Did God create evil?  If so, is there evil in Him?

Sincerely,
Dark Detector

Dear Dark Detector,

God didn’t create evil; the devil did.  The Bible says that Satan is the father of lies (Jhn 8:44).  Sin only exists when we turn our backs on God.  Sin is a lot like darkness.  Darkness isn’t really a thing – it is the absence of light.  God is the Father of lights and every good thing (Jas 1:17)... there is no evil in God.  When we stop following the Lord, we no longer walk in the light.  Evil is the absence of godliness.  Evil is what you get when you remove God’s design.

Is going to poker rooms sinful?  I believe poker is wrong and that it is sinful.

Sincerely,
All Out

Dear All Out,

The Bible never specifically mentions gambling as a sin, but it doesn’t have to be specifically mentioned to be wrong.  There are a great many things surrounding gambling that are sinful.  Consider that:

1. Gambling focuses around money and greed.  God warns us clearly about being fixated with money (1 Tim 6:10, Heb 13:5).  God wants us to be satisfied with our income (Eccl 5:10).  Contentment is a major component of spiritual maturity (1 Tim 6:6).
2. Gambling is used as a means to gain money without working for it.  God finds pleasure in people working for their livelihood (2 Thess 3:10-12, Pr 10:4).
3. Gambling wastes money because, ultimately, the house does always win.  God expects us to be good stewards (1 Cor 4:2) and save for the future (Pr 6:6-8).
4. Gambling and the places where gambling occurs are often associated with other sinful things.  There is a reason Las Vegas is called “Sin City”.  That industry is not one that a christian should be supporting (2 Cor 6:16-17).
5. Gambling is addictive.  We can only have one master (Lk 16:13).

Why do we have people with different colors of skin?

Sincerely,
Color Blind

Dear Color Blind,

We all came from Adam and Eve (Gen 3:20).  Eventually, mankind was scattered across the whole earth after the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:9).  Different races were created as these scattered groups became more isolated.  This is very similar to how you see parents and children looking alike – they share noticeable physical traits because they are closely related.  The groups that were scattered from the Tower of Babel were isolated by their language differences, and therefore only married amongst their specific language group.  This isolated intermarrying created distinct physical characteristics that differentiated one group from another (i.e. skin color, eye shape, face shape, hair color).  The different races of the world are nothing more than large family groups created after the Tower of Babel.

God bless you, brethren.  I keep hearing among professing believers that we can "bind ourselves" with our words.  Is this of any truth?  If I were to have said something like, "being single all your life is not that bad", am I now bound to being single all my life?  Or if I said something like, "God sometimes has a higher purpose than to heal us as he did with Paul", am I now bound to never receiving healing from God?

Sincerely,
Restricted

Dear Restricted,

Christians are bound by their words but not in the way you are talking about.  Jesus tells us that we should make sure our “yes is yes and no is no.” (Matt 5:37).  When a Christian says they will do something, they need to follow through.  Part of having Christian character is being the type of person that keeps your promises.  In that sense, we are bound by our words.
However, you are talking about making statements that aren’t vows, merely observations or opinions.  That is an entirely different matter.  The Bible doesn’t teach anything about those types of statements binding a person.

Does Bigfoot exist?

Sincerely,
On The Look Out

Dear On The Look Out,

We have absolutely no idea.  More and more of God's wonderful creatures are discovered every year.  It may just be that someone will find Bigfoot someday... or that animal may just be a myth.