A Broken Life

                                          

Many people, including Christians, often ask - "when God loves us why does He allow bad things to happen to us? Why is there so much suffering, death and disaster in the world, affecting mostly everyone?"

The answer lies in the fall of Adam and Eve, a fact we gloss over as a story in Sunday school but is in fact the very foundation of our lives today. It highlights the seriousness of thier act of disobedience and rebellion. It all comes down to choices - what we choose to do as opposed to what God would like us to do.

Christianity teaches that God created humanity with free will—the genuine ability to choose between good and evil. This freedom is considered a necessary component for true love and a meaningful relationship with God. However, with the gift of free will comes the possibility of choosing sin, which introduced evil, pain, and suffering into the world. How?

Human Choice: Many theologians argue that a significant portion of the suffering in the world is a direct result of human choices, both on an individual and a collective level. God could intervene to prevent every instance of harm, but doing so would essentially negate free will and turn humanity into robots, incapable of genuine love, morality, or relationship with Him.

The biblical story of the Fall in Genesis describes how humanity's first choice to disobey God brought about a brokenness that affects all of creation. This is the origin of a world we made - where natural disasters, disease, and other forms of suffering are present, not because God wills them, but because of the consequences of that one act of rebellion.

God did not remove His hedge of perfect protection: we chose to walk out of it. Reason: curiosity, ambition, selfishness, greed,

So now we have to prove ourselves

As a consequence of Adam's disobedience, God "cursed" the ground (Genesis 3:17). This is a metaphorical way of saying that the world was no longer in its pristine, perfect state. It became subject to futility, decay, and disorder.

​Think of Adam as the CEO of a company. When he makes a disastrous decision (his act of disobedience), the entire company (the human race) suffers the consequences. The company's future is ruined, and the effects of that decision (like bankruptcy) affect every employee, even if they had no say in the choice. In this analogy, the "bankruptcy" is the reality of spiritual death, physical decay, and suffering that now defines the human experience.

​In summary, Adam's act of disobedience brought disaster and death into the world not as a simple, individual punishment, but as a fundamental, corporate change in the state of humanity and the world itself. His one choice corrupted the nature of all people and the world they inhabit, making all of us vulnerable to sin, suffering, and death

Then why do we pray for His hedge of protection?

The answer lies in understanding the difference between God guaranteeing a trouble-free life and Him providing a hedge of protection within a troubled world.