Saturday, June 30, 2007

Is God more evil than Satan?

It's been pretty slow in Squirrel Land but I got the opportunity to respond to an email my mother wrote to the family. She writes about the things that happen to her during the day, then adds:
Proverbs 3:27

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, it is in the power of your hand to do so.

A cousin on my father's side of the family has had to taken in her 30+ year old daughter and 4 children because the daughter made some bad choices concerning the father of those children. Choices made several years ago that I could've told her was going to end badly; it was that obvious, even from the other side of the USA. (She's in a state that borders Canada, I'm in a state that borders Mexico.) Anyway, everyone in the family thinks my cousin is doing a GREAT thing by allowing this daughter to move in. (BTW, it wasn't a local move.) Mom thought that this verse was applicable to the situation.

It was, sorta.

My response:
Hi everyone,

Thanks again for the bible verse Mom. It does remind us to be nice to people when we have the ways and means to do so, but it also reminds me of the times when people who could've been nice, but chose not to do so for poor reasons such as differences in ideas or religion. It seems this scripture only applies to someone within the group and not outside it. I find that a troubling fact about the bible; that it inhibits people from being tolerant those who are different and keeps us from extending rights to people who deserve them as much as the in-group does.

Here's a bible verse I found very troubling:

Isaiah 45:7 (King James Version): I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Well, it is God and he can do anything I suppose, but evil? I thought that's what Satan was in charge of. To me, after reading the OT, it seems that God is far more evil than Satan. God kills lots of people in the OT but I don't recall Satan killing anyone. Perhaps I missed something. Anyone?

Back to the real world:

We received more rain yesterday but we are forecasted to get a lot more today and tomorrow. Blah, blah, blah.....

I'm actually not sure if Satan killed anyone in the OT so I'm hoping to get an answer from the apologetics in the family. Anyone out there know for sure? I do remember Satan doing a lot of temping.....

Anyone?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isaiah 45:7 - What does it mean? The word translated "evil" here is the Hebrew word ra'. A better translation in modern English is "calamity" or "disaster" or "woe," as this word is translated in this verse in more recent translations. Dr. Henry Morris points out: "God did not create light, for He is light. It was the primeval darkness which He created in order to have a division between day and night. 'Evil,' as used here, refers to evil of a physical nature (storms), not moral evil."

The Super Sweet Atheist said...

So God created natural disasters in which innocent people get killed. What a nice guy!

Sean Wright said...

Yeah God's a real prick of a character ain't he. Satan isn't much cop as an understudy though.

Fiery said...

Why does the inerrant word of god require Dr. Henry Morris to point out the differentce between evil and disaster?

And since when does evil translate into hurricanes and tornadoes????

Sean Wright said...

Don't insurance companies view hurricanes rtc as "acts of god"?