Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Blankinship, Benjamin" <bla26 AT co.henrico.va.us>]

> > 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.

I've been lurking for a couple of days, and I should probably lurk
longer before jumping in, but I might be able to help here.

Bearing in mind Liz's statement RE the different world views, I think
you two are simply misunderstanding each other's terminology. An analogy
or two may help. 

God did not create darkness. He created light, and he made it possible
for light to be shaded. We see the absence of light and call it
darkness. God did not create cold. He created heat, and he made it
possible for heat to be insulated. We see the absence of heat and call
it cold. Darkness and cold do not exist; they are abstractions, words
describing the absence of something else. Perhaps that is what Harold
means when he says, "God does not have to create moral evil." By
creating us with the potential to do good, God made it possible for us
to choose not to do good. But there is not a substance called "evil"
that God created; "evil" is just our word for the absence of good in a
human's choices.

-- 
Ben B