Where Did Evil Come from? Why Does God Permit Evil on Earth?

Published on 04/28/24 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

Have you ever wondered from where evil came? Did Yahweh God Almighty create evil?

No, of course not; Yahweh did not create evil itself. Evil is simply the result of disobedience to His precepts and violations to His principles. Evil is the absence of goodness, just as darkness is the absence of light.

On Earth, evil came into being through rebellion against Yahweh. Long before Yahweh created Earth and humankind, He created spirit beings known as angels who lived with Him in the spiritual realm where He calls home. He gave angels the freedom to make their own moral decisions, to choose to do right or wrong. This is the same kind of free will He has given to us. One of the angels, who is known as Satan the accuser, abused His gift and chose to rebel against Him. Subsequently, other angels and some humans followed in Satan's footsteps. This is how evil originated in our world.

Even though God is permitting darkness now, He will not tolerate it for too long. Instead, He has long ago appointed the time when He will destroy all fruits of evil, leaving no root or seed for evil to sprout ever again. Then pure good will rule for eternity.

One main reason why Yahweh God is allowing wickedness for the time being is because He wants to give the wicked the chance to repent and change their ways. He does not want to wipe everyone off the Earth without giving them enough chances to realize what they are doing is wrong. He does not enjoy killing anyone. Rather, He constantly hopes for people to turn to Him; His deepest desire is for every person to embrace a righteous way of living, so He can save them all. Note what He said:

"I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways... Again, when I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him: he has done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby." (Ezekiel 33:11, 14-16, 19, WEB)

In the meantime, two challenges of Satan are being challenged:

a) That we can successfully live independently from Yahweh's Kingship, but the opposite is true: The devil cajoled the first woman to disobey God by telling her to partake in the only fruit God prohibited, saying that when she ate it, she would know right from wrong just like God, meaning that she would no longer need God's guidance; instead, she would be able to live successfully on her own (Genesis 3). This is a lie, as we now see that since then, we have lived in chaos and misery, without divine guidance. We cannot rule ourselves well. Order and morality come only from God the Creator of morality, not apart from Him.

b) That the righteous love God only for His blessings, which is proven false: Satan also, in front of other angels in the heaven, indicated that a righteous person named Job would no longer be God-fearing if God took Job's good health away: "But put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce thee to thy face." (Job 2:5, ASV) Did Job denounce God after Satan made him ill? Absolutely not! True worshippers of God will endure Satan's testing to the end, thus proving him wrong and giving glory to Yahweh. The righteous love God for who He is and for the sake of righteousness, not for rewards.

In the future, all evil acts and thoughts will be things of the past when Yahweh unsuspectingly carries out His mission in His due time, known as the Day of Yahweh. This God of love will explode with righteous anger, consuming all evildoers in an instant, not burning them forever in a torturous hell but ending their existence once and for all. He will establish His righteous Kingdom over Earth. Hooray for those who will be resurrected to inherit His Kingdom!

Would you like to be a part of God's Kingdom? Then trust in Jesus Christ the Son of Yahweh God for your eternal life, pick up a copy of the Bible, read and study it, and regularly apply its teachings to your daily life!