No answers for problem of evil

[for_his_glory]

So did they not see things in terms of good and evil, but just God and opposition to God, which God also created? They'd never ask this question because "evil" isn't really a thing to them. Am I getting that right?

The Hebrew word "Satan" literally means "adversary" and in Jewish thought one of the things we struggle against every day is the "evil inclination," also known as the yetzer hara. The yetzer hara is not a force or a being, but rather refers to mankind's innate capacity for doing evil in the world. Using the term Satan to describe this impulse is not very common though. (The "good inclination" is called the yetzer hatov.)

References to "Satan" can be found in some Orthodox and Conservative prayer books, but they are viewed as symbolic descriptions of one aspect of mankind's nature.
References to Satan in the Hebrew Bible

Satan appears as a proper character only once in the Hebrew Bible. In the Book of Job he is depicted as an angel who mocks the piety of a righteous man named Job. He tells God that the only reason Job is so religious is because God has given him a life filled with blessings. "But lay Your hand upon all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face" (Job 1:11). God accepts Satan’s wager and allows Satan to rain all manner of misfortune upon Job: his sons and daughters die, he loses his fortune, he is afflicted with painful boils. Yet even though people tell Job to curse God, he refuses. Throughout the book Job demands that God tell him why all of things horrible things are happening to him but God does not answer until chapter 38. "Where were you when I established the world?" God asks Job, "Tell me, if you know so much" (Job 38:3-4). Job is humbled and admits that he has spoken of things he does not understand.

The Book of Job grapples with the difficult question of why God allows evil in the world. It is the only book in the Hebrew Bible that mentions "Satan" as a sentient being. The idea of Satan as a being with dominion over a metaphysical realm never caught on in Judaism. Judaism is so strictly monotheistic that the rabbis resisted the temptation to characterize anyone other than God with authority. Rather, God is the Creator of both good and evil and it is up to mankind to choose which path they will follow.

 

[GodsGrace]

wondering,

I also use BibleHub sometimes but I don't find the range of versions to be as comprehensive as with Bible Gateway. I find it more difficult to gain a copy and paste for a longer piece of Scripture with BibleHub

It seems to me that in seeking to find the reason for initial evil you are committing a Begging the Question Logical Fallacy.

This is a 'form of argument where the conclusion is assumed in one of the premises.... Begging the question is a form of circular reasoning'. It is logically erroneous because, in this discussion, it is arising where people, including wondering, have an ingrained assumption of the nature of evil. Because this is your presupposition, no evidence that I or others provide will be accepted.

Please don't take that as my being offensive to you, but that is what I see is happening in this discussion. You don't seem to be able to accept what the Scripture says about how evil entered the human race because of your first assumption that shows up in your conclusion.

I don't think I will ever be able to get to the point of your agreeing with the cause of evil because of your exclusion of that content. Please tell me if my assessment is wrong.

Oz

It's kind of wrong because I DO understand how evil entered into the human race.

This is not the problem nor the intent of this thread...The title of this thread is:
NO ANSWERS FOR PROBLEM OF EVIL

And it is YOUR thread! I, and others, believe you are right...there is no answer for the problem of evil. There can't be because God is all good and yet evil exists. Dualism would answer the problem,,,but the bible teaches us there is only ONE GOD.

I can't think of any resolution and everyone on this thread keeps discussing how evil entered into humans and not how evil ever got started.

There is no problem of evil if we just accept what the bible says and take it no further back in time....

 

[for_his_glory]

IOW, GOD chooses who will be saved and GOD chooses who will be damned.

God did not predestine the man (which individuals would be saved & lost), He predestined the plan (how men would be saved), Acts 10:34-35; Eph. 1:3-12; Rom. 8:28-30; 10:9-17.

Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

The word translated "evil" is from a Hebrew word kelalah that means adversary, affliction, calamity, distress and misery. This is what God has created and puts on those who are cursed for their rebellion against God. Deuteronomy 27:11-26.

 

[OzSpen]

Hi Oz,,,
I use Biblehub for quotes. When I first joined a forum, I'd actually look for the verse in a real bible and then type it out!! I knew there had to be an easier way so I just sat at my computer one day and figured it out.

