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[Poll]
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Evil, created by God?
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| God created evil. |
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| God didn't create evil. |
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Total Votes : 60
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(last vote on : 12/31/2008 4:39:12 PM)
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 10/30/2008 3:23:08 AM
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kelman
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quote:
ORIGINAL: bob97
Hi dyluck…
Have you ever wondered where the evil that was found in Satan originated? God created Satan and he was perfect. Satan was given authority by God and that authority corrupted Satan…where did the tendency come from? I don't see Scripture saying that "authority" corrupted Satan. Where do you? Pride was his sin. Probably because God set man over all the earth - not Satan.
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Ezekiel 28:13 - 15 (KJV) 13Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. This is in reference to the King of Tyre not Satan, although, Ezekiel does use a lot of imagery.
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The other thing that gives me pause…it seems that God was surprised. Well, we know that's not possible. Scripture informs us that Christ was slain and believers' names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
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“beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow”
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 10/30/2008 2:26:34 PM
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bob97
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Come on kelman...read it again. It can apply to almost anyone but God is describing His angel when he is referred to as a cherub. Did the king of Tyre walk in the garden of Eden? Was the King of Tyre upon the holy mountain of God?
Bob
_____________________________
The LORD clears the road for me!
The LORD is my high ridge, my stronghold, my deliverer!
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 10/30/2008 2:38:59 PM
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Ezra
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quote:
ORIGINAL: bob97
Come on kelman...read it again. It can apply to almost anyone but God is describing His angel when he is referred to as a cherub. Did the king of Tyre walk in the garden of Eden? Was the King of Tyre upon the holy mountain of God?
Bob
I agree with Bob.
There is no way that that description fits a mere human king. And if we study the relationship of Satan's kingdom to the kingdoms of this world, it will be quite evident that Satan was not only the "king" of Tyre, but also of Babylon, and that evil angels control the kingdoms of this world (read Daniel). How could Satan offer Christ the kingdoms of this world, if they were not under his control?
Nonetheless, God is sovereign over Satan's control also and allows him only as much as He chooses.
_____________________________
And whosoever will, let him take the Water of Life freely. Revelation 22:17
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 10/30/2008 2:56:16 PM
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Chapmon
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I agree with kelman. The language is poetic, not to be taken with strict literalism. The context is nation of human beings. Interjecting Satan's fall into the text doesn't make sense, but breaks up the continuity of this entire section of Ezekiel (the same is true for the section of Isaiah that deals with Lucifer, the King of Babylon). Verse 13 refers to the riches that have come into Tyre through the trade route that terminated there. Scripture uses the same imagery to describe Jerusalem, as if she were a bedecked woman... beautified by God through the riches of merchants.
Its easier to believe that the Phoenician king would be represented as a cherub than to believe that Satan is involved in some nefarious merchandising.
"By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:" Ezekiel 28:5
Satan was involved in trade, got rich, and became proud, so he fell into sin and became the devil. Hmm. Its kind of stretching to say this describes the fall of Satan. It is a fine image of the Phoenician nation, though.
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 10/30/2008 9:13:33 PM
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bob97
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quote:
I agree with kelman. The language is poetic, not to be taken with strict literalism. The context is nation of human beings. Interjecting Satan's fall into the text doesn't make sense,
There would be many bible scholars that would disagree with you on this and among those would be Dwight Pentecost. Lewis Chafer and George Ladd to name a few.
Bob
_____________________________
The LORD clears the road for me!
The LORD is my high ridge, my stronghold, my deliverer!
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 10/31/2008 1:43:49 AM
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kelman
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quote:
ORIGINAL: bob97
Come on kelman...read it again. It can apply to almost anyone but God is describing His angel when he is referred to as a cherub. Did the king of Tyre walk in the garden of Eden? Was the King of Tyre upon the holy mountain of God?
Nope, it can't apply to "almost anyone" but it does apply to Tyrus since it is addressed to him. Satan hasn't amassed riches through merchandising as we see in vv 4,5. Is Satan killed by men as seen in vv 8-10?
