God created an ugly world?

  • Thread starter Thread starter PaxCaritas
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

PaxCaritas

Guest
Why would God create such an ugly world? I don’t mean wars and famine and the such, we create those. I’m talking about things like parasites and viruses and diseases which kill people and other animals. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to say original sin is why cows are infected with terrible parasites and die slow, excruciating deaths. Thanks.
 
21 And God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And he blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea: and let the birds be multiplied upon the earth. 23 And the evening and morning were the fifth day. 24 And God said: Let the earth bring forth the living creature in its kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds. And it was so done. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and cattle, and every thing that creepeth on the earth after its kind. And God saw that it was **good. **

God doesn’t do ugly.even the most desolate place on the planet is good,peace
 
PaxCaritas said:
Why would God create such an ugly world? I don’t mean wars and famine and the such, we create those. I’m talking about things like parasites and viruses and diseases which kill people and other animals. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to say original sin is why cows are infected with terrible parasites and die slow, excruciating deaths. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Don’t confuse misfortune for evil.

Life and death aren’t evil. They are natural just like the seasons.

While a disease may be tough on the cow it is what those particular bacteria need to survive.

A conch had to die to provide the shell that gives a hermit crab shelter.

A gazelle may not care for being eaten but the lion has cubs to feed.

That is the beauty of Creation.
 
Nature is an organism, created by God, just like man is an organism. The same conflicts and processes go on inside you at the micro level, as they do in the world at the macro level - and they are just as necessary for life in both instances.

What people who curse God for the world not being a utopia don’t do is follow through on their logic. Remove all consumption, pain, disease, animals, death and decay from the universe. You’d be left with a bunch of oblivious, senseless immortal humans floating around in space on a barren rock.

Don’t like bacterial infections? Who does, but bacteria allow you to digest your food. None too fond of death? Who is, but can you imagine a world where either one generation of creatures lives forever, or reproduction fills the world.

This is not to say there aren’t perversions in that process - think Michael Vick - that cause needless suffering and pain. I think humans have to answer for those, but there are almost no examples from nature of such things.
 
I agree. God didn’t create anything ugly.

When we say that God created the universe, we are saying that God created all the systems for all living things. If man had not sinned, maybe there wouldn’t be viruses that would cause disease. It sounds simplistic maybe, but I feel that the sinning nature of man contributes things to our environment that add to our pain and suffering. It’s not God doing this, it’s us screwing up God’s creation.
 
I remember reading something about a man who was thinking of committing adultery, but thought that his sin might cause a little boy somewhere to be hit by a car, so he didn’t. (I think I read this in an essay contributed to Patrick Madrid’s compilation, Surprised by Truth.) Has anyone here heard this idea before? That one’s personal sin could cause chaos and disorder and suffering elsewhere in the world?
 
Take a look at Rom 8:18-25. When Adam and Eve sinned, the world was placed under a curse. (Gen 3:17-18) It is waiting for its redemption just as we are. One day the lion will lay down with the lamb.

Gary
 
PaxCaritas said:
Why would God create such an ugly world? I don’t mean wars and famine and the such, we create those. I’m talking about things like parasites and viruses and diseases which kill people and other animals. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to say original sin is why cows are infected with terrible parasites and die slow, excruciating deaths. Thanks.
Click to expand...
God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. - Genesis 1:31

God didn’t create an ugly world, Satan has corrupted it, because that is what Satan does.
 
ChristineML said:
I remember reading something about a man who was thinking of committing adultery, but thought that his sin might cause a little boy somewhere to be hit by a car, so he didn’t. (I think I read this in an essay contributed to Patrick Madrid’s compilation, Surprised by Truth.) Has anyone here heard this idea before? That one’s personal sin could cause chaos and disorder and suffering elsewhere in the world?
Click to expand...
I didn’t really mean it like that; let me see if I can give an example. Lets say a scientist who is full of pride, does something unethical to advance his career. In the process he has introduced a new chemical into the environment that causes cancer. God didn’t create this, but the scientist using his God given abilities and using things in nature, sins - and the effect of his sin is to release a chemical that can effect many people.
 
Why would God create such an ugly world? ]
Click to expand...
In one of its infinite articulations, that question becomes sooner or later unescapable.

A first observation could be on the distinction between an objective or subjective meaning of “ugly”. In the former case I have to ask myself where the supposedly universally valid distinction between good and evil I use comes from.

In the latter “ugly” means “disturbing to me”. Here two other questions come:
  1. Is my point of view so special that I can judge the world in its entirety, anything wich is happening, its connections with other events, its meaning in a larger picture ? In other words: how can I know what should really disturb me, or whether I should be disturbed at all ( at least at a theoretical level ) ?
  2. Can we imagine a real world without anything disturbing ? I mean, I can easily think of a world without tsunami or smallpox.
    But we can guess that living in that world - or even in another one, as “good” as you can conceive it - we’d find something relatively disturbing, which could even become unbearable for us. And then, we’d be here again asking: “Why such an ugly world ?”
I hope these small reflections can be of some help. 🙂
 
ugly is also in the eye of the beholder. many of us react in disgust to bugs, snakes and other critters, even some plants, that other people find fascinating and beautiful. I can’t watch those slo-mo videos of the life cycle of an insect for instance by my grandkids (both parents are scientists) are fascinated by such things, and see great beauty in them. The more you study about such “lower organisms” and their very specialized features for eating, reproducing and their beneficial effects on their environment, the more you appeciate the magnificence and power of their Creator.

some people find trees and forest beautiful, some prefer mountains, some the sea and shore, my late FIL loved the sight of plowed fields. some would be repelled by the Badlands of the Dakotas or the bleak desert landscape of say, the Big Bend or Grand Canyon areas, others see it as the most beautiful magnificent vista.

yes tsunami, hurricanes, blizzards, volcanic eruptions etc. kill people–but only the people who choose to live in zones where these things are common, and make that choice because the benefits to living there outweigh the dangers. these are all part of the natural life of the planet and climate.

every insect or micro-organism has a purpose in the natural order. without termites for example Africa would be nothing but a rotting dung heap. they process human and animal waste and return it to productive fertile soil. If humans choose to build their homes on top of termite nests, of unsuitable materials, they should not blame God for the result.
 
This world, and everything in it… is beautiful.

man screws it up.

but i’m sitting here watching my 8 mos. old sleep… and the world, at least to me… is perfect in every way. peaceful, serene and wonderful.

my experience is just a valid a human experience as a 10 year old war refugee somewhere in a warring west african city, who hasn’t eaten in 4 days and hasn’t seen his parents since december. doesn’t have a home because by genocide his whole village was destroyed, and he now takes up an ak47 to fight, hungry, thirsty and scared. wondering if tomorrow will be the day he dies.

different experiences. experiences can stink, the creation is still beautiful.

that 10 year old, as a human, is just as beautiful as my daughter.

i think perspective changes when we realize experiences are transitory and changeable. and the bad situations present a chance for good people to do good things.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top