Many philosophers and theologians have had similar ideas. Even those that would disagree with my view have said things that will back up my argument. St. Augustine was one of the great theologians in church history. He had the idea that man was inherently and totally good until the fall. After the fall, man was both good and evil. A dualistic thought, but nonetheless a very Christian statement because we now had the ability to sin. From that point on, man was not prone to evil, but was born with evil in him.

"The Bible on-line" www.genisis.com/edu

that it was evil and sinful that drove him to commit his pointless theft. He realized that there was a side of him that was naturally drawn to the enjoyment of evil. He realized that he had evil in him. And that part of him is what delighted in sin. Augustine admitted that it could not have been a perversion of a good because if that were so, and he was naturally all good, then he would have felt remorse. He would not have felt such pleasure in the act. It was the evil that part of him craved. He said, "If any part of one of those pears passed my lips, it was the sin that gave it flavor."

"Evolution". Encarta. CD-ROM. online version Microsoft Corp: 1994

Whether we see the good in it or not, it is still good because the Lord created it. However, that doesn't mean that some things God does can not be evil in and of itself. That means that when the Lord destroyed Sodom and killed some Egyptians to free the Jews, his actions were not evil and he did not commit any evil. However, the fact that people were killed is evil. The actual taking of life, in and of itself, is evil. Therefore, in doing so God does not do evil (Valentine, 146). The killing done by the Lord is just; good will come of it, but the taking of life is evil in itself. Many would argue that it is not evil because God has the right to take life even when unjustified, that He is above the laws that He has given to humans. That is false. God gave us those laws, in part, to define evil. Since the definition of evil was given to us by God, then he must know evil just as we do. So, he can not commit any sin because it would be evil, and the Lord can not do evi!

cifer's is not documented at any point in the bible. When the war in heaven broke out it was divided into two sides, God's and Lucifer's. Michael, God's general, won the battle. Lucifer and his minions were cast down from the heavens. From this time on Lucifer would be known as the very epitome of evil. Since then, it has seemed that all evil has originated from Lucifer, Satan.

The Lords actions are not good just because he is the Lord, they are good because he knows good from evil and always chooses good. In the same sense, everything that is evil is so because God doesn't do it. So if God tells us "thou shall not kill" then he shall not either because he knows it is evil and he can not do any evil. Therefore, when some dies at the hands of God it is good. There are a few places in the bible where things such as this are evident. God never wants to take a life but it is sometimes necessary. In 1 Kings 22:23 it says, "the Lord himself has decreed evil against you." (Bloom, 187). A messenger of the Lord sent this, so that the evil may be averted, but the king did not listen and many people died. This backs up my statement about God's taking of life and with that my earlier statement about God indirectly creating evil. God does not wish for people to die. He sends a messenger to warn of the upcoming tragedy, but he knows that what he must do!

is for good. And if evil acts must be done for good then so be it. He is still not doing evil because he is doing it for good. The only evil is the actual taking of life, which God is not responsible for since he did all in his power to warn the condemned. So God's destroying of one army, while it may be evil in and of itself, is a good because it will save lives. And even if we can not see the good that it does, we can not judge. God knows all and he knows what is good and what must be done to achieve it.

Some common words found in the essay are:
God Miller, St Augustine, Lucifer Lucifer, Adam Eve, Lucifer Satan, Bibleonlinecom John, Morning Star, Eve Lord, Understand I'm, God Lord, evil god, created evil, god evil, god created, taking life, evil created, indirectly created evil, god love, choice love, god told, creation evil, cd-rom online version, created evil god, god directly indirectly, evil god told,
Approximate Word count = 2413
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)