If God Exists Then Why Is There Death And Suffering In The World?

One of the most common questions for people who are not sure whether or not God exists is "Why is there so much death and suffering in the world? Would a loving God allow such things?" This is a very good question and interestingly enough the answer is found at the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis chapter 3. Unfortunately most people have never read even the first few chapters of the Bible.

We read that in the beginning everything about creation was perfect, including Adam and Eve which were the first two human beings. God had made for them many trees to eat from, but forbid them from eating from one tree known as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told them that if they ate of this tree, they would surely die. In summary, Satan who is an enemy of God tricked Eve into eating from this tree by calling God a liar. Eve ate from the tree and also gave some to Adam which brought about what is known as "the fall of mankind."

This was the very first human sin against God because it disobeyed the direct command of God. Since God is a perfect God who demands perfection, sinning or "missing the mark" is completely unacceptable and demands severe punishment. This first sin brought about all of the pain and suffering we see around us today as explained in chapter 3 of Genesis, and the reason we humans die is because of our sin and the sin we inherited from Adam. Most people do not like this explanation of why pain and suffering exists and refuse to believe it.

Next we must answer the question as to why a "loving God" would allow us to suffer and die in the first place. This question arises from our complete lack of perspective and understanding as to the nature of God and how terrible our sin is to Him. God is perfectly Holy and Just, and a just God must punish sinners for their sin. The truth of the matter is that we all deserve to die the instant we are born, and the fact that God graciously allows us to live any sort of life on this planet at all shows his general "love" for us. If we truly understood how terribly evil our sin was to God, we would see this clearly.

There is a good ending to this story, however. God has promised that one day he will end all pain and suffer for those people who put their faith in Him and what He has done for us on the cross. Jesus Christ died for the sins of those who would believe in Him and secured their salvation by enduring the wrath of God that was due to us. The wrath of God abides and remains on those who choose to deny Him, however, and so the Bible commands us to repent of our sins and believe in Jesus Christ.