Did God Create Evil?

Q. I have been subscribing to GracethruFaith.com for a couple of months, and continue to learn from your wonderful website daily.  My question is this:  If God is the Creator of all things, the Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent One of all there is, was and ever will be, did He, in all of his Wisdom and Knowing, also create Evil?   And if so, why?   And, if He did not, why doesn’t God, who is all-powerful, destroy Evil?

A.  Here’s what Paul wrote in  Colossians, 1:16 :

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

If you take the phrase all things to mean everything, as I do, you have to include evil. I think it’s more accurate to say He created the potential for evil in all beings.  And then you see that all things were also created for Him, so this potential for evil must serve some purpose of His.  That purpose is to give us a choice.  During our lifetimes we can observe the effects of both good and evil and can make an informed decision as to which we’ll choose.  Otherwise, deciding to align ourselves with God would have no meaning either to us or to Him, because we really wouldn’t have a choice.