What’s Wrong With This World?

Issues – June 2009 – Grace & Truth Magazine

What’s Wrong With This World?

Crime rates rising; the threat of a terrorist attack; global warming; children abducted from the streets or even from their own homes; old people neglected and uncared for; people afraid to go out after dark. One might well ask, “What’s wrong with this world?”

According to the theory of evolution we should all be getting better, wiser, stronger and more advanced. We see technological advances such as the Internet, mobile phones, MP3 players and the like. But we also see more efficient, advanced and ingenious ways of killing each other! All this from the creature at the top of an evolutionary chain? I doubt it!

Christians believe the world was created by God. Some believe it literally happened as in Genesis 1. Others believe the Bible simplified the facts so we could get our heads around the idea of how it all happened. Either way, in the beginning creation was said to be “very good” (Gen. 1:31).

Look at the sky on a clear night, or a beautiful sunset. Look at a well-kept garden, or the mountains of England’s Lake District. It doesn’t take much to see that God did a really good job.

But what about the bad things in the world? Things like disease, famine, crime and suffering? Why are they around? If God made the world and it was perfect, what has gone wrong? The evolutionists have no answer for these questions, but the Bible does. The answer is in just one word – sin.

When God made people, He gave them free will; they were able to choose the direction in which they went. God made it clear that in order to maintain His perfect world, people needed to do things His way. But they chose to please themselves and go against God. The human race has been going its own way ever since, and we are all responsible for the consequences.

When we hear the word “sin” we think of serious crimes like murder, rape and the like, but according to the Bible, sin is the tendency we all have to do wrong. Even when we know what we should do, there is something inside dragging us in the opposite direction. Sin has to do with what we do, say and even think. Yes, even thinking wrong thoughts is sin in God’s eyes (Mt. 5:28).

You might think you’re a fairly good, honest and upright person, but if you sin just three times a day, that adds up to 21 sins a week, over 1,000 sins a year and more than 70,000 sins in an average lifetime!

The God who made this world has a way of dealing with our sin. He is holy and anything that is not must be punished. The only punishment God accepts is the death of the sinner. That’s not good news because the death God is talking about isn’t just physical; it’s spiritual separation from God and all that’s good for all eternity.

But there is good news. God does not want to punish us – He loves us and really wants to bless us. So 2,000 years ago God’s Son Jesus came to earth. He was born in Bethlehem, lived in Nazareth for thirty years as a carpenter, and spent three years preaching, teaching and showing God’s love to the people of Israel. Then He was arrested, falsely tried, sentenced to death and crucified.

Three days later, He rose again from the dead and is now seated at God’s right hand in heaven. There He offers forgiveness for every sin because when He died as the perfect, sinless Man, He paid the price of our salvation. He died so we could live.

So what’s wrong with this world? It’s still an evil, corrupt and dangerous place. But we don’t have to share its fate. We can have forgiveness and deliverance, blessing and eternal life if we come to Jesus and receive His offer of real freedom. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6: 23).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Keable is editor of Alive Magazine, Scripture Truth Publications, Northumberland, England. Used by permission.