If there is a God why is the world in such a mess?

To understand the state of the world you need to understand the beginning of human history. When God created humanity he made a man then a woman. Adam and Eve were not foetuses, nor infants, but adults. God placed them into a beautiful garden that was totally free of decay and death and potentially they could have had an eternal relationship with Him. God also created them with freedom to either obey Him, or disobey Him.

God gave to Adam and Eve one clear command. “You can eat of the fruit of any tree in the garden except this one tree. If you eat of this tree you will die”. Adam and Eve were faced with a challenge. Satan lied to them and tempted them to eat from the one tree that God commanded them not to eat from. And as a result they disobeyed God, or sinned against God.

When God met them after they had eaten the forbidden fruit they knew that they had done wrong and God could no longer allow them to live in the protected environment called the Garden of Eden which was perfect. They were cast out of the garden and as a consequence they had to experience a lot of hardships and suffering including natural disasters, as well as evil behaviour, sickness, aging and eventual death.

The Garden of Eden was perfect, while the world outside the garden has its weaknesses. Adam and Eve’s children and descendants were also disobedient to God as every generation has been since. We have all had to experience conflict with other people, hatred, unfaithfulness, wars, false gods, dishonesty, lust, greed and much more. The reason why the world is in such a mess is because most of the people have not allowed God to be in control of their life. The majority of the world will miss out on going to heaven.

We see this world as our domain and all that it offers us is its limitations. What we need to see is beyond the limitations that the world places on us. God who is our creator wants to do in us, for us and through us far more than we can imagine.

Whether it is natural disasters, or human conflict, or physical disabilities and sicknesses and eventually death, we either view these from a human perspective, or from a Biblical perspective.