____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER ____________________________________________________ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ November 11, 2007 ____________________________________________________ Contents: 1) Have Ye Not Read? (Hoyt H. Houchen) 2) Theistic Evolution -- Denial of the Record (Jim R. Everett) 3) Why We Sing and Do Not Play (Robert F. Turner) ____________________________________________________ -1- Have Ye Not Read? by Hoyt H. Houchen Question: Please explain Isaiah 45:7 where God says, "I create evil." Does not only good come from God? Reply: We read in Isaiah 45:7: "I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am Jehovah, that doeth all these things." This verse raises the question: did God actually create only good? God's original creation was very good (Gen. 1:31). Also, we are told that God "cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man" (Jas. 1:13). Since God is moral (sinless), moral evil is contrary to His very nature. God, then, does not create moral evil. In what sense does God create evil? The NASB translates Isaiah 45:7: "The one forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all this." The word rendered by the NASB, "calamity," is the Hebrew word rah, which basically means "evil" (either moral or misfortune evil). God is addressing Cyrus (v. 1), the Medo-Persian king who was later to "subdue kingdoms." Specifically, he would capture Babylon because of the wickedness that prevailed in that city. God was using Cyrus as His instrument to inflict this punishment. The prophecy was uttered more than a hundred years before Cyrus was born, but it was all literally fulfilled. So, in view of the meaning of the Hebrew word in the verse, and the context of the verse, the word "evil" which God creates refers to the calamities as punishment upon wicked nations. God, therefore, does not create moral evil, but calamities or misfortunes come upon man as a result of his sin (see Ezek. 18:20; Rom. 5:12; 6:23; Jas. 1:14,15). There are instances in the Old Testament when God brought calamity upon people as a result of their moral evil or wickedness. Because of wickedness, God destroyed the earth with water, sparing only Noah and his family (Gen. 6:5-8). God afflicted the Egyptians with ten plagues because of the hardness of Pharaoh's heart (Ex. 7-12). God smote the Philistines with a great discomfiture and tumors while the ark of the covenant was among them (1 Sam. 5:9). Hell is created by God for those who are disobedient to His will (Matt. 25:41; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Rev. 21:8; etc.) These are examples of evil which God created -- calamity, adversity, misfortune -- all punishment as a result of moral evil. He did not create the moral evil. God created man a free moral agent. When man violates God's moral law, it is man, not God who is responsible for moral evil. In 1 Samuel 16:14, we are told, "Now the Spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Jehovah troubled him." This verse has posed a problem for some in that they assume that this is a cause of moral evil coming directly from God. But actually, Saul's sin broke fellowship with God, and God allowed the evil spirit to trouble him. Again, this serves as an example of the evil consequences that come upon those guilty of sin or moral evil. The same truth is illustrated again in Saul's case (1 Sam. 18:10). God is the author of moral law and He is also the author of consequences which follow because of the violation of that law (1 Jn. 3:4). Not all physical disasters today such as floods, tornadoes and earthquakes are due to sin (Lk. 13:1-5). Christians suffer in such calamities along with the wicked. Neither is it to be supposed that all suffering or affliction is the result of sin (see Jn. 9:2). In fact, Christians may suffer affliction as a means of chastisement (Heb. 12:7-9). Persecution is an example (2 Tim. 3:12). Chastisement of Christians should motivate them to greater faith. We all suffer misfortunes in life -- illness, disappointments, loss of loved ones and many more, but the Christian looks forward to heaven where none of these exist. Men do often blame God for consequences which result from their moral evil. A simple solution is not always found for the problem of evil in the world, but we do know that God does not create moral evil and we can always be assured that whatever God does is right and in harmony with His moral character (Gen. 18:25). -- Via Guardian of Truth XXXI: 4, p. 101, February 19, 1987 ____________________________________________________ -2- Theistic Evolution -- Denial Of The Record by Jim R. Everett Atheistic evolution is an unscientific hypothesis because it affirms that life came from nothing. Theistic evolution is an unwarranted compromise and a denial of the record of creation (Genesis 1-2). No man can believe the Bible to be God's absolute truth while accepting evolution as man's explanation of how God created. The