Did God Create Weeds?

I mentioned at our last meeting that the question of the source of evil is central to apocalyptic (as it will remain when we begin to look at gnostic literature later in the semester).

I paraphrased the question: Did God create weeds?

And to the man he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. --Genesis 3:17-18

In big, philosophical terms, this is known as "theodicy". Here's a link to the wikipedia article.

Here's the short-form of the problem: If God created everything, and God is perfectly good, where does evil come from?

You all correctly connected the problem to the question of free will last week, and that will continue to play a major role in our readings.

So, for tomorrow, think about what you've read with these three questions in mind:

How does the text explain the presence of evil in the world?
Where does free will come into play?
How should faithful people respond to evil in the world, or what do we do now that the cat is out of the bag?