Post by Mark on Oct 4, 2007 5:35:48 GMT -8
One of the stupid and frustrating questions that is often asked of us by those who would intellectually challenge Scripture is this: if God is good, how could He create evil? It's really not such a stupid question. It only seems so because we don't have an answer for it; but the answer is found in the first few verses of Genesis.
Did Adonai create darkness? Did He create waste and void? How does one create void or absence? You can't create darkness, you simply remove light and darkness is the result of that absence. In Adonai's creative work, He did not destroy or remove anything. In His creation, because He is perfectly just, He left room for that which was already there (even if that something was nothing).
Our view of sin and of evil is somewhat skewed as is our vocabulary concerning darkness "so thick you could cut it." How can you cut something that is the absence of anything? It makes about as much sense as Douglas Adams' asssertion that, "anybody can fly, you just throw yourself at the ground and miss." Sin is not a thing in itself; but rather resulting consequence of the absence of righteousness. Adonai did not have to create sin. He simply left place for it.
In James 4:17, we given a definition of sin along these same lines: "he who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."
Biblical vocabulary supports this conclusion. The Hebrew word kaw-taw means "to miss". In Greek, hamartiah, means the same. Both words are universally translated to mean "sin".
Messiah Yeshua gave an example of a man who had a demon; but when the house of the man's mind was swept clean, he was left in a more desparate position than before because his mind had not been filled with that which was righteous.
This understanding can transform our lives and empower us to overcome every sin. Paul gives us the prescription: do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. If you recognize besetting sin in your life as a void or absence of righteousness, fill that void with righteousness and the sin will be overcome. This is not our usual tactic. We tend to focus on the sin behavior and try to avoid it. The result is that we trip ourselves and instead of living in righteousness we are obsesssed with orbiting sin (and repeatedly fallinmg into it).
One rabbi was approached by a young man who was in desperation because of a besetting sin that he could not overcome. When the rabbi was asked how to change, the simple answer was, "Do a mitzvot." Paul's conclusion is rabbinical: overcome evil with good.
When I am struggling with sin issues in my life, my first line of defense is to submerse myself into the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is particularly helpful because of the comparative strategy of linking evil conduct with it's appropriate anti-type in mitzvot (good works). If you are prone to steal, work to give. If you are prone to lust, express gratitude and contentment in whatr Adonai has given you, and so on.
The evil one's devises are not so much to insert evil into our lives. He knows what wickedness truly is. His goal is not to make you do bad things. He is successful if simply he steers you clear of the light switch. Where ever there is no light, darkness will prevail. I want to encourage you as we enter this new
cycle: that righteousness is as simple as turning on the switch.
Did Adonai create darkness? Did He create waste and void? How does one create void or absence? You can't create darkness, you simply remove light and darkness is the result of that absence. In Adonai's creative work, He did not destroy or remove anything. In His creation, because He is perfectly just, He left room for that which was already there (even if that something was nothing).
Our view of sin and of evil is somewhat skewed as is our vocabulary concerning darkness "so thick you could cut it." How can you cut something that is the absence of anything? It makes about as much sense as Douglas Adams' asssertion that, "anybody can fly, you just throw yourself at the ground and miss." Sin is not a thing in itself; but rather resulting consequence of the absence of righteousness. Adonai did not have to create sin. He simply left place for it.
In James 4:17, we given a definition of sin along these same lines: "he who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."
Biblical vocabulary supports this conclusion. The Hebrew word kaw-taw means "to miss". In Greek, hamartiah, means the same. Both words are universally translated to mean "sin".
Messiah Yeshua gave an example of a man who had a demon; but when the house of the man's mind was swept clean, he was left in a more desparate position than before because his mind had not been filled with that which was righteous.
This understanding can transform our lives and empower us to overcome every sin. Paul gives us the prescription: do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. If you recognize besetting sin in your life as a void or absence of righteousness, fill that void with righteousness and the sin will be overcome. This is not our usual tactic. We tend to focus on the sin behavior and try to avoid it. The result is that we trip ourselves and instead of living in righteousness we are obsesssed with orbiting sin (and repeatedly fallinmg into it).
One rabbi was approached by a young man who was in desperation because of a besetting sin that he could not overcome. When the rabbi was asked how to change, the simple answer was, "Do a mitzvot." Paul's conclusion is rabbinical: overcome evil with good.
When I am struggling with sin issues in my life, my first line of defense is to submerse myself into the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is particularly helpful because of the comparative strategy of linking evil conduct with it's appropriate anti-type in mitzvot (good works). If you are prone to steal, work to give. If you are prone to lust, express gratitude and contentment in whatr Adonai has given you, and so on.
The evil one's devises are not so much to insert evil into our lives. He knows what wickedness truly is. His goal is not to make you do bad things. He is successful if simply he steers you clear of the light switch. Where ever there is no light, darkness will prevail. I want to encourage you as we enter this new
cycle: that righteousness is as simple as turning on the switch.