difference between "atheistic evolution" and "theistic evolution" is the acceptance by theists that God gave the first spark of life -- from that point on, the theories are basically the same. Certainly, there can be no objection to men studying "how" God created man as long as he recognizes a difference between "creation" and "evolution." The first two chapters of Genesis do not give a detailed discourse on "how" God created. However, theories that deny the simple record of Genesis cannot be accepted. I believe that the modern-day theory called "theistic evolution" denies some very simple, fundamental facts; therefore, it must be rejected. For instance, God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," and then the record states, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them" (Genesis 1:26a, 27). How is man made in the likeness of God? It is not the body likeness, because God has no physical body (John 4:23-24). And, it cannot be mere physical life, for animals and trees have life. It must be spirit likeness, because God is spirit. How could man have been "made in God's image," if he simply evolved from lower animals? At what point in the so-called "evolutionary" process did man not posses the image of God and then evolve into God's likeness? Theistic evolutionists have to affirm that there is no difference between lower animals and man. This denies the record of creation. The theistic evolutionist, while claiming to believe in God and evolution at the same time, finds himself beset by many problems. If he truly believes in God, he must accept the word of God as being true. But the account in Genesis 1:26-27, contradicts the theory of evolution. What are his choices? He must fault the Genesis record of creation or he must deny the essential claims of evolution. If he denies the Genesis record, he cannot be a true believer in God and His authority. If he denies the "evolving" atheistic evolution postulates, he cannot be an evolutionist. Atheistic evolution denies the existence of God -- theistic evolution denies the authority and power of God. There is no difference in the consequences of the two! -- Via Bulletin from the Cedar Park church of Christ ____________________________________________________ -3- Why We Sing and Do Not Play by Robert F. Turner True Christians are committed to the principle that Christ is their king, and that their worship and service to Him must be authorized in His word. They believe they have no right to "speak where He has not spoken" (GOD'S WORK IN GOD'S WAY); hence, seek to answer religious questions by citing divine will. We are not under the Old Testament (2 Cor. 3:11-18) nor is our worship determined by figurative descriptions of heaven (Rev. 14:2); so David's harp and heavenly "voices" have no bearing upon our subject. We are concerned with New Testament authority for music in worship, and here present all passages that deal with this subject. Perhaps you can decide why we sing and do not play. Matt. 26:30, "when they had sung a hymn" Mark 14:26, "when they had sung a hymn" Acts 16:25, "prayed, and sang praises unto God" Rom. 15:9, "confess to thee...and sing unto thy name" 1 Cor. 14:15, "Sing with the spirit, and...understanding" Eph. 5:19, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." Col. 3:16, "teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Heb. 2:12, "in the midst of the church will I sing" Jas. 5:13, "Is any merry? let him sing psalms" To avoid the force of these passages some appeal to PSALLO, the Greek word translated "sing" ("making melody" Eph. 5:19) because in earlier Greek it meant to "pluck, twang, as the strings of a harp, or carpenter's chalk line." But its N.T. meaning was "sing" as the translators testify. Further, if it does mean "play a harp," ALL worshipers would have to do so in order to obey these commands. No "psalloing" would be acceptable without the instrument. Appeals to popularity, love of the arts, church traditions, etc., fall far short of providing divine authority for instrumental music in the worship. Secular history points to 666 A.D. as the date for the first use of mechanical music in worship by church authority -- and that is far from God's way. Our plea, with reference to mechanical music in worship, is exactly like that for congregational independence and recognition of the work of the church. We believe divine authority is established by precept, approved example, and necessary inference. The only safe course is within these bounds. -- Via Plain Talk, August 1964 ____________________________________________________ MYRTLE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST 1022 Myrtle Street Denham Springs, LA 70726 (225) 664-8208 Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM Wednesday: 7:00 PM evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520 e-mail: tedwards@onemain.com web site: http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go ____________________________________________________