[AndrewC]

Isa 45:5 I [am] the LORD, and [there is] none else, [there is] no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that [there is] none beside me. I [am] the LORD, and [there is] none else.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these [things].
Isa 45:8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
Isa 45:9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! [Let] the potsherd [strive] with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

[VadeRetro]

I guess the key section was this:

I make peace, and create evil.

A surprisingly bland admission. Does He know He's undercutting ALS?

[js1138]

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these

I was aware of this sentiment from Job. It does have a nice consistency to it.

I guess the question should be, is the creation of evil a deliberate act, or a side effect? An theistic evolutionist would argue that evil happens because the structure of reality includes enough freedom for unplanned things to evolve, not necessarily because E. coli seemed like a good idea.

Since these things are beyond our capacity to understand, I approach them intutitively. I believe God and we are alive, meaning capable of change, not crystalized in some predetermined, static image.