Good, Evil, God & The Devil (III)

Who then is the origin of our evil side? We've all come to accept that our good side originates from God. That's pretty easy to do. Now I dare to disagree that the Devil is the origin of evil, as has been taught to us for generations. God is, and will always be, the origin of all things...everything good and evil, everything light and dark. Take one of the components away, and you've created the image of something less than God. So what role then does evil play? In its simplest form, it is that side of the two-edged sword in us that draws experiences toward us; experiences that ought to either shape or refine us for the better, or awaken us to the fact that we all have a dragon within us that needs to be tamed.

Does God therefore not reserve the right to express whichever of these two is more necessary at every given moment to be used to accomplish purpose and fulfill destiny? If God is indeed sovereign, then this is indeed true. Why then do we call it evil if it originates from God? Is it really evil because that's how we've chosen to see it? Is it not in reality a different kind of good? Could it not be referred to as the dark kind of good? Is black any less a color than white? Is night any less important than day? Yes, evil hurts when it happens to us...there's no doubt about that. But do we not, in those times of pain or sometime afterwards, begin to see life a little differently than we did before it happened?

The God of Light is also known to dwell in thick Darkness. Can this dark side of God's goodness be referred to what we've come to know as evil? Tell me something you've come to define as evil, and I will tell you it is something that God allowed to happen for a specific purpose, whether we know/understand that purpose or not. If we deny this, then we really deny that God is truly Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient.

A knife is a useful tool to have in the house, because of its often-time sharp edge that we need every now and again. But when you see a little child playing with that knife, at that moment you understand as an adult that an enemy is present, that "evil" is present...because there is a threat to safety and the possibility of harm is made evident. Do you then rid your house of all the knives you have (and resort to the tedious task of tearing meat with your bare hands in the kitchen or at the dinner table) or do you simply put them (and other potentially-dangerous things) out of the reach of that child until he's old enough to handle them properly? How we as adults see knives in the home, is how God sees what we refer to as evil in the world. Everything that happens to us, evil inclusive, has a purpose in our lives. And the fact that we may not understand it when it's happening doesn't make it any less purposeful. Usually, with time, we actually come to understand these things better...if we let ourselves.