Trying to nail down this "origin of evil and sin" question.

[Winston]

It has been a struggle for about 10 years. I have read book after book, read article after article. I have argued on Christianforums.com with Calvinists and Arminians, trying to understand this.

Recently I read a sermon from about 15 years ago where the man was saying this:

God may hate a thing as it is in itself, and considered simply as evil, and yet . . . it may be his will it should come to pass, considering all consequences.

Later, he said this:

[God's] will of decree [or sovereign will] is not his will in the same sense as his will of command [or moral will] is. Therefore it is not difficult at all to suppose that the one may be otherwise than the other: his will in both senses is his inclination. But when we say he wills virtue, or loves virtue or the happiness of his creature; thereby is intended that virtue or the creature

 

[Ransom]

And it is demonstrably true from the Scriptures themselves.

Joseph rightly recognized that his brothers did evil when they sold him as a  slave.  Yet, God "meant it for good" (Gen. 50:20).  God hates that very thing, and under the Mosaic Law it merited death (Exod. 21:16).  Yet he decreed that one of the Patriarchs would be sold as a slave by his own brothers, so that his chosen nation could survive and grow in Egypt.