As for being in Eden, it's simply imagery to contrast the downfall of the king as compared to his former superior position - as perfect as Adam in Eden.
Now, if you want to say the King of Tyre typifies or is a picture of Satan, fine, just as Nebuchadnezzar is a picture of Satan. But clearly these chapters are referring to a man - the king of Tyre.
_____________________________
“beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow”
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 10/31/2008 1:47:21 AM
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kelman
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quote:
ORIGINAL: bob97
quote:
I agree with kelman. The language is poetic, not to be taken with strict literalism. The context is nation of human beings. Interjecting Satan's fall into the text doesn't make sense,
There would be many bible scholars that would disagree with you on this and among those would be Dwight Pentecost. Lewis Chafer and George Ladd to name a few.
Bob
So?...plenty of others understand these chapters to be speaking of a literal king, not a spirit, although they may see a case for both Tyrus and Nebuchadnezzar typifying Satan. Besides, Chafer was a proponent of the Free Grace Movement so I tend to disregard anything he had to say.
_____________________________
“beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow”
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/6/2008 7:47:15 PM
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mikejonesoftn
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quote:
ORIGINAL: bob97
At the beginning of creation evil did not exist, it was a prefect world. God gave man (Adam) dominion over this prefect creation.
He also gave man the choice to have this dominion under God's guidance and principles or what we might call good, righteousness, wholeness (holiness) or to do so without God's guidance or what we might call rebelliousness, selfishness Godlessness.
Man chose to exercise his authority without God and man was lost to sin…evil came into the world. Man brought evil into this world but at the authority of God.
Man became a prisoner in this world of sin and did not have the ability to return to God…man was dead in sin.
Did God know that man would turn to sin? Of course He did but he allowed it to occur for the very reason that God could extend His grace to man kind and as a result display His glory of redemption.
Bob
What's perfect? Perfect for God could mean "exactly how God wanted it."
How did evil come into the world? or come into Earth? That's actually two different questions. Evil of course existed before it into The Garden of Eden/Earth. Man fail victim to evil. That's how it became about in Earth.
The way God created us naturally give us the ability to be good or evil. Why did God create us this way? That answer lies in the reason why God created us period.
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/7/2008 2:38:00 AM
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abraxas
Posts: 333
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quote:
The way God created us naturally give us the ability to be good or evil. Why did God create us this way? That answer lies in the reason why God created us period.
Rather than look at this question collectively, we might ask it on an individual basis. Why did God create you? Why did he create kelman? Why me? Why George Bush? Why Barack Obama? Why my neighbor Keith? It seems that if God knew exactly what each of us were going to do and where we would ultimately spend eternity, then he created each of us for different purposes.
To the OP--I believe Christian doctrine says that God created evil. Even if we consider evil the "absense" of something else, God created the reality in which that absense would be possible, and he did it knowingly, so that "absense" is also his doing.
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/7/2008 4:10:01 PM
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GHitch
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Christian doctrine says exactly the opposite of God creating evilk - in the sense of sin.
Again - To say that God created evil in the sense of sin, is to make him responsible for it and thus guilty himself. Ridiculous doctrine if ever there was one.
Sin is not some tangible physical or spiritual entity.
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for sin is the transgression of the law. KJV quote:
for sin is the violation of Law. Weymouth quote:
Sin is disobedience. GW
1 jn 3:4
The only other interpretation of sin given is the state of being in transgression or the state of rebellion. Sin is selfishness. There can be no sin without a self.
Thus God can no more cause a moral agent - be it angelic or human - to disobey or rebel against Himself than he can create some intangible something called sin. To do so would be sin on his own part and that is not possible. He cannot deny himself.
Sin does not and cannot exist apart from a moral agent. Period. So no, God did not create evil in the sense of sin, rebellion, lawlessness or transgression of the moral law.
"Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself."
