Because we believe that God created all things, one might be predisposed to assume that God also created evil. Yet evil is not a tangible, physical “thing” like a plant or a stone; nor can you contain it in a jar. Evil has no existence of its own because it is really the absence of something. Evil is the lack of good, and thus becomes its antithesis.
To comprehend this better, we often say that it is cold when the temperature goes down in degrees. Yet “cold” on its own does not exist. It is simply the absence of heat just as darkness is the absence of light. God did not create darkness or cold, but they are the byproducts and/or consequences of light and heat’s absence. Therefore, evil exists simply because it is a consequence of man’s rejection of God and all that is good.
