If God made all things did He create evil? What is the purpose of evil?

   God did create all things, but the question that arises is if evil is a thing.  Is evil a substance like a virus?  Evil is not a thing nor is it a substance.  Evil instead is a "lack" in a thing! It is a lack of good or love.  Yes, evil is real.  For example if a person lacks kindness in his heart and respect for human life that should be there, then he may commit murder.  Evil is, in reality a parasite that cannot exist except as a hole in something that should be solid.  Evil in the nature of man shows he needs a good God and Savior.

    In some cases, evil is more explained as a case of bad relationships.  If I pick up a good gun, put in a good bullet, point it at my good head, put my good finger on the good trigger and give it a good pull...a bad relationship results.  The things involved are not evil in themselves, but the relationship in the good things is lacking something.  In this case the lack comes about because the things are not being used as they out to be.  Guns for example should not be used for indiscriminate killing but instead for recreation, hunting and protection.  My head was not to be used for target practice!

    Similarly, there is nothing wrong with strong winds moving in a circle.  When this wind goes through a mobile home park a bad relationship takes place between things.  So evil is a lack of something that should be there in the relationship between good things.

    God did make everything perfect.  One of the perfect things He made was free creatures.  So free will is the cause of evil.  All men are given the freedom of choice to execute evil or good.  Since God made us free moral agents, imperfection (evil) can arise from imperfection (not directly, but indirectly through freedom).  God knowingly took a risk in creating free will beings!  That doesn’t make Him responsible for evil.  He created the fact of freedom; we perform the acts of freedom.  He made evil possible; men made evil actual.  Evil came as a result of our abuse of moral perfection as free creatures.

    So what is the purpose of evil? We don’t have an answer in entirety, but since God is good and loving we must believe that is serves some purpose.  Just because we don’t know the purpose of something doesn’t mean a good one exists.  Some purposes that we do know are these.  God sometimes uses evil to warn us of great evils.  Realizing various evils can keep us from self destruction.  Even though their might be a great price to pay, some evil brings about a greater good. Finally, permitting some evil actually helps defeat evil.

NOTE:  This question answered from the publication - “When Skeptics Ask” - Norma Geisler