Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Charles Rempel wrote:

> I was re-reading this and I do not see how this can be logical.
>
>  
>
> > HH: Yes, by creating a world God created darkness if there was no light.
> >    
>
> If there was not light, then it was dark. If it was dark, then darkness
> could not be created.
>  



HH: But there would be no darkness if God had not created the world, so 
he created darkness too. He evidently planned for darkness to exist, and 
there was darkness when he created the world. So He obviously created it.

>  
>
> > Darkness would be an automatic by-product of a world without light.
> >    
>
> Darkness would not be an automatic by-product, it would be a mandatory
> complement. If there is no light, then darkness must pre-exist.
>  



HH: But there would be no darkness if God did not create the world in 
which things could be dark. So darkness is a created entity too, even 
though it is an absence of light.

>  
>
> > Since he created the world, he created darkness.
> >    
>
> Could I likewise then say, "Since He created the world, He created evil"?
>  



HH: God says that he creates evil, so of course you can say that. But 
clearly moral evil is due to moral agents, and God as a moral agent does 
not produce moral evil because he is holy. However, angels and men do 
produce moral evil by contravening God's good will.


> The Isaiah text correlates darkness and evil. But the relationship between
> Isaiah 45:7 and Genesis 1:1 is not established unless you presume that all
> creative acts were done at "0 hour".
>  



HH: Right, but I think Isa 45:7 is using the term "evil" in the sense of 
"disaster." I understand what you are saying about moral evil being a 
by-product of God's creation of the world. However, it was not a 
necessary by-product, since it is due to the free will choices of moral 
beings. He was not the direct Creator of moral evil, since it arose 
through angels and human beings.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard