by Peg Lewis

Created on: August 23, 2008

God is responsible for both good and bad. The underlying reason is God's greatest gift to mankind, the gift of choice, also known as agency.

God has given mankind his agency and will not interfere with it. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were allowed to choose for themselves whether to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Two elements of agency emerge from this story. First, evil co-existed with good right here in this heaven on Earth, a creation of God, in the form of this tree. And second, the man and the woman were given a choice - a choice given by God, not cynically, but with his full knowledge that Adam and Eve could easily choose to err.

God, while entirely good, recognizes the need of mankind to choose for himself so that he can learn from his experience. If a man or a woman is to grow and mature spiritually, mistakes must be made. When a baby learns to walk, it is through steps and falls. The same is true of all development and growth.

So God is responsible for the existence of good and evil, but is God then responsible for the errors made by each human being? No. Each person knows what is right and wrong, and through the great gift of choice makes a decision concerning what direction to take. This decision is entirely the responsibility of the person who makes it, and he or she will be held accountable for that decision.

Of course in reality many decisions are made throughout each day, and no one sets out to make mistakes. As life goes on, the bad choices may accumulate, or wisdom may develop and bad choices diminish. But even under the best of conditions, no one makes good choices all the time.

The consequences of bad choices could be eternally fatal, but when God gave the gift of choice, he also provided a Savior to pay the debt, and arranged for forgiveness for anyone who would repent. Repentance means change, and for anyone who sincerely seeks to change his ways, forgiveness is given and the debt is paid off.

So in an ultimate way, God takes responsibility for both good and evil. He has created us as beings with choice, with the ability to err (as well as to do great good). And he has created a process by which we can return to him so we are not lost due to our errors, so that evil need not prevail.

The next time you hear someone ask, "how could God have let that happen", remember that God will never remove his greatest gift, the gift of choice, from us - and with choice come errors, pain, and suffering, as well as joy and happiness. He tolerates bad things to preserve choice, an essential element of our path back to him. These two elements, agency to do good or evil, and repentance for errors, encompass God's responsibilities.

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