The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these. Isaiah 45:7 NASB Calamity – If God is sovereign, then why is there evil? How can a good God allow evil in the world? If you’ve never struggled with these questions, perhaps you haven’t read…
Woe to those who say to evil, good; and to good, evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20 (KJV) Evil/Good – What characterizes the ethics of the world more than this? “Evil is good, good is evil.” At some level, most…
I YHWH and none else, forming light and creating darkness; making peace and creating evil – I YHWH do all these things. Isaiah 45:6-7 Peace – What is an antonym? Answer: the opposite. The antonym of black is white. The antonym of fast is slow. The antonym of leader is follower. But when it comes…
I YHWH and none else, forming light and creating darkness; making peace and creating evil – I YHWH do all these things. Isaiah 45:6-7 (translation: M. Buber) Creating – Where did evil come from? Such a simple question. Such an enormously difficult answer, if there even is an answer. One of the greatest impediments to…
For the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. Deuteronomy 30:14 Do – “Evil is not man’s ultimate problem. Man’s ultimate problem is his relation to God.”[1] We might need to read this line from Heschel a few more times. It underscores the difference…
This was a great evil to Jonah, and he was angry. Jonah 4:1 Evil To – The Hebrew expression, va-yera’ ‘el never occurs anywhere else in the Bible. It suggests an intense emotional reaction. As far as Jonah was concerned, God’s reluctance to exact justice on Nineveh and His merciful forgiveness of the sins of…
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:16-17 Evil Of Your Deeds – “The mistaken notion that ritual worship could atone for criminality or intentional religious desecration…
Depart from evil, and do good. Psalm 34:15 Evil – What can we do about all these terrible things in the world? We live in the age of the worst genocides in history. We are exposed daily to man’s inhumanity. We see corruption all around us. We can hardly go through a single day without…
I will fear no evil, for You are with me Psalm 23:4 Fear – Swine flu! The latest in a world of panic-stricken announcements. If we are going to close the borders and the schools over potential deaths caused by swine flu, then by the same logic we should immediately close all highways in the…
“Of every tree in the garden you may surely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not shall you eat from it.” Genesis 2:16-17 Knowledge – Often the most important thing we learn from the Bible is what it does not say. What I mean is that every biblical story,…
