Did God Create Evil?

***I just found a really neat blog
http://iveysirmans.blogspot.com/ and it is about a little girl who was born with a very rare genetic disorder called anopthalmia. Her 21st chromosome was missing and she was born without eyes. Anyhow, her mama has so much faith and I am very encouraged by what she shares on her blog. The story below is REALLY amazing. It was something that Ivey's mom found somewhere else and posted...I hope you're as encouraged as I am.

Oh, and I got the link to Ivey's blog through another blog that I found, 5 Minutes for Mom. http://www.5minutesformom.com/

Blessings...

Did God create evil?

A University professor at a well-known institution of higher learning challenged his students with this question.

"Did God create everything that exists?"

A student bravely replied, "Yes he did!""God created everything?"

The professor asked."Yes sir, he certainly did," the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything; then God created evil. And, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then we can assume God is evil.

"The student became quiet and did not answer the professor's hypothetical definition. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "May I ask you a question, professor?"

"Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?

"The other students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460F) is the total absence of heat; and all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.

"The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

"The professor responded, "Of course it does.

"The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course, as I have already said. We see it everyday. It is in the daily examples of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

The young man's name -- Albert Einstein

***NOTE: My curious husband and I just looked this up on snopes.com to see if it was really Einstein or not in the story...and it was NOT Einstein. HOWEVER, this is still a very interesting and thought provoking read and I'm going to leave it as is! :)***

Back to Blogging

I have been out of touch with writing my blog, and just decided that tonight was the night that I would write again! Life has been so busy lately...well, I guess life is always busy, but it seems like my life lately has been full of much running around and going lots of different places, and doing lots of different things. Sometimes that can be a great thing, and I do enjoy variety, but sometimes it is also tiring and draining.

I am an introverted extrovert, and Erik is much the same. We both love to be with people, but at the same time we really enjoy "alone" time by ourselves, and feel rejuvenated when we have that time. Perhaps since I have been married I have become much more this introverted extroverted person that I am, or maybe it was in grad. school when I had my own apartment for a year and a half. I really liked that time and space that I could call my own. Sometimes I miss that apartment. It was such a cute little place, and I have such happy memories there...lots of friends coming to visit and stay since I was in a different state, dinners and movies with friends...and it represented grad. school, which for me was such a great time in life. At times I really miss being in that time of life, just full of learning and opportunities. But you know what? God has really shown me that my life right now is a really good thing. I love being married to Erik, and I love being Kristi's Mama, and I really love singing random gigs and teaching voice lessons, and just doing all the other things that come along with all those roles. Life is good. We have different seasons and changes, but through the changes, GOD is good, and He never fails. He has never ever failed me yet.

Change is hard for me. I'm anticipating lots of new changes with our home on the market and hoping for a sale, the hope of then finding a different home to live in, and hopefully at some point having more children. What is so neat is that through each change that I have undergone up until now, I have grown as an individual, and I have been forced to give up my selfish nature and trust that God will take care of me. And He has. I know that He will continue to take care of me and my family. I trust Him for that.

Anyway, this has grown into a much longer post than I had originally planned on...but I just wanted to share that God is making me listen to Him and His plans for my life, and our life as a family. It isn't always easy, truly, but I'm slowly learning...

More Hawaii Pictures

This is the beautiful Waimea Canyon on Kauai...the Grand Canyon of Hawaii...so lush! How great are your wonders, oh God!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Lord, for creating such beautiful landscapes for us to treasure and enjoy on this earth. I can only imagine what Heaven will look like...
Mama & Kristi after dinner at a great north shore Oahu restaurant on our last night
GORGEOUS pineapples at the Dole Pineapple Plantation on Oahu...has anyone else ever seen this kind of pineapple before? There was a cool little garden that showed many varieties of pineapples, as well as diagrams of the growing process. I think it takes almost a few years to produce one pineapple. I could hardly believe it! No wonder pineapple can be an expensive fruit. But oh so delicious. We had so much fun eating pineapple chili dogs and pineapple slushy ice cream drinks...can't quite remember what that was, but it was yummy!
Erik, Melody, Melody's mom, Kim & Melody's dad hiking the Kanapali Trail on the Na Pali Coast of Kauai. Erik & I hiked this on our honeymoon 3 years ago, but I think we forgot that it was meant for advanced hikers! Mom, Dad & Kim were all such good troopers! And of course, little Kristi in the Kelty pack did a great job too, except for the last 45 minutes or so. She was exhausted after being in that pack and on the trail for a few hours. We didn't get to do the whole hike, which goes on for miles and miles, but we made our way to the top of the ridge where we could view the gorgeous Na Pali Coastline with its rugged textures. The wind was so gusty that day that we nearly were blown over as we got up to the top! And that is when we turned back.
This is the Hawaiian state bird, the Ne Ne. It is a goose of some sort, and kind of reminds me of the Canadian Geese that we see so much here in Minnesota. I was surprised to see these Ne Ne's walking around near the Kalalau lookout point at Waimea Canyon on Kauai. There was a small flock of them, and they were quite used to tourists as they hardly flinched when I took photos of them.

Possible house offer

We might have a possible offer coming in on our house already, and it has only been on the market since this past Tuesday! Crazy! I'm excited but it is also bittersweet as we love our place and the thought of leaving it is sometimes hard. We're hoping to be in an area with better schools and also a bit more space to grow into. It will be interesting to see just what God has in mind for us. We are praying that He will place us in the right place. If you're reading this, would you please pray with us for the right buyers for our home and also the right home for us to buy? THANK YOU!!! We covet your prayer support over this matter.