I do, however, like to read a paper copy. What can I do? I feel so old-fashioned that way. I like books,,,I like book stores and I like to hold books in my hands. Not that I read much anymore.

As to Adam and Eve...NO! That answer is not sufficient as it does not explain the origin of evil but explains how evil got into humans.

And I also agree that God did not create evil...
As I said to for_his_glory ...what a conundrum!

wondering,

But WE are getting older. My grandchildren call me 'old' sometimes. My youngest son, wife and two grandchildren (aged 8 & 4) took me out to lunch yesterday. They are up from Canberra (the ACT) for Christmas.

Oz

 

[OzSpen]

Oz,
You're saying that humans created evil.
Humans cannot create anything...only God can create.
We use this word incorrectly these days.

Again,,,,if Original Sin entered into humans when Adam sinned,,,then what made HIM sin if original sin was not in him yet?

Have you not yet realized that there is no answer for this?

wondering,

When I said 'humans created evil', I meant human beings broke their relationship with God by disobeying Him. That's when sin entered the human race.

You say humans cannot create anything. That's a BIG S-T-R-E-T-C-H. Every day I create some writing/article/curriculum lesson using my PC. My brother-in-law creates little tables and chairs from polished timber.

My ex- and late- wife created havoc in my family and her lover's family by getting into bed with the pastor. They created a wreck in the church as well. I will never believe you when you say humans cannot create anything.

Youth around here are creating wrecks of their lives by engaging in the use of illicit drugs - ICE, marijuana, petrol sniffing, etc.

You ask,

what made HIM sin if original sin was not in him yet?

The choice to choose one or the other was in him. He made the wrong choice because God gave him the ability to make either a choice for good or evil. That does not mean God made A & E evil.

I think you are asking the wrong question. A better one could be, IMO: How did sin enter the human race? That answer is reasonably simple. It was a direct result of two choices available to A & E. If God were to close down the choice dimension it would have a close-down effect of choices across a whole range of human activities.

I can't imagine what it would be like if I didn't have the choice to eat cooked king prawns than tripe with white sauce. I detest the latter and Mum loved cooking it.

Have you not yet realized that there is no answer for this?

I know what you're driving at but I don't accept your conclusion: There is NO answer to the problem of evil. There is an answer - that I've attempted to show - but your Begging the Question Fallacy prevents your seeing the A & E choices. Why? The premise of your Fallacy is that there is no solution to the problem of evil, so what is your conclusion? There is no answer to solve the origin of evil.

We cannot have a rational conversation with this kind of circular reasoning. Do you understand that?

Oz

 

[for_his_glory]

What was before angels?
Go back to the beginning...when there was still nothing.
There was only good?
God IS good and everything He created was good...Genesis 1.

So where did evil come from?
Why did some angels have pride?
Why did they want to be like God?
These seem to be evil traits to me.

Good and evil is all about freewill choices that are made that began with the creation of angels who chose to rebel against God before and after the foundation of the world and way before Adam. Proverbs 6:18; Isaiah 14:12-14; Jude 1:6

Before God created angels He was and is the only one that was good. Everything God created, beginning with the angels, was good until the freewill of the angels caused some, including Satan, to rebel against God. God also determined that man would have free-will, the ability and responsibility to choose to obey Him, Gen. 3:1-6; Josh. 24:15; Matt. 11:28.

Some do not understand the above passages on predestination. They think that if a person is not of those predestinated, he is just out of luck, is eternally damned, and there is nothing he can do about it. However, it is a particular group or class of people that God chose before the foundation of the world and not individuals. It is up to us to be part of that class of those "in Him" if we want to be of the chosen.

By using our free-will we choose whether to be "in Christ" and thus saved, Gal. 3:26-27. So, we see God's part in His gracious plan of human redemption which is accomplished through the death of Christ, and man's part, faith in Christ, James. 2:14-26; Matt. 7:21-23, combining to complete the equation of salvation, Eph. 2:8-9.

The word form is MORPHE and means "having the characteristics or features of a person or thing; having the nature of the individual." Jesus was not meaning "to take the place of", but "coming into an equality of the nature and characteristics of the Father". We can do this through the fruit of the Spirit.

 

[OzSpen]

It's kind of wrong because I DO understand how evil entered into the human race.

