Monday, 22 October 2007 00:00 | and posted in Q&A Corner
Good question. You start out by saying "If God created the world", and that's a good place to start. The very first chapter of the Bible tells us that when God had finished making the world, he had a look at what he made and called it all "very good". It was perfect. But not perfect in the sense that we might think. So before we get to looking at viruses and stuff, we need to have a quick think about this word "perfect".
For us, if something is "perfect" you shouldn't let it change, because then it'll become less than perfect (where else can you go from perfect but down, right?). But that's not the Bible understanding of the word. Let me explain. God always planned for things to get better and better - he didn't want a world that was like a museum piece or a stuffed animal, "perfect" but unchanging and lifeless. He wanted a world he could relate to, and that would relate to him (because, as we are told in 1 John 4:8, "God is love"). The world (including mankind) was always meant to change, to grow, to develop - and get "more perfect" (if you get what I mean) in relationship with God.
So where do viruses come in? Well, the thing is, mankind made a bit of a mess of things by disobeying God (the story about Adam and Eve - you can read it in Genesis Chapter 3) and as a result they broke the relationship. This decision didn't just affect mankind, but the whole world. It's like a disease was introduced to the world. Christians have a world for this disease - we call it "sin".
This isn't really about individual "sins". It's bigger than that. It's like the world got broken, and the relationship it was supposed to have with God was messed up. Instead of getting better and better it got worse, and the whole world suffered. And it still does. Viruses and disease are just some of the results of the world being broken.
You see, God didn't actually make viruses and disease (and tsunamis, and earthquakes...). Think of it like this. Technically speaking, cold doesn't actually exist. Nor does darkness. Cold is really just the absence of heat, and darkness the absence of light. It's the same with sin. It's like the "absence of God" - the broken bits of the relationship. And the bad things that happen are the evidence of that.
But there's good news. God isn't done with us yet. He's not going to let sin get in the way of making us more and more perfect, and bringing the whole earth back into the relationship it was made for. That's why Jesus came - God in human form. He came into the broken world to heal it, and that's what happened when he died on the cross. It's like he took the "disease" of sin in himself and healed it. It's not all totally healed yet (that's part of our job now!) but one day God will make sure it is.