To all who believe the Bible is the inerrant words of God, 1 Kings 22:23, how to explain this verse...?

Question

...in light of previous verses and the verses following? It seems to say that God does evil.

Explain please; I am not an atheist. E-mail me if the explanation is too long, please.

To Randy G:

We are to be "imitators of God" Ephesians 5:1-2. If this is true then in light of your explanation we can do evil if we are pure in heart and have pure intentions?

To, Ex Christian;

Modern science, indeed all science, is completely neutral about God; it has to be by the definition of the scientific method. That is not to say many scientists are not neutral; many are skeptics. I am a scientist however, a member of AAAS, and I believe in God. I do not let that belief interfere in the objectivity of my work. Neither should any christian let his beliefs interfere in his objective view of nature as studied by the scientific method. Religious beliefs are closely tied in with HOPE, which "springs eternal in the human breast."

Mad Mac

To jalapenomex,

Not much time left. The evil is allowing,indeed doing, the deed of putting a lying spirit in all Ahab's prophets, "The Lord has spoken evil concerning you." This is in the Revised Standard Version."

Answer 1

Ahab should have waited for a word from God himself.

Answer 2

Ahab was not a Godly King and his prophets were not either. God knew exactly what was going to happen and therefore let it happen, Miciah, Gods true prophet told the truth but was punished for it. If Ahab would have listened to Micaih would he have gotten into trouble, no, but nothing was going to change ahabs mind and God was not going to intervene and over ride Ahabs freewill, thus the lying spirit of the old devil took ahab to hell with him. God is holy and a righteous Judge, if we donot get saved to day and born again we will face the same thing Ahab did, that lying spirit of the devil is alive and working today, and he is taking a lot of people with him, have you been saved, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, if not you can do so right now, just say this sinners prayer and you can make it right with God, Dear Jesus, I know and confess that I am sinner in need of salvation. I believe you died on a cross at calvery and arose from the grave to wash away my sins, I ask you right now to come into my heart and save me, I pray this Prayer believing in the name of Jesus Amen. If you prayed this prayer with a sincere heart you are now a child of God, rejoice that your name is written in the Lambs book of Life. If you have any questions just send me an email, God Bless YOU!!

Answer 3

Even evil serves some good purpose, otherwise God would not allow it to exist.

According to the Bible, the Devil cannot do anything without God's permission, so God is indirectly responsible for everything that happens, even evil things. However, God allows evil to exist for good reasons, so God is blameless since his motives are always pure.

===edit===

"We are to be "imitators of God" Ephesians 5:1-2. If this is true then in light of your explanation we can do evil if we are pure in heart and have pure intentions?"

Only if you are infallible and can foresee all possible outcomes. You cannot disobey God with good intentions, so I would assume that the answer to your question is usually "no" (1 John 1:5-9).

However, it is possible that you may be in a situation where there you have no good choices available to you, so you would have to choose the lesser of two evils. A good example of this is the decision of a nation to go to war and kill the enemy when one has no other alternative. Or to kill someone in self defense, or in defense of another person.

Common sense suggests that evil cannot exist unless God allows it to, so God must know that eventually even evil serves some greater purpose. However, Satan is still punished for what he does, even though he is indirectly serving God's will, because his subjective intent is to rebel against God, not serve him

Answer 4

I don't know if you read the whole chapter, but what it is explaining is that God is testing Ahab. In the Bible God tests alot. He test you for how strong your faith is. Yes most people say that the God of the Old Testament was evil, but if you think about it He wasn't, He was punishing them for their sins. People in the Old Testament times didn't have any Bible to go by, so God presented extrordinary miracles and talked to people directly or sent an angle. We still see miracles today and very few hear the exact voice of God like they did in the Old Testement times. God did all those things to prove to people that He was real, and those who still diobeyed Him got a really bad punishment, because they didn't have a Bible to go by so God plainly told them the law and showed them who He is.

Answer 5

James 1:13:
When under trial, let no one say:
"I am being tried by God."
For with evil things God cannot be tried
nor does He Himself try anyone.

So, then
we should look for a reasonable explanation.
1 that is in harmony w/ all Scripture.

Power Guided by Purpose:
God uses power to create,
to destroy, to protect, to restore--
in short, to do whatever suits His perfect purposes.---
Isa 46:10
In some instances,
Jehovah uses His power to reveal important aspects
of His personality and standards.
Above all, He directs His power to fulfill His will---
to vindicate His sovereignty and sanctify
His holy name by means of the Messianic Kingdom.
Nothing can ever thwart that purpose.

