Expert: Dean Gade - 11/17/2005

Question
Why did God create evil then make people's lives miserable if they persued evil?  

Answer
God DIDN'T create evil.  Evil(in the sense it is usually known) is the ABSENCE of the good God created.

It's much like "cold".  Except when there is too much heat, cold doesn't have to be created...it is the absence of heat. All A/C does is "remove" heat.

Thus the "orginal" sin came when Adam and Eve disregarded God and did what they wanted instead.  

Gen 3:6
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.
(from New International Version)

Evil is still "produced" when people do not follow God...and that includes us Christians, who will not be perfect till we leave this body behind.

God DID punish man by cursing the earth to make work disagreable and childbirth difficult.  That too can make life "miserable" but He did not cause the evil that people do to each other or to the world.

We who have been reborn have a better chance of not doing evil because God's Spirit is within us empowering us to hear and follow Him.