Linux OS & Why God does NOT "permit" evil?

While I set out to write this, I can visualize people branding me as false teacher and heretic. But I write this as a man fearing God and honoring the word of God.

Linux as the example of a miniature creation. Though I am not a big fan of Linux, let us have a minimum agreement that Linux is a fault tolerant and virus proof Operating System (OS). Let us also agree that Linux was single-handedly created by Linus Torvalds.

Linus Torvalds

What Mr. Torvalds has done is to write a 30 million lines of code that can drive a couple of processors, disks, mouse, keyboard and all sort of connections. And the Linux, the all proof OS is born or created.

Given all the resources of all the top 20 billionaires of the world, I am sure, Mr. Torvalds and his pals cannot create the code that can match the genome code of the DNA.

We will come back to Mr. Torvalds in a minute.

There are NO more than One God.

Despite some misunderstanding regarding certain words or verses, there is only one God, whom we can call as Father, because Jesus called Him as Father. (If you are a trinitarian or triune believer or any such thing, I have no quarrel with you, and it no way affects the facts presented here.)

Time and again God says he is unique and there are no gods besides him: Deu 4:35; 1Sa 2:2; 2Sa 7:22; 1Ch 17:20; Isa 45:5,6,21; Isa 47:8-10. Even though the deities of the gentiles, Egyptians, Moabites ... are addressed as gods, we know that they are either considered so by people or are fallen spirits. Anyway, there are no other gods who can create or sustain the universe and all that is within. There is no scripture that say that anyone other than our Father created anything in the universe.

Br. D S P Varma

The Permission of Evil  Why God Permits Evil? is a subject that is as old as Adventist movement. And of all the speakers I have heard, Br. D S P Varma (formerly a Bible Student, and who is the one instrumental in bringing many thousands to the Bible Students fold in various parts of India) is the one who used to present the subject in a most touching and heart rending fashion. You can hardly stop sobbing while he describes the evilness of evil and the cathartic effect of the conclusion of the speech is unmatched! We are shown the wonderful plan for universal salvation and we are all relived in knowing that God has a wonderful plan.

A re-look on the subject: "Why God Permits Evil?"

Our Almighty Father created the universe and all that is within. Things were moving smooth, and from somewhere came in evil and hampered the works of God. The machine was running smooth and someone threw in a spanner! That someone can be Satan or Devil or whatever. So, evil entered into the scene, and God permitted it to have its space!

To anyone who can think logically, the one who caused the evil to enter into the scene should be as powerful as God or even more powerful than Him.

Take this analogy: An motor is running at 1800 RPM, and if you have to halt it with your hand (without disconnecting the power), you should be very strong, more powerful than the motor.

Wait a minute: If this adversary or competitor has to throw in this spanner (evil), the spanner has to be made¹, first.There is no scripture that says anyone other than Almighty Father can create anything, be it material or immaterial things. (Yes, through his son. Jn 1:3; Col 1:16).

Locating / Identifying the creator of Evil.

For the rest of the discussion you may need a device that can display Hebrew text. NO knowledge of Hebrew is required.

The very first time the verb "to create" (created) is used in the Bible is in Gen 1:1

Beginning	Created	God	The	Sky	And	Earth
בראשית	ברא	אלהים	את	השמים	ואת	הארץ

And the very first time the word "evil" is used is in Gen 2:9 (to be brief, only the relevant portion of the verse is included here.)

In	Garden	Tree	of	Good	Evil
בתוך	הגן	ועץ	הדעת	טוב	רע

(Please note that רע may be preceded - in Hebrew preceded means to be on the right side - by additional letters due to grammatical requirements.)

In the entire Old Testament there are only 2 verses where these 2 words come together: Ecc 12:1 and Isa 45:7. Of these Ecc 12:1 is not at all connected with our subject, so here is the analysis of Isa 45:7:

Creator	Light	And	Create	Dark	did	Peace
יוצר	אור	ו	ברא	חשך	עשה	שלום
And	Create	Evil	I	Jehovah	did	All	These
ו	ברא	רע	אני	יהוה	עשה	כל	אלה

Jehovah says that just as He created light and darkness, He created peace and evil. 

I avoided using any known translation to explain this because there are many translations like ESV and NASB that translated "evil" in this verse as "calamity" "disaster" and so on. But in Gen 2:9 they have it as tree of good and evil and NOT as tree of calamity or disaster! So much for the honesty of their translations.

Do I blaspheme by believing and preaching what Jehovah told?

If I say that God permits evil, or allows another entity to throw in a spanner into the work of God, I imply that there is another power or adversary who is capable of outsmarting God. And for all our efforts, we cannot find a verse that says God permitted evil.

While I say that God created evil, I have a verse to support it, and I state that God is in control of the affairs and there is none who can throw in a spanner.

On the contrary, those who teach that Satan / Devil / Adversary created evil and was able to impede the works of God are definitely NOT giving glory to God! They are making that source of evil more powerful than God.

Why God created evil?

There can be plenty of answers, but this one sounds to me as the best:

Jdg 3:1  Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;

Jdg 3:2  Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;

Jdg 3:3  Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.

Jdg 3:4  And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

Evil is created to train and test (prove) God's people. Just as an examination at the end of an academic course.

Back to Linux and Mr. Torvalds

As we have seen,  Mr. Torvalds can create Linux that is fail proof, virus proof ... but cannot create the equivalent of  the genome code of the DNA.

Can't we reasonably expect that the Almighty God will be able to do as good as Mr. Torvalds, if not better? If God desired so, could he not have made the universe evil proof? The answer is an emphatic yes, but that was not his good pleasure.

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1) one can argue that evil is not an object to be created; but the same can be told of spirit also.