God Creates Evil? - Page 2

[Rainbow]

blueletterbible.com look up a scripture, and click teh "V" button beside it and WAH-LAH you have multiple versions! Click the "C" and you have the greek or hebrew breakdown and concordance. Nifty Stuff!

Genesis 1:2 does say that darkness was upon "the face of the deep" and verse 3-5 speak of him creating light and then seperating the light and darkness.

Isaiah here does say he created darkness- while the creation story has darkness as what existed. Then again, everything even what is present stems forth from God. I don't know... it is late and my head hurts.

[DaryLLL]

Don't try to make it all fit. Just enjoy the diversity.

IMO, the bible is an evolution of the ancient Hebrew people's (and only a certain part, male Yahwists) experience of God. Ask yourself, why should my exp of God be made to fit theirs? Why is my own not just as valid? Because they have a book? But there are lots of books about different people's exp of God.

You could even write your own book.

This is putting aside the idea god "him"self wrote the Bible with a big golden pen.

[lorrielink]

[Tales from the Dad]

thanks for the blueletterbible link, Rainbow

[lunar forest]

If we see evil as also being from the Creator, then the light and darkness, good and evil concepts are not as black and white as most would make them.

[barbara]

Originally Posted by Tales from the Dad

I wonder how that relates to genesis, I don't have any where near the number of versions you have, but doesn't the creation story have darkness already in existence prior to God creating light and everything?

This is an interesting and refreshing discussion. Thanks for starting it Rainbow!

I had not thought about the concept of darkness already existing. I'm finding that entertaining to contemplate.

When one embraces the concept of God as the creator, it does open a can of worms so to speak. If God can create a universe as complex as the one we find ourselves in, it seems reasonable to believe that His nature is of an equal, if not greater, complexity. Our understanding of His nature is limited, and therefore our logic is not always capable of interpreting God's ways. More simply put, God's ways are not always our ways! We may prefer a more logical, analytical, way of describing creation, heaven, or any other spiritual concept, yet God appears to have chosen a more poetic, mythical style of storytelling to present this to us. We are the ones that need to adjust our thinking to understand His Story, rather than to try and fit it into our way of thinking. This is certianly not an easy thing to do, but anything worth undertaking will require some effort.

Again, a very good discussion!

[DaryLLL]

To compare and contrast, I present a Hindu creation story (they also have more than one, just as the Bible does). See any similarities to the Hebrew story? My comments in [].

Hinduism believes there are times when the universe takes form and times when it dissolves back into nothing. The in-between times are known as the days and nights of Brahma, who is the Hindu god of creation.

Before time began there was no heaven, no earth and no space between. A vast dark ocean washed upon the shores of nothingness and licked the edges of night. A giant cobra floated on the waters. [Leviathan?] Asleep within its endless coils lay the Lord Vishnu. He was watched over by the mighty serpent. Everything was so peaceful and silent that Vishnu slept undisturbed by dreams or motion.

From the depths a humming sound began to tremble, Om [the Logos]. It grew and spread, filling the emptiness and throbbing with energy. The night had ended. Vishnu awoke. As the dawn began to break, from Vishnu's navel grew a magnificent lotus flower. In the middle of the blossom sat Vishnu's servant, Brahma [Christ? Wisdom?]. He awaited the Lord's command.

Vishnu spoke to his servant: 'It is time to begin.' Brahma bowed. Vishnu commanded: 'Create the world.'

A wind [ruach, pneuma] swept up the waters. Vishnu and the serpent vanished. Brahma remained in the lotus flower, floating and tossing on the sea. He lifted up his arms and calmed the wind and the ocean. Then Brahma split the lotus flower into three. He stretched one part into the heavens. He made another part into the earth. With the third part of the flower he created the skies.

The earth was bare. Brahma set to work. He created grass, flowers, trees and plants of all kinds. To these he gave feeling. Next he created the animals and the insects to live on the land. He made birds to fly in the air and many fish to swim in the sea. To all these creatures, he gave the senses of touch and smell. He gave them power to see, hear and move.

The world was soon bristling with life and the air was filled with the sounds of Brahma's creation.

As far as the imperfection of the universe and the "evil" in humanity, Hinduism and Buddhism explain this by saying the universe is only a reflection of the perfection of the creator, not his perfect creation. Brahma and Buddha sit upon the real lotus, we live in the reflection in the water.

In Hindu cosmogony, there is no absolute beginning point assigned to the creation of the universe. Instead, there are an infinite number of cycles of creation and dissolution. The creation stories are understood to mean the periodic emanations of God into the form of the material universe. Furthermore, the word for creation in Sanskrit is srishti. It does not imply creating something out of nothing; it rather means the transformation of a subtle or spiritual substance into a physical or material one. So the more proper description might be that the universe is the “projection of the Supreme Being,” not an act of creation.

[stafl]

I had not thought about the concept of darkness already existing. I'm finding that entertaining to contemplate.

That was my father's take on it. He studied divinity, and explained creation to me this way:
that in the beginning was darkness. The word we translate into "darkness" also means womb. then Father penetrated the darkness with his light and brought forth everthing that exists.
My Dad thought the eternal feminine, the ultimate Goddess, mother of all creation, came first. But that it took both Mother and Father to create.
Now, his thoughts on why Biblical text mostly deals with the Father is an entirely different thread...