God and evil?

[Jesus_is_LORD]

What do you make of passages like Judges 9:23 that read, " then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treachously with Abimelech."

In such passages(there are others)God seems to be sending evil.

Do you see it merely as the evil spirits are a result of the person's doing ( spiritual law's, physical law : gravity). Or do you see the statement "God sent" to just mean to permit or give permission similar to the devil and Job.

And if God is sending or giving orders, why can't He send an angel to do His work. I thought angels were the messengers of God and the demons worked for Satan. Is it because angels are not permitted to cause strife or be use for evil, therefore God must use evil spirits for such purposes?

You can see the questions that arise.

I know God is good, and His ways are best. I'm not challenging His wisdom just seeking clarity.

Isaiah 55:8-9 "
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
“


Thanks.

 

[RJ]

I guess you will have to ask God sometime. In the meantime, I wouldn't rely on the Old Testament for insight to the gospel or spiritually how God works now. He is now operating under a new contract, called the New Covenant. Of course, God is the same and he operates the same, according to his good and perfect will but he changed his parameters by which he operates. Though a day is coming that his wrath will return and will probably operate more like the days of old, he currently abides in love and the law of grace for those who he adopts.

 

[B-A-C]

God sent evil spirits to different people in the Bible.
1 Sam 16:14; 1 Sam 18:10; 1 Sam 19:9;

You could even say it was God Himself who invited Satan to test Job and kill most of his family.
Angels have killed humans... thousands of them. Acts 12:23; 2 Kings 19:35; Isaiah 37:36; Exod 12:29; etc...
There are dozens of verses like this.

Demons/Satan are sometimes used by God (the story of Job, 1 Tim 1:20; 1 Cor 5:5; etc... )
but Demons and Satan cause strife even when God doesn't specifically tell them to.

 

[B-A-C]

To late edit my previous post.
I was going to add... it was the Holy Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested by Satan. Matt 4:1;
Mark 1:12; perhaps that's slightly different from God sending an evil spirit "TO" us.
But He sent Jesus "TO" Satan.

 

[Jesus_is_LORD]

Yea, can you imagine brothers, when we get there and look back and see how it all made sense and how God's place and sovereign will was flawless from the beginning. We'll see how all the puzzle pieces fit in the end, but some say we won't have any memory of this world in Heaven. Meaning it won't be any looking back like Lot's wife.

I look forward to that grand day. Thank you JESUS! !!

 

[Thiscrosshurts]

Many seeming contradictions can be completely dissolved by seeing in a way that is beyond time and space.
God acknowledges what we think we know (false imaginations) so many things are explained to that those trapped in error using their own error.
If you were dreaming and figured out it was a dream how would you interact with others in the dream.
Everyone in your dream is really just you or at least perspectives of you playing out your expectations of what you expect them to be.
You would know that they are not real but it would be pointless to tell them that because you would just frighten them.
.
Ultimately God takes the blame for everything that happens in his universe.
Creating us in pure love he made one(Adam) in his image
and that one had freedom to be creative even as he is.He acknowledges his creation's creativity.

Genesis 2:19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

ABARIM
Publications
Online Biblical Hebrew Dictionary:The noun שם (shem) means name. It's not certain where this noun comes from. In other words, we don't precisely know what exactly a name meant to the Hebrews, or what it means in the Bible.

The word seems to mean character,reputation or renown.
Anyway what I'm getting at is that God honored the way Adam named the animals and they retained what Adam named them.

We name situations as good,evil or other flavors including neutral and God honors our perspective even if it is not his.
So when man thinks and says that God sent an evil spirit in a way he is correct.
But no further than in his own imagination and anyone else he can get to share that image with him.
God did not create evil,in fact he never contemplated evil or death.
Those things were man's invention and since they exist in our imagination and we believe them God acknowledges that they are real to us.

Since love does not demand it's own way God honors the choice of his creation to believe in good and evil.
Some think there must need to be evil so we can know good by contrast.
I don't believe that,I think it would be called normal.

So we discern scripture from #1-the mind of man which names good and evil or #2- the mind of Christ which knows nothing of evil but knows that you believe in it.

Since God is love then if the scripture seems to bring fear or confusing it is because we are reading it through a mind that believes that love can be evil at times.This is insanity but what can God do since we believe in it but use our own beliefs to show us that our beliefs are in error.Since the world of error believes he did and he has to speak to us who are steeped in that error he treats the error as though it was real while he talks us out of the error.

This is how the mind of Christ sees that same verse:
Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

 

[B-A-C]

Many seeming contradictions can be completely dissolved by seeing in a way that is beyond time and space.
God acknowledges what we think we know (false imaginations) so many things are explained to that those trapped in error using their own error.
If you were dreaming and figured out it was a dream how would you interact with others in the dream.
Everyone in your dream is really just you or at least perspectives of you playing out your expectations of what you expect them to be.
You would know that they are not real but it would be pointless to tell them that because you would just frighten them.

