The Power X

Okay, how do we deal with the appearance of evil?  That’s a tough one.  And, I say “appearance” because we like to categorize, perhaps incorrectly, everything into “good and evil”.  Just turn on the news.  Innocents die and suffer needlessly every day.  The world “seems” to be going to hell.  We have our own personal hells.  We suffer.  We get sick.  Our loved ones suffer – lose their jobs – die - homes get foreclosed. 

Isaiah [inspired] makes some very basic statements about reality:

“I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.” [Isa. 45.5-6]

I don’t think these verses leave any question that there is but One God - One Power in the universe.  What is tougher to deal with is the next verse - a very curious statement also made by Isaiah:

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.”  [Isa. 45.7]

More on that in Part XI