tremble”), Rahab believed with an active belief that was complete in its expression of obedience, and her story stands as a lasting example of faith that works as opposed to empty belief without action.

What became of Rahab? She evidently married Salmon – one of the two spies she had saved – and through him became one of the ancestors of  Joseph, adoptive father of Jesus (Matthew 1:5).  Her active faith not only enabled her to physically save the spies, her family and herself, but also to include her in the genealogy of the One who would enable the salvation of us all.

* This post was first published on our sister site, LivingWithFaith.org on 2/4/2014.

A Fighter Against Injustice

A Fighter Against Injustice

by | May 20, 2018 | Warriors of the Way

If you were to think of a hero who seems to come out of nowhere to block tyranny, thwart injustice, and assist those needing help, perhaps you would think of some fabled medieval knight or a caped comic book hero. But one person mentioned in the Bible displayed the trait of heroically fighting against injustice to an exceptional degree, and that individual, surprising as it may seem at first, was Moses.

You may not have thought about it this way before, but the Bible paints a very interesting picture of the character of Moses before his calling.  Of course, the evidence we have comes from the first five books of the Bible – written by Moses himself – but what I would like to look at here is the way Moses is portrayed: the characteristics he displayed and chose to record as opposed to any other traits he may have had. Remember that Moses tells us nothing about his childhood and youth apart from the fact that he was raised by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2:10). The first time we are given a glimpse into the adult life of this future leader we are told that:

“One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand” (Exodus 2:11-12). 

Fighting injustice on the work site

We must understand that this was no simple homicide on Moses’ part. When the text tells us he “looked this way and that and saw no one,” it probably does not mean that he checked to see that he could get away with intervening, but rather that he saw there was no one who would help the man and so intervened himself. We are not given the details, but the furious slave driver may then have turned on Moses who may have killed him in self-defense as well as defense of the slave who was being ruthlessly beaten.  We should remember also that the word used of the slave driver’s “beating” of the Hebrew man is makeh – which can have very strong connotations involving injury and even death. Moses stepped in and halted a tyrannical situation that may well have been life-threatening for the man he protected.  
 
Fighting injustice on the street

The very next day we are told that a similar situation arose in which Moses attempted to intervene in an unjust situation: “The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” (Exodus 2:13). Note that in this case there was no casual argument involved. The expression translated “the one in the wrong” (NIV) in the Hebrew is literally “the wicked one” – clearly an individual who was wrongfully assaulting another Hebrew. But once again Moses stepped in as soon as he saw the altercation and realized what was happening was an unjust situation.   

Fighting injustice at the well

Exodus tells us that Moses fled to Midian after this event, when the Pharaoh found out that he had killed an Egyptian taskmaster (Exodus 2:15). In Midian the next recorded incident is that Moses steps in to defend and help a group of women – the daughters of a local shepherd – when they tried to draw water from a well for their sheep: “Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock” (Exodus 2:17).

This is the third and final glimpse we are given into the life and character of Moses before God appears to him in the burning bush and calls him to lead his people out of Egypt. Although this event occurs quite some time after Moses arrived in Midian (see Exodus 2:23, a “long period”), we are not told anything more about his actions during that time – whether he worked hard or cared well for the flocks in his charge or anything else. What we are told – and all we are told – about the life of Moses before God called him to the great work he was given to do is that on three occasions Moses stepped in to fight injustice under various circumstances.

But notice that these incidents do not run from the least to the greatest – they do not show the growing heroism of Moses as an individual. Instead, they run from the most serious offense to the least, so they show his gradual coming to awareness of and willingness to stand up against even small injustices that he encountered. 

Perhaps there is a lesson in this. Perhaps Exodus is telling us that God called Moses to free his people because of his growing commitment to fight injustice. Perhaps God knew he could use such a person to fight the great injustice of the slavery of the Hebrews in Egypt. If this is the case, then this is a prime example of how the more we grow in our desire to fight what is wrong and to support what is right, the more God can use us, too.

The Christian and twitter

The Christian and twitter

by | May 13, 2018 | Popular Culture

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So you are one of the many millions of people on twitter? Great! 

So you are one of the many Christians on twitter? Maybe we should talk. 

According to a report published by the Pew Research Center, fifteen percent of adult Internet users in the United States are on Twitter, and that number is multiplied many, many times, of course, in nations around the world.  Of these millions of twitter users, a great many are Christians –  few of whom give much serious thought to how they use the service and the effect they are having on others through it.

The writer and speaker Jon Acuff once said that “Social media’s like a brick — you can use it to build an orphanage or throw it through somebody’s car window.” That statement graphically summarizes the good and bad that can come even from Christians’ use of twitter. 

In saying this, we are not even talking about the kind of content a person tweets.  Most (though sadly not all) Christians are in the habit of tweeting positive, clean and uplifting messages that are not attacks on individuals (Ephesians 4:29-31).  It’s sometimes the behind the scenes –  but still visible – aspects of twitter use that can be problematic.

For instance, many people –  many Christians included –  seem to view twitter as a giant game of  “get followers.”  As a result, many do not choose to follow people back who follow them because they want an impressive follower/following ratio.  It’s always a bad thing if we allow our mental approach to become focused on an attitude of “get” and an unwillingness to give, and this is certainly a situation where the golden rule can be followed (Matthew 7:12).

But even more disturbing is the habit of many (and yes, many Christians) of following people back  and then,  a day or two later, dropping them.  If the person who has followed us is not tweeting objectionable material, dropping them simply to improve our own numbers is nothing short of selfishness, and we should consider how this looks to others.   If we don’t want to receive a follower’s frequent messages regarding what they had for dinner last night or whatever, twitter does have a “mute” button. If we need to we can mute followers where unfollowing is not called for.

Being a Christian on twitter is not just about numbers, though.  When we receive follows from others and don’t follow back, or follow back then drop them, we lose one of the great ways social media can be used for good by depriving the person of ever reaching out to us through Direct Messages.  In our own @tacticalbelief and @livingbelief twitter accounts we receive many DMs every week from people asking for guidance, encouragement, prayer, or just basic information about Christianity. Not following back or dropping followers unnecessarily limits engagement with others whom we might help and  denies them the opportunity to receive “an answer regarding the hope we have” (1 Peter 3:15) –  in an area of our lives where we might be most likely to be asked. 

There are many other ways that we should perhaps consider how, as Christians, we come across to others on twitter, and how we either serve them or perhaps cause them to stumble through our twitter behavior.  But basically, being a Christian on twitter can be boiled down to three simple things. 

First, we need to realize how conspicuous we are as Christians on twitter and how hypocritical it can appear to others if we label ourselves as “Christian” or quote Bible verses in our twitter bios, but are knowingly following porn or treating people selfishly in our social media practices. 

Second, we need to resist any temptation to “flame” or ridicule others by always being desirous to “tweet  others the way we would want to be tweeted.”

And, finally, we need to remember – as one preacher so aptly once put it (in a tweet): “Your words will tell others what you think. Your actions will tell them what you believe.” That is just as true on twitter – or on any other social media –  as it is in other areas of life.