DOES GOD CREATE EVIL?

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” 

(Isaiah 45:7, KJV).

Here’s a passage that is popular among skeptics and atheists. They like to point to this passage of Scripture and say, “See, the verse here clearly states that God created evil. God is the one who is responsible for the evil in the world, not man or the devil. Now let’s see how you are going to explain this passage of Scripture?” Even the Evangelist Billy Graham's old friend who is an atheist, the late William Temple once said: “The problem of evil... Why does God permit it? Or, if God is omnipotent, in which case permission and creation are the same, why did God create it?”  A quick glance at this Bible verse appears to agree with the skeptic here. The question can be asked, is this what the text is really saying, that God is to be blamed for all the evil, turmoil, and sin in the world? Of course not! Here’s the reason why: The term “evil” in this particular text carries with it the meaning of “disaster, calamity, judgment” (Prov. 16:4). So as you can see, today’s text does not say God created moral evil. No, man chose to do moral evil the moment he rebelled against God's Word. What the above passage is talking about here is natural evil.