Bible Basics
Study 6: God And Evil
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6.1 God And Evil
God Has 100% Power; No
              Dualism
    I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me
    there is no God; that people may know, from the
    rising of the sun and from the west, that there is
    none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no
    other. I form light and create darkness, I make
    well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who
    does all these things.     Isaiah 45:5-7
   Amos 3:6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and
    the people are not afraid? Does disaster
    come to a city, unless the LORD has done
    it?
   Micah 1:12 For the inhabitants of Maroth
    wait anxiously for good, because disaster
    has come down from the LORD to the gate
    of Jerusalem. .
   Exod 4:11 Then the LORD said to him, “Who has
    made man„s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf,
    or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
   Job 1:21; 2:10 And he said, “Naked I came from my
    mother„s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD
    gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the
    name of the LORD.” 10 But he said to her, “You
    speak as one of the foolish women would speak.
    Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not
    receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
   Heb. 12: 6-11 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises
    every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure.
    God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does
    not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have
    participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides
    this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected
    them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
    For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he
    disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the
    moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields
    the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
God Is Greater Than „Satan‟;
      Adversaries Help Us To
             Salvation

   1Cor. 5:5 you are to deliver this man to
    Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that
    his spirit may be saved in the day of the
    Lord.
   1Tim. 1:20 among whom are Hymenaeus
    and Alexander, whom I have handed over to
    Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
   Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is
    death, but the free gift of God is eternal
    life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin From Within


   Mark 7:15,21-23 There is nothing outside a person that
    by going into him can defile him, but the things that
    come out of a person are what defile him. For from
    within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts,
    sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting,
    wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride,
    foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and
    they defile a person.
   Genesis 8:21 the LORD said in his heart,
    "I will never again curse the ground
    because of man, for the intention of man's
    heart is evil from his youth”.
   James 1:13-15 Let no one say when he is
    tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for
    God cannot be tempted with evil, and he
    himself tempts no one. But each person is
    tempted when he is lured and enticed by his
    own desire. Then desire when it has
    conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is
    fully grown brings forth death.
   Romans 7:15-18 For I do not understand my own
    actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very
    thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with
    the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it,
    but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing
    good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the
    desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it
    out.
   Rom. 7:19-23 For I do not do the good I want, but the
    evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do
    what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin
    that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when
    I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in
    the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my
    members another law waging war against the law of my
    mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells
    in my members.
   Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all
    things, and desperately sick; who can understand
    it?
   Jer. 18:12 "But they say, 'That is in vain! We will
    follow our own plans, and will every one act
    according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.‟
   Eph. 4:18 They are darkened in their
    understanding, alienated from the life of God
    because of the ignorance that is in them, due to
    their hardness of heart.
   Psalm 119:11 I have stored up your
    word in my heart, that I might not sin
    against you.
The Word “Satan” In The Bible
1Kings 11:14 And the LORD raised up an
 adversary against Solomon, Hadad the
 Edomite.
1Kings 11:23 God also raised up as an
 adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada,
   2Samuel 24:1 Again the anger of the
    LORD was kindled against Israel, and he
    incited David against them, saying, "Go,
    number Israel and Judah.”

   1Chronicles 21:1 Then Satan stood
    against Israel and incited David to number
    Israel.
   Matthew 16:21-23 21 From that time Jesus began to
    show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and
    suffer many things from the elders and chief priests
    and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be
    raised. And Peter took him aside and began to
    rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This
    shall never happen to you.“ But he turned and said
    to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance
    to me. For you are not setting your mind on the
    things of God, but on the things of man.“
The Word “Devil” in the Bible
   John 6:70,71 Jesus answered them, “Did I not
    choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a
    devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot,
    for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.
   1Tim.3:11 Their wives likewise must be dignified,
    not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all
    things.
   Titus 2:3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in
    behavior, not slanderers
The Devil and Sin
   Heb. 2:14,15 Since therefore the children
    share in flesh and blood, he himself
    likewise partook of the same things, that
    through death he might destroy the one
    who has the power of death, that is, the
    devil, and deliver all those who through
    fear of death were subject to lifelong
    slavery.
   Heb. 2:14 the one who has the power of
    death, that is, the devil
   James 1:15 sin when it is fully grown
    brings forth death.
   Hebrews 2:14 Since therefore the children
    share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise
    partook of the same , that through death he
    might destroy the one who has the power
    of death, that is, the devil
   Romans 8:3: By sending his own Son in the
    likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he
    condemned sin, in the flesh
   Hebrews 2:14 the one who has the power
    of death, that is, the devil
   Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death
   Hebrews 9:26; 2:14
   He has appeared once for all at the end of
    the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of
    himself.
   14 ...that through death he might destroy
    the one who has the power of death, that is,
    the devil
   1 John 3:5,8 You know that he appeared to
    take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

   The reason the Son of God appeared was to
    destroy the works of the devil.
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more
crafty than any other beast of the field that
  the LORD God had made. He said to the
woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not
       eat of any tree in the garden'?“
The Size of the Cosmos
   Means that the power of any „satan‟ being
    is enormous
   Does he really have so much power?
   Did he really get it from God?
   Self Talk
   Battle for the mind
   “The savage mind” (Levi-Strauss), “The
    violence within” (Tournier)
   Don‟t demonize, take responsibility.

The East is Demonized
The West is Demonized
Spiritual Thinking Of The
                   Essence
   Luke 17:17-19 and he thought to himself, „What shall I do,
    for I have nowhere to store my crops?‟ And he said [to
    himself], „I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build
    larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods And I will
    say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years;
    relax, eat, drink, be merry.„
   Deut. 15:9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart
    and you say, „The seventh year, the year of release is near,‟ and your
    eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing...
   Psalm 36:1,2 Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart;
    there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own
    eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
   Solzhenitsyn [Gulag Archipelago …]: “"If
    only it were all so simple! If only... it were
    necessary only to separate [evil people]
    from the rest of us and destroy them! But
    the line dividing good and evil cuts through
    the heart of every human being. And who
    is willing to destroy a piece of his own
    heart?"