This is not the problem nor the intent of this thread...The title of this thread is:
NO ANSWERS FOR PROBLEM OF EVIL

And it is YOUR thread! I, and others, believe you are right...there is no answer for the problem of evil. There can't be because God is all good and yet evil exists. Dualism would answer the problem,,,but the bible teaches us there is only ONE GOD.

I can't think of any resolution and everyone on this thread keeps discussing how evil entered into humans and not how evil ever got started.

There is no problem of evil if we just accept what the bible says and take it no further back in time....

wondering,

It was my error with the title of the thread. It should read, 'No answers for problem of evil??'

I failed to convey my intent in beginning this thread. The issue I wanted to raise was: Is there no answer to the problem of evil? Will we never find answers to the bad in human beings and the universe?

Do we give up and conclude: There is no solution?

I'm not convinced.

Oz

 

[JohnDB]

So did they not see things in terms of good and evil, but just God and opposition to God, which God also created? They'd never ask this question because "evil" isn't really a thing to them. Am I getting that right?

No...not right. Sorry I wasn't clear.
They did perceive things as good or evil.
Also stated as "order" vx "chaos"/"lawlessness";
Faithful vx Harlot
They had a lot of euphemisms for evil...not a lot of them for good.

What I was talking about was the differing opinions on the thoughts of Satan himself that the Jews held. The Jews also had different opinions on Heavenly rewards. They were clearly divided in their theologies.

One group thought that Satan as an actual being was a myth from misinterpreted scriptures. That references to a being named Satan was nothing more than a literary device gone astray in people's imaginations. This group also discounted Daniel's prophecy about Heaven as well.

The other group believed in angels and demons and Satan in the same way as most Christians believe in these things today.

Two polar opposite opinions.

Both groups agreed on good vx evil or also said as life vx death/destruction. It wasn't so limited as you are saying. It went way beyond...hence they had a lot of euphemisms for evil. Mostly because the Hebrew language has no bad words in it. There wasn't a word you could label someone as a bad thing. (Thief, murderer, and prostitute) you had to use a euphemism to get your message across. Usually it was an unclean animal.

But oh yes, they had very clear ideas that God was good and other things that took you away from God were evil.

 

[jasonc]

Unconditional Elections means that there is no way for us to follow a condition set by God to be saved.

IOW, GOD chooses who will be saved and GOD chooses who will be damned.

Those in hell will not be there because they refused God but because God chose them from birth to end up in hell.

If this sounds like the God of the bible to you...then you are correct in going to a reformed church.

If this does NOT sound like the God of the bible to you,,,then you should change your church and go to one that properly represents the God of love, mercy and justice.

And if you don't ,then logically you,must believe that God can't influence your will nor you his.
I,have seen that stated.pastors words today on the matter.

He drew a diagram of two circles,mans will under a smaller circle ,Gods will surrounds it and said men I,,this circle have free will,and nothing in,your life ability is outside of God's will.

Do you believe that God won't one day on the day of appointment of death ,let you die?
For it is appointed unto all men death then the judgement .do you think,that you can ear right ,work out and that old body. Will last forever ?that your genes ,how God made you ,or how others actions are not gonna shirten or lenghten your life that your really can make you ,you ?that God doesn't control that ,stops or allows Satan or allows anyone from killing or harning you ,that God doesn't allow you to live or die for to give Him,glory?

Lightning has nearky struck me numerous times ,while reading meters ,serving my country ,arty rounds nearky,landed where i was standing minutes ago.but I being all knowing just decided I,will,live ?

If you,agree with that or don't ,you,might be a reformed person .dies God foreknow your choices?he didn't know or have you in mind eons ago ?

 

[John Doe Smith]

So, assuming God only made "good" things, "evil" is actually also good because evil is a necessary component of free-will, which is good. Kind of makes me wonder if people in heaven will have free-will if evil is necessary for it. You need free-will to love and i'm guessing people in heaven will keep loving God. If evil isn't necessary for free-will...

 

[OzSpen]

And if you don't ,then logically you,must believe that God can't influence your will nor you his.
I,have seen that stated.pastors words today on the matter.

He drew a diagram of two circles,mans will under a smaller circle ,Gods will surrounds it and said men I,,this circle have free will,and nothing in,your life ability is outside of God's will.

