Did God create viruses, etc.?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jerome100
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

Jerome100

Guest
Having a hard time reconciling that everything God created is good with viruses, bacteria, ticks, etc., that is things that seem only harmful to human beings. Any help better understanding this would be appreciated!
 
Maybe they were originally good and helped nature/humans function, but were corrupted after the fall?

I don’t know, just a thought.
 
God Created everything. The Virus can be very beneficial in certain arenas.
 
Viruses, bacteria and such wouldn’t have affected us prior to the Fall. When Death entered the world, so did the means of death (which would include what you mentioned). It’s possible (probably even probable) that such things existed before the Fall, but they wouldn’t have posed any threat to the human race until Sin entered the world.
 
Bacteria is used to clean up oil spills and pollution. Its not all bad.
 
Most if not all creations of God have both good and bad purposes. Ticks are a food source for some animals - possums eat tons of them. A lot of good bacteria live in our bodies, and viruses likely have useful purposes too, similar to the good bacteria that protect and help our bodies.
 
Last edited:
I understand lol, sometimes I think if I could ask God one question it would be why he made mosquitoes. If you read the story of Job it helped me to realize there is a bigger picture that we can’t see.
 
The way I see it, God created life and gave it such creative power that anything is possible: predators, parasites, good germs, bad germs, you name it. We literally wouldn’t be here without bacteria. Bacteria worked out photosynthesis and filled the atmosphere with oxygen. Other bacteria worked out how to use oxygen to provide energy for biological processes. Why do viruses exist? Same reason as all living things: Because they can.
 
A few thoughts:

First, a lot of the stuff we consider bad has a use within the ecosystem. They may serve as a food supply for some species. They may prey on a species who, without a predator, could devastate an ecosystem. They may have a symbiotic relationship with an important species. In general, the fields of ecology and environmental science can offer some answers to how these things are useful.

Second, these may not have caused any suffering for us before the Fall. In that case, only their benefit to the ecosystem would be known. We wouldn’t factor in the fact that they cause suffering, just that they serve a purpose in the ecosystem. The fact that they cause suffering is sort of on us.

Third, and alternative to the second point, suffering is considered to have value. Perhaps, for this reason, suffering existed prior to the Fall, but we would accept its good. In that case, we would see it as a good. (This point may not be fully in-line with Catholic theology. I’m not sure if we are allowed to believe that there was some form of suffering prior to the Fall.)
 
The entire world became broken at mankind’s fall from grace.
Through the envy of the devil, death entered the world (Wisdom 2:24).
Up until that time, viruses, if they existed, might have had no effect on living organisms. My advice is not to over-think this. We live in an age and culture of over-thinking and complication. Simplicity is of God, while complexity is of the evil one. I try not to complicate things, or I will get stuck on some insignificant detail and my faith will be derailed.
 
Yes God created everything.
The problem you are experiencing is that you are thinking of ‘life’ as only this time on earth and that you think of suffering as a ‘bad’ thing and not a medicine from heaven. God by his divine mercy allows people to get illnesses by those things you have mentioned so yes you may think of them as harmful in limited thinking I mentioned above. But in a wider sort of thinking such as eternal life and that suffering is beneficial to us and given by the divine hand of God to us to help us along to eternal life with him rather than us taking the easier route to hell. If a person or peoples are permitted to get an illness by God it is for their own sanctification and God is always in control of the situation. The person can choose by free will to accept this and work with God in their purgation (great spiritual advancement whilst on earth) or they can reject it and fumble about in despair. Many saints had illnesses and great sufferings and it is a common saying that God favours the suffering/ill/poor/downtrodden etc. Basically it is how God gives people a way for his kingdom to come (whilst we are still on earth’. We have to purge ourselves of our attachments so that God is our only attachment and we can do this here on earth or in purgatory if we want to go to heaven. Those who suffer greatly on earth, just get a head start here. Of course God’s mercy is mighty so he may offer it to anyone who asks for it too.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top