Belief In Devil Decreasing;
              Evil Increasing
   The Barna Group, a research firm, found the
    following in a survey of American Christians in
    2006 [published on www.barna.org]:
   * 55 percent view Satan as symbolic of evil
    rather than a real entity.
   * 45 percent of born-again Christians don't
    believe Satan is real.
   * 68 percent of Catholics think of Satan only as
    a symbol and deny the word refers to a personal
    being.
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 Email: info@carelinks.net
Study 6: Questions
   1. Where do problems and trials come      4. What does the word „satan‟
    from?                                      mean?
    a) God                                     a) A sinner b) An adversary
    b) Chance                                  c) A beast d) King of demons
    c) A sinful being called satan             5. Can the word „satan‟ be applied
    d) Sinful beings called demons             to good people?
    2. What is responsible for our             6. What can „satan‟ and „devil‟
    temptation to sin?                         refer to figuratively?
    a) Our own human nature                    7. How should we understand
    b) God                                     „demons‟ as referred to in the New
    c) Evil spirits                            Testament?
    d) A sinful being called satan             a) Sinful angels b) Sicknesses
    3. What does the word „devil‟ mean?        c) The language of the day for
    a) Sin                                     sicknesses, which people thought
    b) The serpent                             were caused by „demons‟
    c) False accuser / slanderer               d) Spirit beings
    d) Lucifer                                 8. What do you understand by the
                                               snake in the garden of Eden?

Bible Basics Study6: God and Evil

  • 1.
  • 2.
  • 3.
  • 4.
    God Has 100%Power; No Dualism  I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things. Isaiah 45:5-7
  • 7.
    Amos 3:6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?  Micah 1:12 For the inhabitants of Maroth wait anxiously for good, because disaster has come down from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem. .
  • 8.
    Exod 4:11 Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man„s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?  Job 1:21; 2:10 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother„s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
  • 9.
    Heb. 12: 6-11 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
  • 10.
    God Is GreaterThan „Satan‟; Adversaries Help Us To Salvation  1Cor. 5:5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.  1Tim. 1:20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
  • 11.
    Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  • 13.
    Sin From Within  Mark 7:15,21-23 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.
  • 14.
    Genesis 8:21 the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth”.
  • 15.
    James 1:13-15 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
  • 16.
    Romans 7:15-18 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
  • 17.
    Rom. 7:19-23 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
  • 18.
    Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  Jer. 18:12 "But they say, 'That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.‟  Eph. 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
  • 19.
    Psalm 119:11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
  • 20.
  • 21.
    1Kings 11:14 Andthe LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. 1Kings 11:23 God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada,
  • 22.
    2Samuel 24:1 Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah.”  1Chronicles 21:1 Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.
  • 23.
    Matthew 16:21-23 21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.“ But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.“
  • 24.
  • 25.
    John 6:70,71 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.  1Tim.3:11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.  Titus 2:3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers
  • 26.
  • 27.
    Heb. 2:14,15 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
  • 28.
    Heb. 2:14 the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil  James 1:15 sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
  • 29.
    Hebrews 2:14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same , that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil  Romans 8:3: By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin, in the flesh
  • 30.
    Hebrews 2:14 the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil  Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death
  • 31.
    Hebrews 9:26; 2:14  He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.  14 ...that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil
  • 32.
    1 John 3:5,8 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
  • 33.
    Genesis 3:1 Nowthe serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?“
  • 39.
    The Size ofthe Cosmos  Means that the power of any „satan‟ being is enormous  Does he really have so much power?  Did he really get it from God?
  • 45.
    Self Talk  Battle for the mind  “The savage mind” (Levi-Strauss), “The violence within” (Tournier)  Don‟t demonize, take responsibility. 
  • 46.
    The East isDemonized
  • 48.
    The West isDemonized
  • 49.
    Spiritual Thinking OfThe Essence  Luke 17:17-19 and he thought to himself, „What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?‟ And he said [to himself], „I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.„  Deut. 15:9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, „The seventh year, the year of release is near,‟ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing...  Psalm 36:1,2 Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
  • 50.
    Solzhenitsyn [Gulag Archipelago …]: “"If only it were all so simple! If only... it were necessary only to separate [evil people] from the rest of us and destroy them! But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" 
  • 51.
    Belief In DevilDecreasing; Evil Increasing  The Barna Group, a research firm, found the following in a survey of American Christians in 2006 [published on www.barna.org]:  * 55 percent view Satan as symbolic of evil rather than a real entity.  * 45 percent of born-again Christians don't believe Satan is real.  * 68 percent of Catholics think of Satan only as a symbol and deny the word refers to a personal being.
  • 52.
  • 53.
    Study 6: Questions  1. Where do problems and trials come  4. What does the word „satan‟ from? mean? a) God a) A sinner b) An adversary b) Chance c) A beast d) King of demons c) A sinful being called satan 5. Can the word „satan‟ be applied d) Sinful beings called demons to good people? 2. What is responsible for our 6. What can „satan‟ and „devil‟ temptation to sin? refer to figuratively? a) Our own human nature 7. How should we understand b) God „demons‟ as referred to in the New c) Evil spirits Testament? d) A sinful being called satan a) Sinful angels b) Sicknesses 3. What does the word „devil‟ mean? c) The language of the day for a) Sin sicknesses, which people thought b) The serpent were caused by „demons‟ c) False accuser / slanderer d) Spirit beings d) Lucifer 8. What do you understand by the snake in the garden of Eden?