To be honest, this is almost new-age eastern mysticism.

Ultimately God takes the blame for everything that happens in his universe.
Creating us in pure love he made one(Adam) in his image
and that one had freedom to be creative even as he is.He acknowledges his creation's creativity.

Sometimes love means letting others make their own choices, even when we don't agree with them.
We may be responsible for creating our children, but we aren't responsible for the choices they make after
they leave home.

Since love does not demand it's own way God honors the choice of his creation to believe in good and evil.
Some think there must need to be evil so we can know good by contrast.
I don't believe that,I think it would be called normal.

Love does not demand it's own way... Yes that what it says in 1 Cor 13.
..and yes God is love. But He is much more than that.
Our God is a jealous God. He is a consuming fire against His adversaries.
He does demand certain things. This is the God that rained fore and brimstone of Sodom and Gomorrah,
the God that drowned an Egyptian army in the Red Sea. The God that had an angel slay 185,000 people.
The God that killed the first born sons of the Egyptians. The God that will send Satan/the Beast/ fallen angels/
anyone who's name isn't in the book of life/those who did wicked deeds etc... into the Lake of Fire.

Isa 45:7; I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Yes evil exists. But it's our choice to be evil or righteous.

 

[Jesus_is_LORD]

To be honest, this is almost new-age eastern mysticism.



Sometimes love means letting others make their own choices, even when we don't agree with them.
We may be responsible for creating our children, but we aren't responsible for the choices they make after
they leave home.



Love does not demand it's own way... Yes that what it says in 1 Cor 13.
..and yes God is love. But He is much more than that.
Our God is a jealous God. He is a consuming fire against His adversaries.
He does demand certain things. This is the God that rained fore and brimstone of Sodom and Gomorrah,
the God that drowned an Egyptian army in the Red Sea. The God that had an angel slay 185,000 people.
The God that killed the first born sons of the Egyptians. The God that will send Satan/the Beast/ fallen angels/
anyone who's name isn't in the book of life/those who did wicked deeds etc... into the Lake of Fire.

Isa 45:7; I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Yes evil exists. But it's our choice to be evil or righteous.

Wow, well said .

 

[Thiscrosshurts]

To be honest, this is almost new-age eastern mysticism.

I have been wondering about dreams since I was a kid and had a problem with being chased by a dinosaur.
He invaded my dreams when I was about 8 years old and he made me afraid to sleep sometimes.
At some point I learned how to remember that dinosaurs were not on the earth anymore so it must be that I'm dreaming.
So at some point I remembered and tried to wake up by acting all cra-cra and yelling at the top of my lungs until I woke up.
Let me tell you that the next time I encountered that old dinosaur I told him that I made him and if I wake up he won't exist.
When I said that I was a little nervous that he might not know English but he responded and said."You wouldn't do that would you?".
I said "yes I would" and he got a sad look on his face and turned and left.

Ever since then I learned how to spot deception and this world is made from it.
I really can't accept the concept of reincarnation because I find to many flaws in it.
However it does not surprise me that others have actually thought about dreams and wondered if we have fully awakened sometimes.
In fact it makes me wonder about people who don't think about it.

Sometimes love means letting others make their own choices, even when we don't agree with them.
We may be responsible for creating our children, but we aren't responsible for the choices they make after
they leave home.

Agreed that's pretty much what I said,we have said to God "let me separate from you".
I have children who are adults and I am still a lifeline for them if they need it.

Love does not demand it's own way... Yes that what it says in 1 Cor 13.
..and yes God is love. But He is much more than that.
Our God is a jealous God. He is a consuming fire against His adversaries.
He does demand certain things. This is the God that rained fore and brimstone of Sodom and Gomorrah,
the God that drowned an Egyptian army in the Red Sea. The God that had an angel slay 185,000 people.
The God that killed the first born sons of the Egyptians. The God that will send Satan/the Beast/ fallen angels/
anyone who's name isn't in the book of life/those who did wicked deeds etc... into the Lake of Fire.

Whenever there seems to be a contradiction between the understanding of the old testament and something Jesus said I always believe that Jesus had a clearer understanding of the nature of the Father.
I believe Jesus who said"all who came before me were thieves and robbers".
Jesus revealed that God "is" love.
The new testament tells us that the law was delivered by Angels and Angel's administer those laws.

Job 4:18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
Even though this is old testament scripture I find that if carefully examined the old testament is not exactly wrong from our way of seeing things.But it is based on our beliefs,not God's.
I feel that the old was trying to get us to behave within the world,lie,illusion or dream(whatever you want call this place) and Jesus came to give us a way to overcome the world.
Those who are comfortable here seek to preserve their lives in this world and those who seek something better may not settle for compromises with contradictions.

I'm still trying to understand most of what Jesus said like this verse:
John 5:25 Timeless truth I speak to you: The hour is coming, it is even now, when the dead shall hear the voice of The Son of God, and they who hear shall live.