--CS Lewis The Problem of Pain
_____________________________
"The formation within geological time of a human body, by the laws of physics..., starting from a random distribution of elementary particles and the field, is as unlikely as the separation by chance of the atmosphere into its components." Kurt Godel
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/7/2008 8:02:28 PM
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mikejonesoftn
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quote:
ORIGINAL: abraxas
quote:
The way God created us naturally give us the ability to be good or evil. Why did God create us this way? That answer lies in the reason why God created us period.
Rather than look at this question collectively, we might ask it on an individual basis. Why did God create you? Why did he create kelman? Why me? Why George Bush? Why Barack Obama? Why my neighbor Keith? It seems that if God knew exactly what each of us were going to do and where we would ultimately spend eternity, then he created each of us for different purposes.
I think if we knew why he created the human race as a whole it would make the "individual" question easier to answer.
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/7/2008 11:25:28 PM
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bob97
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We need to reexamine sin…which is anything outside of the will of God. In other words it is the absence of God’s moral guidance’s in man’s life. It is man living according to his own will rather than submit to the will of God. For the natural man to have to submit to God’s will is really hell on earth.
Now I have to ask the question…based on the above description, did God provide the option for man to make a choice to live according to his (man’s) own will?
Bob
_____________________________
The LORD clears the road for me!
The LORD is my high ridge, my stronghold, my deliverer!
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/8/2008 2:02:45 AM
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kelman
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quote:
ORIGINAL: abraxas
quote:
The way God created us naturally give us the ability to be good or evil. Why did God create us this way? That answer lies in the reason why God created us period.
Rather than look at this question collectively, we might ask it on an individual basis. Why did God create you? Why did he create kelman? Why me? Why George Bush? Why Barack Obama? Why my neighbor Keith? It seems that if God knew exactly what each of us were going to do and where we would ultimately spend eternity, then he created each of us for different purposes. As for why God created, one thought is something called the "Expressiveness" model - God deciding to make a present, rather than simply giving a verbal expression of love.
The basis of the expressiveness model, is that the entire creation was a gift to the Father to the Son, expressing the Father's love to Him. Creation being only one possible form for "expressiveness" - not done from "need" since this expression of love easily is communicated within the Godhead. We see scriptural evidence in:
Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.
quote:
To the OP--I believe Christian doctrine says that God created evil. Even if we consider evil the "absense" of something else, God created the reality in which that absense would be possible, and he did it knowingly, so that "absense" is also his doing.
Sin is in the world because it is God's will for it to be. He created the scenario by which it entered. God is always the first or primary cause of all things. The names of those whom He would save from condemnation were written in the Lamb's Book of Life "from before the foundation of the world" - and that's before the first sin was ever committed in the Garden.
_____________________________
“beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow”
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/8/2008 2:47:20 AM
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kelman
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quote:
ORIGINAL: bob97
We need to reexamine sin…which is anything outside of the will of God. In other words it is the absence of God’s moral guidance’s in man’s life. It is man living according to his own will rather than submit to the will of God. For the natural man to have to submit to God’s will is really hell on earth.
Now I have to ask the question…based on the above description, did God provide the option for man to make a choice to live according to his (man’s) own will?
Bob
There is no "option". Man cannot choose to live contrary to his nature and since the Fall, all have a sin nature. So yes, man lives according to his sin nature, he sins because he is a sinner.
If God regenerates a man - gives him a new heart, new spirit - then the battle begins. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." -Galatians 5:17
_____________________________
“beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow”
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/8/2008 10:17:43 AM
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bob97
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quote:
Sin is in the world because it is God's will for it to be. He created the scenario by which it entered. God is always the first or primary cause of all things. The names of those whom He would save from condemnation were written in the Lamb's Book of Life "from before the foundation of the world" - and that's before the first sin was ever committed in the Garden.
Amen to that Kelman.
Bob
_____________________________
The LORD clears the road for me!
The LORD is my high ridge, my stronghold, my deliverer!
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/8/2008 11:23:24 AM
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GHitch
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quote:
ORIGINAL: kelman
There is no "option". Man cannot choose to live contrary to his nature and since the Fall, all have a sin nature. So yes, man lives according to his sin nature, he sins because he is a sinner. Watch out there kelman. I know that's standard doctrine but - To say that man cannot help but sin is to literally remove all guilt of sin. That doctrine, needs to be clearly defined.