Why the God of Peace is Compelled to Fight:
After praising God as "a manly person of war,"
Moses declared:
"Who among the gods is like you,O Jehovah?
Who is like you, proving yourself mighty in holiness?"---
Ex 15:11.
The prophet Habakkuk similarly wrote:
"You are too pure in eyes to see what is bad;
and to look on trouble you are not able." Hab 1:13.
Although Jehovah is a God of love,
He is also a God of holiness, righteousness, and justice.
At times, such qualitites compel Him to use His destructive
power--Isa 59:15-19; Luke 18:7.
So God does not blemish His holiness when He fights.
Rather, He fights 'because' He is holy. Ex 39:30.

Answer 6

I guess I'll preface my remarks by saying that God has OFTEN allowed calamity and judgment to fall upon people, groups, and nations throughout the Bible-it practically permeates the writings of the prophets, the law, and is even found in the words of Jesus, when he pronounced doom on Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum (Matt 11:20-24). Ahab was a wicked king, despite all that God had shown him through His prophets, through miracles, and through military victories. "Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him. And he acted very abominably in following idols.." (1 Kings 21:25,26). Specifically, Ahab was-in the section of Scripture which you quoted-being judged for his failure to kill the cruel Aramean King Ben-hadad, whom God had delivered into Ahabs hand three years previously. This account is found in 1Kings chapter 20, and Gods death sentence upon Ahab is pronounced through a prophet in verse 42 of that chapter. God ultimately is the one Who allows for all judgment to fall: "The One forming the light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all this." (Isaiah 45:7) "If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?" (Amos 3:6). God has always set before people blessings for obedience, and calamity for disobedience. Read Deuteonomy, chapters 27 and 28, and Leviticus chapter 26. And He will do so yet again, when He brings judgement upon the entire world, as written in the Book of Revelation, and in so many books of the prophets.

Answer 7

What was the evil that God had done? Which version of the Bible are you reading? I know the KJV has some things which can easily be confused because of the poor choice of words used by the early English translators....

Answer 8

Hi, Mad Mac.

The verse in question:

" 'By what means?' the LORD asked.
" 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said.
" 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the LORD. 'Go and do it.'

This verse implies that God does evil, which is not true. This is the kind of writing that stumps those who take biblical inerrancy as a matter of faith. Jesus was not one of those people.

For example, in Matthew 19:8:
Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning."

The Bible is a collection of sacred writings that Hebrews and Christians recognize as inspired. But God alone is infallible. True Christianity is a religion of the Word, who is Jesus Christ, and not a religion of a miraculous book.

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 9

Regarding 1 Kings 22.

Pagan prophets of Baal, lying spirits, told the King what he wanted to hear. Micaiah, son of Imlah, was a prophet of God. He told the truth.

Does God allow angels to entice people to do evil?
To understand evil one must understand God.
1. God himself is good (Psalm 11:7)
2. God created a good world that fell because of man’s sin (Romans 5:12)
3. Someday God will recreate the world, and it will be good again (Revelation 21:1)
4. God is stronger than evil (Matthew 13:41-43; Revelation 19:11-21)
5. God allows evil, and thus he has control over it. God did not create evil, and he offers help to those who wish to overcome it (Matthew 11:28-30)
6. God uses everything—both good and evil—for his good purposes (Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28).

The Bible shows us a God who hates all evil and will one day do away with it completely and forever (Rev 20:10-15).

God does not entice anyone to become evil. Those committed to evil, however, may be used by God to sin even more in order to hurry their deserved judgment (Exodus 11:10).

We don’t need to understand every detail of how God works in order to have perfect confidence in his absolute power over evil and his total goodness toward us.

The book of Kings begins with a nation united under David, the most devout king in Israel's history. The book ends with a divided kingdom and the death of Ahab, the most wicked king of all. The people forgot to acknowledge God as their ultimate leader; they appointed human leaders who ignored God; and they conformed to the life-styles of these evil leaders. Failing to acknowledge God as our ultimate leader is the first step toward ruin.

Hope this helps. God Bless You!

Answer 10

In Hebrew thought, that which is stated positively can be understood negativly--viz. God may be said to "commit" an evil act if He allows an evil act to take place. In modern Western terms, God has a reason for allowing the evil, and is thus doing good.