Atleast according to the Bible--

Isiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Dd

So what's your point?

What is the meaning of Jehovah bringing evil and why would he do so? He rightly brought evil or calamity upon Adam for his disobedience. That is why, in the Scriptures, Jehovah is referred to as the Creator of evil or calamity. (Isa 45:7; compare KJ.)

His enforcing of the penalty for sin, namely, death, has proved to be an evil, or a calamity, for mankind. So, then, evil is not always synonymous with wrongdoing.

There are these examples of evils or calamities created by God, the Flood of Noah's day and the Ten Plagues visited upon Egypt. But these evils were not wrongs. Rather, it is the rightful administration of justice against wrongdoers that was involved in both cases.

However, there have been times Jehovah, in his mercy, has refrained from bringing the intended calamity or evil in execution of his righteous judgment because of the repentance on the part of those concerned. (Jon 3:10) Additionally, in having a warning given, God has undeservedly provided opportunities for the practicers of bad to change their course and keep living.-Eze 33:11.

The words found at Isaiah 45:7 were in connection with the "calling by name" of the Persian king, Cyrus II. The foretold seventy year captivity of Israel had come to a close.

When Cyrus had complete control of the city, all its treasures fell into his hands, including those hidden in dark, concealed rooms. Why did Jehovah God do this for Cyrus? In order that he would know that Jehovah, ‘the One calling him by his name,' is the God of true prophecy and the Sovereign Lord of the universe. He would know that God had arranged for him to come to power to liberate His people, Israel.

These words of Isaiah came into play in regard to the above event: : "For the sake of my servant Jacob and of Israel my chosen one, I even proceeded to call you by your name; I proceeded to give you a name of honor, although you did not know me. I am Jehovah, and there is no one else. With the exception of me there is no God. I shall closely gird you, although you have not known me, in order that people may know from the rising of the sun and from its setting that there is none besides me. I am Jehovah, and there is no one else. Forming light and creating darkness, making peace [that is, for his exiled people] and creating calamity [for Babylon], I, Jehovah, am doing all these things."-Isaiah 45:4-7.

Cyrus owed his conquest of Babylon to Jehovah, for He it was who had strengthened him to carry out His delight against that wicked city and free His captive people.

True, does poke a hole in the omnibenevolent god-concept, if one believed in that sort of thing based on the bible. I can do that well enough without quoting bible verses. But it's an easy counter to xians without resorting to rhetoric they might refuse to consider.

SARI 2007:

His enforcing of the penalty for sin, namely, death, has proved to be an evil, or a calamity, for mankind. So, then, evil is not always synonymous with wrongdoing.

So in OTHER parts of the Bible, where something is called "evil"....it's not NECESSARILY "wrongdoing"?

Or is it just God who can get away with doing evil and justifying it? And if it's not "wrongdoing", merely "justice"....why did Isiah call it "evil"?!?!?!?

Where in the world did you ever get the notion that ha'satan "created" evil, or ra?

Certainly not from the bible.

Well, my question was mostly directly at our Christian believers here...who I am now finding out, oddly, don't have any problem with "God creating evil".

Which begs the more important question...why not?!??!?

"And if it's not "wrongdoing", merely "justice"....why did Isiah call it "evil"?!?!?!?"

It appears you may be confusing the Hebrew ra with khate, and even more significant perhaps, you may be applying falsely some modern perception and definition of "evil" to the much more ancient Hebrew word ra. Love, for example, is in and of itself neither fortune nor calamity. What produces these expressions is not the emotion of love, but the possessor of it and the intent from which its application flows. So in English one might say that “Love hurts” while at the same time proclaiming “Love is bliss”. Love is neither of these - and yet it can be used to produce both of these. The Hebrew ra is merely that which proves dysfunctional from the perspective of that which proves functional. Where dysfunction is itself rendered dysfunctional it benefits all proper function - even humans call that justice.

Where humans take it upon themselves to determine what is proper application of tov and/or ra in judgment through self-proclaimed false-sovereignty over the creation – that is called khate. And khate, ultimately renders its followers dysfunctional [ra] - in the case of life [functional], this means death [dysfunctional]. Real authority and lesser sovereignty can indeed be assigned, but they can never prove successful when stolen - at least according to the Bible.

The execution of justice/bringing of calamity against the willfully wicked is not an act of wrongdoing. Willful violations are an open rebellion against God.

Actually, according to the laws of the nations today, acts against the dignity of a sovereign power would be considered high treason. Such a crime would be termed lese majesty which is defined legally as any act committed against the sovereign power or, often specifically, any of various offenses violating the dignity of a sovereign ruler.

Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1934), page 689, defines it as "high treason." So the offense Adam committed in Eden against the sovereign majesty of Jehovah and the breaking of allegiance to their God-King Sovereign by the many Israelites amounted to gravely reprehensible crimes even according to present-day legal standards.

Hence we see that Israel under a law defining sin and advocating holiness brought upon themselves great possibilities for blessings or dire consequences for missing the mark in failures and breakings of the law. (Deut. 28:1-68)

Reptilicus:

Atleast according to the Bible--

Isiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

It's called freewill. In order for it to exist there must be choices. GOD did create the concept of evil.but not evil as such. That was practiced first by Satan and later by Adam.

The verse you cited has been eloquently and accurately explained by Sarah and Fortunate pointing out your error.

Is it a matter of a different Hebrew word being translated as "evil" in Isaiah, as opposed to those cases where "evil" is ascribed to humans, or is it a matter that "evil," as used in Hebrew refers to the actions, not the innate nature of the being?

If the latter, would the Hebrew concept be that Hitler, Pol Pot, Jeffery Dahmer, et al should be said to have DONE evil, rather than BEING evil?

THE WORDS IN THE BIBLE, ANY WORDS IN ANY PART OF THE BIBLE, DO NOT HAVE ANY ONE FIXED MEANING. THE MEANINGS OF THE WORDS CHANGE DEPENDING ON WHICH DEBATE WE'RE HAVING. SOMETIMES WE USE THE ENGLISH WORD BECAUSE THEN WE WIN. BUT SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO GO WITH THE GREEK WORD TO WIN. AND SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO GO WITH THE HEBREW. IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHAT WE NEED A WORD TO MEAN AT ANY GIVEN TIME. I GUESS YOU DON'T GO TO CHURCH MUCH.

Does seem that way, I admit.

;-)

So free will is the same thing as evil?

What about the free will to ...do good?

And why didn't Isiah say "evil"...and not "free will"?

Nanotech:

Reptilicus:

Atleast according to the Bible--

Isiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

It's called freewill. In order for it to exist there must be choices. GOD did create the concept of evil.but not evil as such. That was practiced first by Satan and later by Adam.

The verse you cited has been eloquently and accurately explained by Sarah and Fortunate pointing out your error.