Sin does not exist without the moral ability to obey. Even human courts recognize this. No condemnation is ever passed upon a person for having done which he could not help but do.
ex. A person who is forced by another person to pull a trigger against a victim will never be jailed for it simply because he could not do otherwise.
Imagine going before a judge and saying, "sorry sir, I couldn't help killing that guy, it's just my sinful nature". Now imagine trying the same in the presence of the judge of all the earth!
And imagine a killer claiming as defense that it is his nature to kill and so cant help it! "Your honor, I kill because I'm a killer by nature" What judge would ever accept such a plea, but if the criminal could prove it were true, that he was somehow genetically programmed to kill, the judge could no more condemn him for it than for breathing.
If you tell your son to get up and fly around the room, will you then condemn him for not doing so? Of course not since he cannot, by nature, fly.
If you tell your son not to beat his sister over the head with a hammer and he does it anyway, will you say, "Oh well that is his sinful nature he could not do otherwise"? No.
Tell it to the judge eh. "Your honor, I went through that red light because my nature pushed me to do it" See how far that gets with any judge.
Yet, strangely, "the devil or my sin nature made me do it" passes as sound doctrine in many churches these days - no wonder! since we have post-modern philosophy infiltrating all our doctrines!
No one is responsible for their actions any more. And the churches literally tell sinners so! "It's just your nature to sin, you can't help it", we tell them, and then wonder why the nation is going to hell and the church is powerless against it. Is it possible that some of our favorite doctrines are telling them they are not responsible?
So we need to ask ourselves, what exactly does it mean to have a "sinful nature"? Btw, that's a non biblical term. The concept of fallen race, under the condemnation of the moral law, etc. are there but nowhere is the term sinful nature found in the original.
Indeed, everywhere in scripture we see that man has the ability to obey but does not, not because there is some strange entity in him that forces him to disobey against his will but because he chooses to disobey and rather obey that something in our fallen state that urges him to rebel.
Deut. 30:11 quote:
For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. KJV
For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. ESV
This command I'm giving you today isn't too hard for you or beyond your reach. GW
The whole reason Israel was constantly being dragged into God's court and judged guilty and then condemned was because they were expected to obey in spite of whatever "sin nature" they had. The whole reason God judges the nations today is because they ought to obey him but don't by willful refusal.
See what I'm getting at?
I just think we need to be careful and more precise in our doctrine on sin and the fallen nature of our race.
We must avoid giving sinners excuses for themselves through our own doctrines. We must rather bring to bear against them the full weight of their responsibility and guilt of breaking the moral law.
_____________________________
"The formation within geological time of a human body, by the laws of physics..., starting from a random distribution of elementary particles and the field, is as unlikely as the separation by chance of the atmosphere into its components." Kurt Godel
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/9/2008 2:05:06 AM
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Ezra
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quote:
Now I have to ask the question…based on the above description, did God provide the option for man to make a choice to live according to his (man’s) own will?
Absolutely. This should be evident from the account of the Fall. God created men and angels as free moral agents, which meant that they could choose to do their own will (and they did).
Does this make God responsible for their sins? Not in the least. It simply reveals that man, without the indwelling Holy Spirit, does not have the capacity to obey or please God consistently. Hence the absolute necessity of the New Birth.
"The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from Heaven" (1 Cor. 15:47).
_____________________________
And whosoever will, let him take the Water of Life freely. Revelation 22:17
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/9/2008 2:09:31 AM
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Ezra
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quote:
I think if we knew why he created the human race as a whole it would make the "individual" question easier to answer.
But we do know why God created the human race (Gen. 1:26,27; Acts 17:24-28). We also know why He made a new creation out of the human race (Eph. 1:1-23) from those who believe Him and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And whosoever will, let him take the Water of Life freely. Revelation 22:17
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/9/2008 2:31:00 AM
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mikejonesoftn
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Ezra
quote:
I think if we knew why he created the human race as a whole it would make the "individual" question easier to answer.
