Isaiah12.org

 

You won’t get far until you’ve worked through the Evil post. I promise.

 

Evil doesn’t exist.

Evil = what is NOT.

 

This is a hard concept to wrap your mind around but let’s try looking at it like this.

Suppose I tell you this lie: “You won’t get hurt if you jump from this cliff.”

I know you will but I want you to think you won’t. So you believe me and jump…and get severely hurt.

Are you hurt? Yup.

Is the pain real? Yup.

Did something bad happen? Yup.

Did I tell a lie? Yup.

Does the lie exist? Yup.

Does the illusion that the lie created in your mind before you jumped represent reality? Nope.

There you have it. An illusion is a picture of something that doesn’t exist parading itself as if it does. Evil can be thought of as the illusion of things that don’t exist - the illusion of what is NOT.

 

Genesis 2:9 (ESV)
⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

 

Please notice that it says “the tree of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil”.

Think about it.

 

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If you haven’t read the Good post then please don’t read this. You won’t get it.

If you read Genesis 1 carefully you will notice that God is screaming out to us what is good. Then in Genesis 2 we see the famous tree that introduces the concept of evil.

 

What is evil?

Let’s start simply with this:

Evil is NOT-good.

Can you agree with this?

 

Why didn’t God make someTHING and say it was evil?

Let’s stipulate that it’s because neither God, nor anyTHING in God is evil.

So we arrive at this:

1.       God exists and He is all there is

2.       Evil is NOT-God

3.       Evil does not exist because evil is NOT-God

 

Evil is NOT-Good.

Evil is NOT-God.

Evil is NOT. Evil doesn’t exist.

It can’t because God is all there is (all that exists) and He is not evil.

Good = what is.

Evil = what is NOT.

 

(Are you getting a headache yet? This is one headache that you need to have. Meditate on it.)

I know what you are thinking. It probably goes something like this:

You’re trying to tell me all the bad stuff, the horrible stuff we do to each other, the pain, the suffering, and the death, doesn’t exist? You’re crazy. It does exist because I’ve seen it, I’ve done it, and I’ve felt it. So there. Now I’m gonna quit reading this stupid blog.

Am I right? Well before you quit you must understand that I’m with you. I’ve done it, and felt it, and it sucks, and I know it is real.

So, please keep reading. I think it will begin to make sense as we travel further down the path.

 

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If you haven’t been following the order on the Index page then I guarantee you will not have a clue about where this next part is coming from.

Good. What is it? Is it something we do? Is it a thing?

We usually think in terms of good and bad. So, for example honey is “good” and poison ivy is “bad”.

But what does the Bible say about good? Actually the Bible gives a rather precise definition of “good”. Let’s check it out.

 

Mark 10:18 (ESV)
¹⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

 

Okay, here is the logic:

1.      God alone is good.

2.      God is all there is. ( I keep telling you the order on the Index page matters.)

3.       Anything that IS (exists) is good because God is all there is.

Or, stated another way: All THINGS are good.

 

In Genesis chapter 1 we see the following pattern:

Then God Said, “Let there be _____” … and God saw that the _____ was GOOD.

Why do you suppose God kept saying everyTHING He saw was good?

 

God good.

Me good.

You good.

My dog good.

Honey good.

Poison ivy good.

 

 

Are you getting the picture?

 

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