I do not percieve God creating evil directly, but rather indirectly, and that being due to our autonomous free will.
Because, it is scripturally understood, that the angels have free will, and so does mankind, since the Garden at the beginning of our creation.
Dear Earburner,
You said:
I do not perceive God creating evil directly, but rather indirectly, and that being due to our autonomous free will.
Because, it is scripturally understood, that the angels have free will, and so does mankind, since the Garden at the beginning of our creation.
You are correct when you said "I do not perceive God creating evil directly". God uses Satan, the fallen angels and mankind (all of whom are spiritually marred) to do the evil.
Judg 9:23 Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:
1 Sam 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
2 Sam 12:11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house (evil from mankind), and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
Isa 19:14 The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
2 Sam 24:1 And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
How did God "move" David? He sent Satan:
1 Chron 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
However, you are wrong about mankind, Satan and the fallen angels having a
free will. Scripture NEVER makes such a claim.
Mankind can make "choices" but those choices which we make are
caused by God. Read my post above to RLT63 Post #91.
To have a free will, mankind would have to have the ability to make choices
without divine restraints.
Here is the definition of free will:
FREE WILL: the power or capacity to choose among alternatives or to act in certain situations independently of natural, social, or divine restraints.
God's Word is full of verses which teach mankind has divine restraints on our "will" and on our ability to make choices.
You said:
To eliminate the understanding that in the Garden, we were created having innocence only, is to exclude our autonomous ability to make choices between "the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil" and "the Tree of Life", and therefore put the blame on God for our OWN choices.
Therefore, having NO knowledge of evil or good, prior to them making that wrong choice, is plainly understood, because in the Garden was also "the Tree of Life".
Simply put, A&E chose the wrong Tree FIRST.
Mankind was made spiritually marred and subject to vanity. Because of such, Adam and Eve became carnally minded before they sinned.
Also, the only forbidden tree in the Garden was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of Life was not forbidden at that time because Adam and Eve were already immortal prior to sinning. After they sinned, they were removed from the Garden so that they could not eat from the tree of Life.
The choice Adam and Eve made was the only choice they could have made. God made sure of it by creating them spiritually marred (weak) and by giving them a body of flesh which would rule over their spiritual nature. God even placed Satan in the Garden to do the tempting.
You said:
Nothing of the knowledge of good and evil came into them until that day of eating of the forbidden tree of "GOOD AND EVIL".
God Himself even acknowledges the simple reality of that event: Gen. 3[22] "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever".
Gen 3:22 expresses God's reason for the tree of good and evil being in the Garden and why He caused Adam and Eve to eat from it. By eating from that tree, Adam and Eve (and all their offspring) acquired the knowledge of good and evil. This knowledge is necessary for mankind to be "like Him" so that we can all become His children after Christ finishes work within each of us.
It was God's plan from the beginning to produce new children and to have them learn about good and evil. After God's purpose of evil is satisfied within mankind, Christ will make sure that we all will only experience "good" for all eternity. He will wipe away all the tears from our eyes.
For this primary reason, God sent Christ into the world:
1John 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Rom 5:18 so then as it was by one offence towards all men to condemnation, so by one righteousness towards all men for justification of life. 19 For as indeed by the disobedience of the one man the many have been constituted sinners, so also by the obedience of the one the many will be constituted righteous.
Because Adam sinned, all mankind is
already condemned to death (the true penalty of sin). But because of Christ's work, all mankind will be constituted righteous. This will happen because it is God's "will" for it to happen. Christ's spiritual work within a person will make their "will" conform to God's "will" in this matter. Christ does His spiritual work by freely giving us the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Latter Rain) and the Baptism of Fire (judgment). Judgment is a necessary part of our conversion because it destroys our marred spiritual nature so that the spiritual war will end. After it does, the new nature of the Holy Spirit (New Earth) will fully govern the individual and they will be "perfect".
Note: The Early Rain is only an "earnest amount" and is not strong enough to destroy the carnal nature. As Paul says, a spiritual war will develop between the carnal nature and the new nature. Satan will then quickly come to the aid of the carnal nature by sending the spirit of anti-Christ to indwell the new believer. At that point, the deadly head wound to the carnal nature (caused by the sword of Christ) will be healed. Once it is healed, the spiritual war will end and the believer's carnal nature will be made "worse than the first" (
Mat 12:43-45). The fallen away believer will then begin dwelling in "peace and safety" while following Satan's gospel (another gospel) rather than the Gospel of Christ. At this time, the Abomination of Desolation will occur within the believer and they will lose their salvation. Scripture refers to this spiritually worsened believer as a
Man of Sin, a false prophet, a wolf, a minister of Satan and a Seven Headed Beast with ten horns & crowns. When the fallen away believer starts following the crooked serpent's gospel, they will believe in
free will and will mix faith and "works" (the crooked way) together. This crooked way is rejected by Christ. However, for the Elect, Christ will send "Elijah" to them in their fallen away spiritual condition and will cause them to repent of their "works" so that the pathway of Christ can be made straight. With a straight pathway, Christ will "come again" (the second coming of Christ) to the Elect believer and He will pour out the Latter Rain. This is what the Apostles experienced on the Day of Pentecost and what Paul experienced after being in Damascus for three days. For all the other Elect of this age, they too, must travel the same pathway to salvation. Today, for those who are still in the apostate church, they are waiting for Elijah to appear so that they will repent and receive the Latter Rain.
You said:
And for that, we all know the results: there shall be no eternal life in mortal flesh, for we who are naturally born "from beneath". John 8
[23] And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
After we are saved upon our conversion, we are spiritually gathered together to be with Christ in heaven (Mat 24:29-31). From that point, we shall never die, even though our flesh will still die someday. This is what Christ was saying in these verses below:
John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
After an Elect believer is converted, they will no longer be of this world (from beneath) but will be gathered together with Christ in heaven (from above).
Joe