But we do know why God created the human race (Gen. 1:26,27; Acts 17:24-28). We also know why He made a new creation out of the human race (Eph. 1:1-23) from those who believe Him and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
What's the "why" that you get from these passages?
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/10/2008 3:25:13 AM
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kelman
Posts: 4013
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quote:
ORIGINAL: GHitch
quote:
ORIGINAL: kelman
There is no "option". Man cannot choose to live contrary to his nature and since the Fall, all have a sin nature. So yes, man lives according to his sin nature, he sins because he is a sinner.
Watch out there kelman. I know that's standard doctrine but - To say that man cannot help but sin is to literally remove all guilt of sin. That doctrine, needs to be clearly defined. The fact that all men cannot help but sin does not remove their responsibility or guilt - that is why they need a Savior.
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Sin does not exist without the moral ability to obey. Actually, that's not true. Men sin not because they lack the physical ability to obey but because they lack the moral ability to obey. Unsaved man lacks the moral willingness which therefore makes him unable and responsible for and guilty of his sins.
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Yet, strangely, "the devil or my sin nature made me do it" passes as sound doctrine in many churches these days - no wonder! since we have post-modern philosophy infiltrating all our doctrines! No one is responsible for their actions any more. Because false teaching has entered many churches is no reason not teach the truth - that God holds us responsible for our sins - despite our moral inability.
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And the churches literally tell sinners so! "It's just your nature to sin, you can't help it", we tell them, and then wonder why the nation is going to hell and the church is powerless against it. This is the "carnal" Christian teaching which is a lie, though, many churches have no problem teaching these lies.
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Is it possible that some of our favorite doctrines are telling them they are not responsible? Well, obviously these churches are not teaching from Scripture if they claim man is not responsible. We can't ditch the truth because someone else manipulates or falsifies it.
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So we need to ask ourselves, what exactly does it mean to have a "sinful nature"? Btw, that's a non biblical term. Neither is the Trinity a biblical term, nevertheless, we see the evidence for it in Scripture. Even so, the NIV translates Rom 8:8 this way "Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God." Sinful nature is just another way of saying our flesh nature.
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Indeed, everywhere in scripture we see that man has the ability to obey but does not, not because there is some strange entity in him that forces him to disobey against his will but because he chooses to disobey and rather obey that something in our fallen state that urges him to rebel. We see man has the phyical ability to obey but not the moral ability. It is for this reason God says in Eze 36:26 that He will give a new heart, a new spirt so that man will obey His laws.
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I just think we need to be careful and more precise in our doctrine on sin and the fallen nature of our race. We must avoid giving sinners excuses for themselves through our own doctrines. We must rather bring to bear against them the full weight of their responsibility and guilt of breaking the moral law. I don't disagree. OTOH, it is not profitable to suggest that giving up a few sins has any bearing on becoming saved. There's no reason to avoid telling people they lack the moral ability to not sin since it is for this very reason they need a Savior.
_____________________________
“beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow”
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/18/2008 8:09:02 PM
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JStucki76
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I'm not going to try to enter the debate at this point, so I'll just go straight for the OP.
We need a clarification of terms. By "evil," do you mean moral evil, or do you mean disaster or misfortune?
Moral evil is what happens when something good turns away from God. Nobody created it, strictly speaking. It is not part of creation, it is an aberration; a distortion of creation. God cannot have anything to do with moral evil. If he did he wouldn't be God anymore. He is light, and in him there is no darkness.
But, as has probably been pointed out, in Isaiah 45:7 God says he created light and darkness, good and evil. Evil in this sense (and in a few other places in scripture) can be translated "disaster" or "misfortune." When something bad happens to me, it is from God, either directly or indirectly. God's purpose is to make me more like his son. Sometimes this process involves experiences that I would consider bad. But if it ultimately works towards God's objective, then in a moral sense, it is good.
In a moral sense, I define good as anything God does.
Evil is anything that distorts what God does.
