There are some “things” that are not things at all. Darkness is not some “thing,” but rather the absence of light. It’s the same with cold, (the absence of heat), hunger (the absence of food), ignorance (the absence of knowledge), and chaos (the absence of order). In the strictest sense, you can’t honestly speak of these concepts as “things” because they are each understood only by removing something which actually exists, (light, heat, food, knowledge, and order).
As far as I’m concerned, this fully answers the question of why God “created” evil. He did no such thing. God created what exists, not what doesn’t! Every thing he created was good, including Lucifer and free choice. But when Lucifer and his angels freely turned away from God and led creation into the same rebellion, humanity divorced itself from the Good, and chose to live with our backs to God, complaining with darkened minds that He had no business creating evil in the first place. We are like runaways whining about the distress of being orphans!
E. Stanley Jones points out that, “It’s either the Kingdom or Chaos.” To reject the Kingdom is to embrace disorder and confusion. Like it or not, the Creator has a meticulous plan for the way His universe will operate: Matter obeys certain laws, electricity honors other rules, as do biology, economics, agriculture, and the human heart. We marvel at natural laws and honor the way they work in the real world, yet insist on making up our own way when it comes to life and human endeavor.
The Messiah says, “There is a way home; a way to put this Humpty-Dumpty world together again.” And then He steps into Human flesh and declares, “I am It! I AM the way! I am what man was always intended to be. Follow me and lets turn this mess around again.” The world has lost it’s way. Our failure to choose the Way is a choice to remain lost. It’s a choice between something or “no-thing”, the Kingdom or chaos. For me, that’s a no-brainer.
Dispatches from the Shadowlands 
God cannot and will not bless anything that violates His Word. All that He created is good – He said so Himself – so if we stray from what He has called good, we wander into darkness and away from His blessing and protection. That’s also a no-brainer…
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Hi I really like your arguments here. Can you explain to me more about order and chaos and how it relates to the ever-increasing entropy of the universe? Also, can you tell me more about how matter obeys certain laws, specifically the laws of thermodynamics. Thanks!
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Hey Aaron! Those are excellent and worthy questions! Although I don’t pretend to be a scientist, I’ll offer my amateur opinion as I understand entropy and the second law of thermodynamics.
The Bible uses the words “corruptible” and “incorruptible”, (I’ll let you look them up in a concordance), and as I understand the idea, that which is corruptible would be subject to the entropy: it would wind down, cool down, wear out, die and pass from order to chaos. But that which is incorruptible would be immune to all of that.
Athanasius was a Church Father writing in the fourth century, and his book, “On the Incarnation” is surprisingly readable for us novices. (It’s available on the Internet in various formats, and many of them are free). I would highly recommend it for capturing a picture of what was involved in the Incarnational plan of God. For instance, regarding the Fall, he says, “…it was equally monstrous that beings which once had shared the nature of the Word should perish and turn back again into non-existence through corruption. It was unworthy of the goodness of God that creatures made by Him should be brought to nothing through the deceit wrought upon man…” In another place he talks about how that which was brought into being and sustained (“held together”) by the eternal Word, when it turned away from the Word, began to disintegrate and fall into non-being. That’s not a bad description of entropy from a fourth century theologian who knew nothing of modern science! In the quote above he’s speaking primarily of mankind, but I believe it’s also true about creation itself because Adam was given authority in The World, (“take dominion… rule over”, etc.), and as Adam went, so went the world, if not the entire universe.
Imagine a man of unlimited means building a house and giving it to you as a blessing to be enjoyed in partnership with Him. If you turned away from His infinite generosity and resources and took the house with you, it would immediately begin to fall into disrepair and eventual ruin. In the case of Creation, we have no resources of our own to keep it going. Only God has that ability. This is the sense in which I understand entropy: in divorcing ourselves from God, we turned away from the very power that holds everything together.
We contemporary Christians don’t think much about these kinds of questions because we’ve reduced the Gospel from a glorious message about the Kingdom to a parochial idea of making it into heaven when we die. Why bother thinking about thermodynamics, if that’s the case. Indeed, the world itself doesn’t much matter.
But when we begin to understand that the Kingdom is about Jesus restoring the entire universe, (Col. 1:15-20), our imaginations are fired to think about entropy and all of life. In this context I understand Romans 8:21. “the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Wow! What an amazing story! THAT is why I can’t get away from the Kingdom! And to think that we have been entrusted once again to be a part of that story!
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Thanks for taking the time to reply! Happy Tuesday!
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Hey Don,
I really like this post. It brings a lot of clarity to something that few people are daring enough to tackle and with a very innovative perspective. Thanks for sharing. I think it’s time we all decided what we want…to be found or lost…free or slave…bathed in light or clothed in darkness.
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Not much to add, just that have been reading through Luke and came upon 12:32 ” Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. Trying to understand how I live in the kingdom moment by moment, day by day.
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