Maker Of All Things? Some Say No!

February 1, 2023 | NSUMC | , ,

Recently I have engaged in a couple of discussions/debates regards the origin of evil. Yes, evil, that spiritual state that “appears” to be in conflict with the plans and ways of God. The discussions centered primarily on the originator of evil, who was (or is) the author, so to speak, of evil.  One can imagine of course that Lucifer, aka as the Adversary, or Satan, was hands down touted as the author of all evil – well, at least by some in the discussion. It was pointed out that the disciple John in his gospel and a number of prophets take issue with the dubious position that it is Satan that is the author of evil, laying such squarely at the feet of the true author of ALL things – our Lord, God! And here is the rationale for that position.

Firstly, and again to refer to John’s gospel, John flatley states “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:3) Of course, John was referring to the Christ when he wrote those words. And please note, John did not say God made almost all things or that God made this or that but not this or that thing (evil in particular.) Yes, it seems John was rather specific in that God made ALL things.

The prophet Isaiah, too, has his two cents worth to say on the matter of where evil originates. God said through Isaiah, “I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things.” (Isaiah 4:57 KJ21; ASV; DARBY; JUB; KJV; etc) Please note that God, again through Isaiah, said ALL things not almost all things. Other versions allude to the same declaration although not quite so direct.

And of course, it was not Satan who brought the flood upon all mankind, except for a chosen eight people, to kill every man, woman, and child and all living land creatures; it was God. Likewise, it was not Satan that sent two angels to Sodom to, again, kill every man, woman and child with a fiery wrath. Once again, it was God, Himself. Nor was it Satan who sent Joshua to Jericho to kill every man, woman and child and every living animal. Did not the prophent Amos declare: “Shall the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid? shall evil befall a city, and Jehovah hath not done it?” (Amos 3:6) As in all cases, it was God who did these things. And consider poor “righteous” Job (not to forget Job’s wife who ALSO lost all her seven children and all she shared with Job.) Satan had no power over Job until God directed Satan to afflict him – with God determined limitations! Yes, God, our God, determined all the above events, not Satan. And just consider poor Hannan, the wife of Elkanah, who the Lord had brought shame and misery on by Shutting up her womb, and for no apparent reason. (1 Samuel 1:4-6 KJ21; ASV; CEB; ESV, etc.) We should believe God when He says “I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things.” Ah, but many of us have a problem with that. And here’s why I think that is.

Firstly, we are told by the Psalmist that we are indeed all sinners at conception and birth, that it is our basic human nature that makes us sinners. (Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. Psalm 14:3 NRSVUE; NTL; NLV; NIV; etc) And of course, the Psalmist also states: “The wicked go astray from the womb; they err from their birth, speaking lies. (Psalm 58:3 NRSVUE; KJ21; ESV; KJV; etc.)  

Now, this may be hard to understand at first considering how the world thinks of right and wrong, but we are sinners not so much because of what we do, we are sinner more because of what we are! (Please see above that we are sinners from conception and birth, well before we ever have a chance to do anything at all!) In other words, we sin because it is our basic human nature. We sin because it is in our DNA. We are, in fact, sin personified. We sin because we can only do what is our nature to do. As Paul said to the believers in Rome:

“For I know that the good does not dwell within me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me.” (Romans 7:17-20)

Paul understood that his basic nature was all about sin, and that he had no real power over it. He could mimic righteousness from time to time, but such never really lasted as his (and our) human nature would always reemerge, and probably in pretty quick time, too. (That is why Paul thanked God without ceasing for the saving work of Jesus Christ!)

But the point here is that we, by nature and as born sinners, quite naturally create for ourselves divine idols — every one of us does. In other words, we all create in our own mind an image of God that just doesn’t do God justice. We all tend to create a God of our own imaginations and liking. So, we assign certain attributes to our God and certain attributes to Satan — and all the while ignoring God’s own description of Himself via His Written Word. As noted above, God said ALL of creation is His doing; that He makes light and He makes darkness; that He creates peace and that He creates evil. But as the dyed-in-the-wool sinners we are, we say, NO! The god of our creative imagination is not like the God of John and the prophets says He is. He is like what we say He is, regardless that His Written Word teaches otherwise.

So what can be said about all of this? I think Paul being as honest as he was, had it nailed.  We are sinners through and through, and we on our own cannot change our nature. We can come to an understanding of who and what we are, but, and for now, we still have our basic human nature. And that nature cannot be changed or changed by any one of us. That is, of course, until Jesus returns, and as Paul told the Corinthians, he physically changes us from carnal to spiritual, from corruptible to incorruptible, from mortal to immortal. (1 Corinthians 15:42-57)

Yes, I believe everything in creation was, and is made by God. Nothing in creation that exists was or is created by any other power other than the power of God via His Holy Spirit. All things, not just some, are created and maintained instant-by-instant by God’s continued and active work. The universe is God’s universe, and nothing in it can exist without His active presence.

So yes, we wait for that Day when we will be changed; and not just in part as we are now, waiting with the promise of a full and complete transition from carnal to spiritual, from sinfulness to righteousness. No, we wait for the Day when our Lord will return and we become like him! So have no doubts my brothers and sisters, all things are made by God. And He has made us to one day, a day very soon I dare say, to be just like him.

And with that being said… 

We are waiting, Lord. Come soon!

Mark Johnson, UMC Lay Servant/Jan 2023

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