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 11/20/2008 1:16:15 AM
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jerowhy
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quote:
ORIGINAL: raivyne
As an offshoot from the "a baby or infant died ,does he will save or not ?" thread in the salvation forum.
What do you think? Did God create evil or did evil originate from another source?
I would have offered more options... but He either created it or He didn't. You may place your caveats in your post. If you've kept up on the original thread you know where I stand (God is the creator of all things, even evil).
God created the darkness, but The Spirit of God hovers over the face of the deep of mens hearts. The first evil was murder when the devil wanted to take over and hurt God believing that he could love better than Him in the Awesome confounding Wisdom of God's creation. Jesus then saw him fall from such a great and Awesome Height as lightning to earth. Tribulation is coming because he will try to defend what he has left.
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 12/4/2008 11:04:20 PM
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knight_ed
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Regarding the origin of evil keep in mind that even God cannot create a logical contradiction. Therefore, He cannot create a "square circle" because it is a logical contradiction and so it can have no existence in reality. To ask if God could create a “square circle” is pure nonsense. Now He could have created a world in which evil was not possible. He could have created a world in which moral agents had genuine freewill. He could have chosen not to create anything at all. However, it is a logical contradiction to create a world in which evil is not possible and yet at the same time inhabited by moral agents with genuine freewill. The reason for this is that when God chose to create a true moral agent then the possibility of evil emerging in the world could not be avoided, even though this was not a certainty. When God allowed freewill it entailed the possibility that this freewill would be used to choose against God's will. How a moral agent will choose to use its freewill cannot be absolutely foreseen even by God if the will is truly free. Therefore, God's knowledge of the future is not exhaustive but contingent to a certain extent on the choices made by the moral agents God created by His own sovereign will. And genuine freewill not only entails the possibility of evil choices but it is the only way for genuine love to emerge. So given the choice between creating a world with no possibility of evil but also with no possibility of genuine love and creating a world with the possibility of genuine love but also with the possibility of evil, God in His wisdom chose the latter. And because the emergence of evil in such a world was a possibility but not a certainty then God is not responsible for evil even though He is responsible for creating moral agents with genuine freewill and the ability of choosing evil. However, God His infinite wisdom had already made contingency plans before the creation of the Universe in the eventuality that evil should emerge.
< Message edited by knight_ed -- 12/4/2008 11:27:16 PM >
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 12/4/2008 11:29:57 PM
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JStucki76
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I have big problems with God not being able to foresee anything. But I still don't hold him responsible for the actions of others. Foresight does not necessitate intervention. Actions have consequences, and bad actions have bad consequences. If God simply fixed every bad consequence of every action, then everyone would just do whatever they wanted to do. And that would be horror beyond description.
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RE: Evil, created by God? - 12/5/2008 12:34:56 AM
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knight_ed
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When discussing the problem of the origin of evil it is almost unavoidable not to consider the issue of the sovereignty of God in relation to the individual responsibility of man for his moral choices (i.e., genuine free will). If one states that God sovereignly ordains or decrees everything that happens then the conclusion that God is the originator of evil is logically inevitable. However, this would be inconsistent with the revealed in fact of God's holy nature. Yet, if one states that man can make genuinely free moral choices over which God has no control then this would seem to limit God's sovereignty. Another nuance to consider is that if God knows the future exhaustively then He already knows what we will "freely" choose and has already prepared the appropriate consequences for the same. If so, then are our choice is truly free? This would result in a fatalistic view of life like the one that exists in Islam.
You are right in stating that foresight does not necessitate intervention but this does not exonerate the foreseer from responsibility. If I give a person a knife that he otherwise would not be able to obtain and I foreknew with absolute certainty that the person would use this knife to kill someone then I cannot claim not to have any responsibility in that person’s death because I did not personally kill him. On the contrary, I would be considered an accomplice to the murder.
I know that the concept of God in His sovereignty creating true moral agents when this entailed the impossibility of knowing with 100% certainty the future choices of such an agent can present big problems when trying to conceptualize such a reality. But I submit that it is a much greater theological problem when one tries to conceive a holy and pure God as the direct creator of evil.
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