Did God Create Evil?

Science tells us that darkness is the absence of light. Sunday school taught me that God created light and that, without light, there would be only darkness. But if that is true, would darkness have preeminence? If there were no God, would darkness prevail?

I believe that, for good to shine, evil must exist as a contrast. Likewise, for evil to be defined, there must be a standard of good.

Colossians 1:17–18 says, “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”

For God to have preeminence, He must stand before all things. Nothing can precede Him or exist independently of Him—not even darkness.

Isaiah 45:7 says, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.”

God, then, is not merely one side of the coin. He is not simply half of the equation. If darkness existed independently of Him, or if anything stood outside His sovereignty, how would He have preeminence in all things? How would He be God?