Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Yigal,

> > HH: God does not have to create moral evil. If there is free choice,
> > there can be evil. You have it just backwards in assuming God must first
> > create evil in order for free will to exist.
> >
> >    
> I'm not sure what "creating moral evil" means. If God created everything 
> ex-nihilo, then there is nothing that "just exists" by default. If there is 
> what WE see as evil, then God must have created it, for reasons of His own. 
> We might not be able to understand His reasons for doing so.
>  



HH: Moral evil is due to a contradiction of God's will, so God does not 
have to create it. It is simply a perversion of something He has 
created. He created the human will, which is capable of contravening 
God's will. When we do that, moral evil arises, first of all 
disobedience. God hates moral evil and does not create it, just as he 
does not incite murder:

Prov. 8:13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, 
evil behavior and perverse speech.

Psa. 11:5 The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who 
love violence his soul hates.

Prov. 6:16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are 
detestable to him:
Prov. 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent 
blood,
Prov. 6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be 
swift in running to mischief,
Prov. 6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth 
discord among brethren.

HH: He does not create the things he hates.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard 


>  
>
> > Satan is a rebellious angel in Christian thinking.
> >
> >    
> I know, but not in (most) Jewish thinking, and only based on a very 
> imaginative interpretation of the Tanakh.
>
>
>  
>
> > The Tanakh shows a pattern of progressive revelation, more and more
> > being revealed as time passed. Christians believe that the Tanakh shows
> > an incomplete angelology and demonology, which later revelation
> > clarifies.
> >    
>
> Ditto.
>
> Yigal Levin 
>
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