Jason,

Is your pastor stating that God's will surrounds a person's free will and that nothing in any person's life is outside of God's will?

Does this apply to all people - believers and non-believers - who choose to sexually abuse children and/or rape people? Is a person's free will to murder within God's will?

Is that what your pastor stated or is inferring?

Oz

 

[JohnDB]

So, assuming God only made "good" things, "evil" is actually also good because evil is a necessary component of free-will, which is good. Kind of makes me wonder if people in heaven will have free-will if evil is necessary for it. You need free-will to love and i'm guessing people in heaven will keep loving God. If evil isn't necessary for free-will...

The garden in Eden was good...very good before the snake ever got into it...and so was man.

 

[atpollard]

Unconditional Elections means that there is no way for us to follow a condition set by God to be saved.

IOW, GOD chooses who will be saved and GOD chooses who will be damned.

That is not what Unconditional Election means and you are confusing it with Total Inability in the first sentence and Double Predestination in the second sentenice.

Unconditional Election means that whatever the reason was that God chose to save you (Election), God’s choice was not based on (not conditioned on) anything deserving in us. The opposite would be “Conditional Election” which would claim that God chose to save us because we somehow deserved it more than those that were not saved.

 

[Not_Now.Soon]

Evil is not necessary for free will to exist. There are a lot of choices out there that are not evil. Having free will without sin is the hope I hold for the future when Jesus returns.

 

[OzSpen]

So, assuming God only made "good" things, "evil" is actually also good because evil is a necessary component of free-will, which is good. Kind of makes me wonder if people in heaven will have free-will if evil is necessary for it. You need free-will to love and i'm guessing people in heaven will keep loving God. If evil isn't necessary for free-will...

John DS,

No, evil is not good but evil came about when A & E chose to disobey God and go their own way. This broke the relationship between God and human beings (which is called the sin). Read about it in Genesis 2-3.

Oz

That is not what Unconditional Election means and you are confusing it with Total Inability in the first sentence and Double Predestination in the second sentenice.

Unconditional Election means that whatever the reason was that God chose to save you (Election), God’s choice was not based on (not conditioned on) anything deserving in us. The opposite would be “Conditional Election” which would claim that God chose to save us because we somehow deserved it more than those that were not saved.

ATP,

I agree that Unconditional Election means there is nothing good in any human being to cause God to love and save us.

However, John Calvin went much further than that in explaining predestination/election. John Calvin understood unconditional election involved election to life by some and election to damnation by God. I cannot understand that explanation to synchronise with the God of love, mercy and grace.

Calvin wrote:

5. The predestination by which God adopts some to the hope of life, and adjudges others to eternal death, no man who would be thought pious ventures simply to deny; but it is greatly caviled at, especially by those who make prescience its cause. We, indeed, ascribe both prescience and predestination to God; but we say, that it is absurd to make the latter subordinate to the former (see chap. 22 sec. 1). When we attribute prescience to God, we mean that all things always were, and ever continue, under his eye; that to his knowledge there is no past or future, but all things are present, and indeed so present, that it is not merely the idea of them that is before him (as those objects are which we retain in our memory), but that he truly sees and contemplates them as actually under his immediate inspection. This prescience extends to the whole circuit of the world, and to all creatures. By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death. This God has testified, not only in the case of single individuals; he has also given a specimen of it in the whole posterity of Abraham, to make it plain 2207that the future condition of each nation lives entirely at his disposal: “When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance,” (Deut. 32:8, 9). The separation is before the eyes of all; in the person of Abraham, as in a withered stock, one people is specially chosen, while the others are rejected; but the cause does not appear, except that Moses, to deprive posterity of any handle for glorying, tells them that their superiority was owing entirely to the free love of God. The cause which he assigns for their deliverance is, “Because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them,” (Deut. 4:37); or more explicitly in another chapter, “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people: for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you,” (Deut. 7:7, 8). He repeatedly makes the same intimations, “Behold, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them,” (Deut. 10:14, 15). Again, in another passage, holiness is enjoined upon them, because they have been chosen to be a peculiar people; while in another, love is declared to be the cause of their protection (Deut. 23:5). This, too, believers with one voice proclaim, “He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved,” (Ps. 47:4). (Institutes of the Christian Religion: 3.21.5, paragraph feature added).

