Old Testament
Good & Evil in the Old Testament
God's Grace Revealed from Creation (Genesis 1-31) After God has created the heavens and the earth, He "saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was VERY GOOD" (Genesis 1:31) God's creation was a manifestation of his love and his Grace for all mankind.. Of all the creations of God, only man was made in the image and likeness of God. To further demonstrate his love, when the Lord made Adam and Eve, He personally formed them with His own hands. This act reveals that the Lord God intended from the very beginning to have a personal and close relationship with them. A fresh Start - (Genesis 6-9) As the years passed God's people grew more and more evil. God looked at the world and saw that it was not as he had wanted it to be. God decided to put an end to it all and have a fresh start. God would send a huge flood to wash all evil away but he would save Noah and his family. he asked noah to prepare for the flood and build an ark which would house his family and gather two of every kind of animal in the world. For forty days and nights it rained and flooded the earth. Finally the flood was over and God made a decision to never again destroy all living things by a flood. Whenever you see a rainbow in the sky think of my promise and be sure that I will keep it. This story shows signs of good and evil as God was angry and punished his people however if his goodness he shows mercy and makes a pledge to never destroy earth again Good & Evil in the New Testament Jesus tempted in the Desert (Matthew 4:1-11) The Gospel speaks of the time of solitude for Jesus in the desert after his Baptism. Driven by the spirit into the desert Jesus remains there for forty days. At the end of his time Satan tempts him three times seeking to tempt Jesus into sin. The first trial from the devil asks Jesus to break his fasting and turn the stone into bread. In the second temptation the devil offers jesus all the kingdoms of th world if he will worship him. The final trial involves the devil trying to get Jesus to put God to the test. On all three occasions Jesus rebukes the Devil by quoting Deuteronomy and eventually leaves the desert and is praised by God. Throughout this story we experience first hand the evil nature of satan to take advantage of Jesus when he was most vulnerable and weak. To his credit Jesus was strong enough to resist these temptations overcoming the presence of evil. Feeding Five Thousand People (Matthew 14) We experience first hand throughout this story the goodness shown by Jesus to feed a group of 5000 hungry people. Jesus puts his disciples to the test and asks them to feed the starving crowd. They are unsure of what to do and feel the task is impossible. However after thanking God for the food Jesus takes five barley loaves and two small fish and turns it into a feast for a large group of people. The crowd have enough to eat and the left overs are collected. He shows his disciples and the crowd his goodness and compassion and asks them all to have faith. |