“If God is the so called “Supreme Being”, why is there War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime and corruption?”
This is a question that I have received several times in my emails so I thought I would post the answer on here so others can read my answer.
There hasn’t always been War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime and corruption. In Genesis Chapter one we hear the account of how God created the Earth. Several times He says that it was good, but in Verse 31 it says, “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Everything that God made was perfect.
So what happened?
Adam and Eve, the first Man and Woman, were allowed to live in the garden of Eden and were given the fruit of EVERY tree in the garden to eat, except for ONE: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
But Satan, disguised as a serpent, tricked Eve by lying to her, and she disobeyed God. She ate the fruit from that tree and gave some to Adam to eat too. They had disobeyed the one rule that God had made. They had disobeyed God. Now because God is Holy and righteous (without sin) He has to punish sin and He judged Adam and Eve. (You can read these judgements in detail in Genesis Chapter 3) Basically their sin brought death into the world. Instant spiritual death and also the beginning of physical death.
So what has that to do with War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime and corruption?
The events that took place in the garden of Eden were the beginning of all these things. Sin, hatred, sickness disease etc all became worse and worse and all people will now die. The ultimate proof of your sin is your death. (Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”)
In a way death was a gift from God to escape from this wicked sinful world. Possibly God had to throw Adam and Eve out of the garden so they didn’t eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life because if they had they may have been stuck on this earth forever. Now we can get rid of these sinful bodies and be given new bodies. This world is going to get worse and worse until finally Jesus returns to destroy this fallen earth and make a new earth. In the meantime if we recognise our sin, repent of it, ask Jesus to take our punishment for us, then trust in Him, we can have eternal life with God.
Why is it God’s fault?
If you drive down the road and see a car all crashed up and bent with it’s windows smashed, do you say, ” Hey, Henry Ford, why is that car like that? You made it, it must be your fault!!” No! It isn’t Henry Ford’s fault that the car is in a mess. Neither is it God’s fault that the world is in a mess. When He made it, it was perfect. He gave man the opportunity to live in the garden of Eden, in a perfect paradise, for as long as they wanted. No suffering, no weeds, no backache!! But they chose to sin against God. They only had one rule and they sinned!! Just like you and I would have done too. Wars are caused by hatred and greed in man’s heart, as is hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime and corruption.
As well as God’s curse on mankind He also cursed the ground, and the earth is groaning as it falls apart. There are going to be more earthquakes, disasters, disease, etc. The only thing God promises He will never do again is flood the whole earth with water, as He did in Noah’s day. The flood was God’s judgement on wicked man and He gave mankind the chance to start again and guess what we did? Exactly the same as we did before. The Bible says that God is going to destroy this earth, and make a New Heaven and a New earth. We don’t know exactly when God is going to do this, but He gives us signs to look out for and it appears that there isn’t much time left. God is very patient and is giving people the chance to turn to Him first, but one day He will keep His word and it will be too late.
So instead of asking, “Why is there so much suffering in the world?” shouldn’t the question be, “Why doesn’t God just destroy us all? Why does He allow us to drink a cool glass of water and see a beautiful sunset?”
God is very patient. As we see a glimpse of what God’s wrath is going to be like we need to count it as a warning of what is to come. God made Hell for the devil and his angels, but God can’t and wont let sinners in to Heaven. The results of our sin is hurting others around the world, but most of all it is hurting God. He will not force anyone to come to Him, but He wants us to look around and see the results of our sin and call out to Him.
If you want to follow through a study that will help you understand better you can go to Finding God’s Way. This is a 4 lesson study from the Bible that will explain what God has done for you in more detail.
I hope this has helped to answer some of your questions. If you have any further questions after you have gone through Finding God’s Way then let me know.
Have a great day
Deborah Drapper
Take a look at Paul Grover’s website and see some of the suffering caused by wars and conflicts around the world today. Paul is an amazing photographer that I met when “The Telegraph” did an article about me back in March. Thanks Paul for letting me use your photo.