Note: Prescience means the act of knowing something in advance, i.e. foreknowledge (Lexico.com 2019. s.v. prescience). However, predestination is '(in Christian theology) the doctrine that God has ordained all that will happen, especially with regard to the salvation of some and not others' (Lexico.com 2019. s.v. predestination).

Calvin did not think too highly of those who regarded foreknowledge as God's cause of salvation. In fact, his words were: 'It is absurd to make the latter (predestination) subordinate to the former (foreknowledge).

(continued)

Oz

 

[OzSpen]

ATP,

(continuation)

The explanation you gave of unconditional election does not agree with Calvin's view. I continue with the quote started above:

The endowments with which God had adorned them, they all ascribe to gratuitous love, not only because they knew that they had not obtained them by any merit, but that not even was the holy patriarch endued with a virtue that could procure such distinguished honor for himself and his posterity. And the more completely to crush all pride, he upbraids them with having merited nothing of the kind, seeing they were a rebellious and stiff-necked people (Deut. 9:6). Often, also, do the prophets remind the Jews of this election by way of disparagement and opprobrium, because they had shamefully revolted from it. Be this as it may, let those who would ascribe the election of God to human worth or merit come forward. When they see that one nation is preferred to all others, when they hear that it was no feeling of respect that induced God to show more favor to a small and ignoble body, nay, even to the wicked and rebellious, will they plead against him for having chosen to give such a manifestation of mercy? But neither will their obstreperous words hinder his work, nor will their invectives, like stones thrown against heaven, strike or hurt his righteousness; nay, rather they will fall back on their own heads. To this principle of a free covenant, moreover, the Israelites are recalled whenever thanks are to be returned to God, or their hopes of the future to be animated. “The Lord he is God,” says the Psalmist; “it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves: we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture,” (Ps. 100:3; 95:7).

The negation 2208which is added, “not we ourselves,” is not superfluous, to teach us that God is not only the author of all the good qualities in which men excel, but that they originate in himself, there being nothing in them worthy of so much honor. In the following words also they are enjoined to rest satisfied with the mere good pleasure of God: “O ye seed of Abraham, his servant; ye children of Jacob, his chosen,” (Ps. 105:6). And after an enumeration of the continual mercies of God as fruits of election, the conclusion is, that he acted thus kindly because he remembered his covenant. With this doctrine accords the song of the whole Church, “They got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favor unto them,” (Ps. 44:3). It is to be observed, that when the land is mentioned, it is a visible symbol of the secret election in which adoption is comprehended. To like gratitude David elsewhere exhorts the people, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance,” (Ps. 33:12).

Samuel thus animates their hopes, “The Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it has pleased the Lord to make you his people,” (1 Sam. 12:22). And when David’s faith is assailed, how does he arm himself for the battle? “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causes to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts,” (Ps. 65:4). But as the hidden election of God was confirmed both by a first and second election, and by other intermediate mercies, Isaiah thus applies the terms “The Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel,” (Isa. 14:1). Referring to a future period, the gathering together of the dispersion, who seemed to have been abandoned, he says, that it will be a sign of a firm and stable election, notwithstanding of the apparent abandonment. When it is elsewhere said, “I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away,” (Isa. 41:9), the continual course of his great liberality is ascribed to paternal kindness. This is stated more explicitly in Zechariah by the angel, the Lord “shall choose Jerusalem again,” as if the severity of his chastisements had amounted to reprobation, or the captivity had been an interruption of election, which, however, remains inviolable, though the signs of it do not always appear (Institutes of the Christian Religion: 3.21.5, paragraph feature added).

Oz

 

[GodsGrace]

God did not predestine the man (which individuals would be saved & lost), He predestined the plan (how men would be saved), Acts 10:34-35; Eph. 1:3-12; Rom. 8:28-30; 10:9-17.

Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

The word translated "evil" is from a Hebrew word kelalah that means adversary, affliction, calamity, distress and misery. This is what God has created and puts on those who are cursed for their rebellion against God. Deuteronomy 27:11-26.

D, I was explaining to Jason what unconditional election is because it seemed like he didn't know.

