Did God Create Evil?

        If there is any question that keeps us up at night puzzling, this may be it. We believe God created everything, but intuitively we are uncomfortable with the idea that God intentionally created evil. But if God did not create it, where did it come from?

The dilemma can more easily be analyzed by framing it according to the following syllogism: 

Premise 1: God created everything that exists.

Premise 2: Evil is a thing that exists.

Conclusion: Therefore, God created evil. 

According to the laws of argument, in order to prove that this conclusion is not true, we must show either that the conclusion does not logically follow from the premises, or that at least one of the premises is false.

If we reject premise 1, we assume that something came to exist on its own (or was created by someone else), as well as the fact that something came into existence against God’s will. 

If we reject premise 2, why does the world include such things as natural disasters, terrorist attacks, disease, and brussels sprouts?

The conclusion does logically follow, so there must be a problem with one of the premises. Indeed, it is found in premise 2. But how is it possible that evil is not a thing that exists? What exactly is a thing? And what does it mean for a thing to exist? This may sound like philosophical mumbo-jumbo, but bear with me.

       The answer I’ve often heard is that God created that which is good, and whatever is evil is merely a perversion of what is good. The analogy offered is the fact that “cold” does not exist, but is merely a word indicating the absence of heat; or that “dark” does not exist, but is merely a word indicating the absence of light. This answer may seem effective, especially because it relates complex concepts like the nature of and contrast between good and evil to things that are familiar. However, I think it’s incomplete. I don’t believe “evil” is merely a perversion of the “good” that was created, because I don’t think that “good” is a thing that exists any more than “evil” is. 

        Before you begin preparing a list of good psychiatrists for me, allow me to explain. The solution is found in the fact that the words “good” and “evil” are primarily adjectives. Asking whether good or evil exist, then, would be similar to asking whether “walking” or “angry” exist. These are not “things”, but rather, are descriptions of the nature of things that exist, or actions performed by things that exist. 

After all, we wouldn’t say that God “created” good; He simply is good. So it makes sense that He didn’t “create” evil either. He created beings who have the ability to choose to become evil and do evil things (a possibility that must be present if we are to have free will), but this means “evil” simply is a description of the choices or actions of those beings. But, we might object, isn’t Satan the personification of evil in the same way that God is the personification of good? I don’t believe so. In order for this to be true, God would have had to have created Satan evil initially. But we know that God created Satan inherently good, and Satan later rebelled. This must mean he isn’t inherently evil, but chose to be that way. Besides, Satan is not an “equal opposite” of God. He is not an “evil god” in opposition to the good God. He is nothing more than a fallen angel. Therefore, I don’t think it makes sense to say he personifies evil in the same way God personifies good. 

        In light of all this, what is it that makes something evil? I think the answer might be something like the following: 

Something is evil if

1. It is contrary to God’s nature to the extent that we ought to reflect His nature, or 

2. It is contrary to the purpose for which a thing was created, or involves the use of an object that is contrary to the purpose of that object in a way that causes harm. 

       This second point brings to mind Paul’s statement in Romans 14:14 that “nothing is unclean in itself.” All things that God created can be called good. Unfortunately, sometimes they are used in ways that are not good, but this does not mean they themselves are not inherently good. 

Of course, the logical follow-up question is why God tolerates evil actions at all, but this is a topic for another time. For now, we are only concerned with whether evil was deliberately created by God. Evil was not created because it is not a “thing” that exists in the ordinary sense of the word. But it most certainly is real.