1S16-12: What Einstein Knew About The Nature Of Evil That Most Scholars Don’t

There are three main Scripture verses that deal with the origin of evil as follows:

“I form the light,
and create darkness;
I make peace,
and create evil;
I am the LORD,
that doeth all these things.”
-Isaiah 45:7

“Shall the horn be
blown in a city,
and the people not tremble?
Shall evil befall a city,
and the LORD hath
not done it?”
-Amos 3:6

“Out of the mouth of the
The highest proceedeth
not evil and good?”
-Lamentations 3:38

So there you have it.

God Himself is the source of evil.

However, this opens up a can of worms and brings up more questions than it answers.

It’s obvious that since God is the Creator and source of everything, He is of course also the Author of evil…at least in an indirect sense.

I mean it wouldn’t make any sense to say that evil is self-sustaining or an uncaused thing.

Why?

Because the only being in the universe who is self-originating is God.

So the real question is where does God’s responsibility begin and end for the evil that occurs in our lives and the world?

Rather than go to a theologian or a philosopher for the answer, I’d like to turn to a scientist for the answer.

And not just your average, run-of-the-mill scientist.

“Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.” 

So there you have it.

I think Einstein hit the bullseye with his explanation.

Evil is what results when God is not present…just like darkness results when the lights are turned out.

This ain’t theology folks, this is SCIENCE!

It’s the foundational principle that guides how our universe operates.

However, there are still many difficult questions for which there are no easy answers.

For example, where was God during the holocaust?

Where was God’s protection during that time?

Or how about October 7th, 2023 when Hamas slaughtered innocent Israeli citizens in their own land?

Where was God’s Holy Spirit of cover during that time?

I met one Israeli at a Sukkot dinner at the Jewish Community Center and she told me that she and her family were atheists because of the holocaust.

She told me that if God existed, she just could not believe He would allow something as horrific as the holocaust to happen.

I wonder how many people might feel the same way about the October 7th tragedy.

These are not easy things to discuss.

I had to quickly change the subject with the Israeli lady I was speaking with because it was such a contentious topic.

Also, how do we apply this idea to verse 14 where it says God Himself proactively sent an evil spirit to torment Saul?

This wasn’t a simple matter of God withdrawing His spirit.

Well, that’s what we’ll discuss the next time we meet.

And this time, we’ll turn to a famous Japanese theologian for the answer to that question.

Later.