I don't believe in it --- !

 

[GodsGrace]

Unconditional Elections means that there is no way for us to follow a condition set by God to be saved.

IOW, GOD chooses who will be saved and GOD chooses who will be damned.

Those in hell will not be there because they refused God but because God chose them from birth to end up in hell.

If this sounds like the God of the bible to you...then you are correct in going to a reformed church.

If this does NOT sound like the God of the bible to you,,,then you should change your church and go to one that properly represents the God of love, mercy and justice.

Why the WOW emoticon?
Isn't the above the correct explanation of Unconditional Election?
The U in TULIP....

 

[GodsGrace]

wondering,

But WE are getting older. My grandchildren call me 'old' sometimes. My youngest son, wife and two grandchildren (aged 8 & 4) took me out to lunch yesterday. They are up from Canberra (the ACT) for Christmas.

Oz

Don't feel so bad Oz...to grandchildren a 50 year old is old!
My autistic granddaughter, 19 yrs old now, tells me I'm young and not like my old friends.
LOL

This is because she hears it said that old persons die, so she likes to believe I'm still young. But it still sounds good when she tells me --no matter that it's for that reason...


Good to see the family for the holidays. My son lives too far away (Connecticut) but he does come often and sometimes with the whole family---wife, twin girls 16, and boy 13.

Time flies.

 

[GodsGrace]

wondering,

When I said 'humans created evil', I meant human beings broke their relationship with God by disobeying Him. That's when sin entered the human race.

You say humans cannot create anything. That's a BIG S-T-R-E-T-C-H. Every day I create some writing/article/curriculum lesson using my PC. My brother-in-law creates little tables and chairs from polished timber.

My ex- and late- wife created havoc in my family and her lover's family by getting into bed with the pastor. They created a wreck in the church as well. I will never believe you when you say humans cannot create anything.

Youth around here are creating wrecks of their lives by engaging in the use of illicit drugs - ICE, marijuana, petrol sniffing, etc.

You ask,


The choice to choose one or the other was in him. He made the wrong choice because God gave him the ability to make either a choice for good or evil. That does not mean God made A & E evil.

I think you are asking the wrong question. A better one could be, IMO: How did sin enter the human race? That answer is reasonably simple. It was a direct result of two choices available to A & E. If God were to close down the choice dimension it would have a close-down effect of choices across a whole range of human activities.

I can't imagine what it would be like if I didn't have the choice to eat cooked king prawns than tripe with white sauce. I detest the latter and Mum loved cooking it.



I know what you're driving at but I don't accept your conclusion: There is NO answer to the problem of evil. There is an answer - that I've attempted to show - but your Begging the Question Fallacy prevents your seeing the A & E choices. Why? The premise of your Fallacy is that there is no solution to the problem of evil, so what is your conclusion? There is no answer to solve the origin of evil.

We cannot have a rational conversation with this kind of circular reasoning. Do you understand that?

Oz

You get 3 answers here:

1. create means to make from NOTHING. Only God can create. I did say that we use this term incorrectly these days. It is also used to mean that we take what is ALREADY created (like wood) and make something with it). It is said we create art...etc.

Create.
To create is to cause something to exist which did not exist before, as distinguished from make , to re-form something already in existence.

source: https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/create/


2. No. The correct question is NOT: What caused evil to enter into the human race.

THIS is the EASY question. YOU have started a thread on the DIFFICULT question: NO ANSWERS FOR THE PROBLEM OF EVIL.
The title is correct...it's you and others that cannot accept the answer.

3. I know you don't accept "my" conclusion...and I've said several times that since there is no answer it's pretty useless to continue any discussion with ME - although others could continue.

And it is not MY conclusion: This is the most difficult problem facing Christianity.

Here's the problem:
GOD IS OMNIPOTENT.
GOD IS ALL-GOOD.

So...does God not want evil but cannot stop it?
This would make Him a weak God and not omnipotent.

Does God want evil and so won't stop it?
This would make Him a malevolent God.

And therein lies the problem Christianity faces for which there is no answer.

Choice, as you refer to, has to do with our being human and not being robots. Our choices can cause MORAL EVIL,,,but they cannot cause NATURAL EVIL.