7. Broken Human Nature and Natural Evil

Why, if a loving and all-powerful God created us, do we his creatures suffer natural disasters, illness both physical and mental, and eventually death? And what has this state of affairs to do with some defect, or perversion, in human nature? [p 122] [p 123] What exactly is wrong with human nature? Looking at history it is easy to see that the evil in human nature has caused untold suffering to fellow human beings. But that constitutes the problem of moral evil that we discussed in the first half of this book. Here, by contrast, our concern is with the problem of natural evil: why, if a loving and all-powerful God created us, do we his creatures suffer natural disasters, illness both physical and mental, and eventually death? And what has this state of affairs to do with some defect, or perversion, in human nature? We can begin the biblical answer with its statement: 'sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin' (Rom 5:12). According to this statement, then, human death in all its degrees and forms, and with all its pain and suffering right up to its final eventuation, is traceable in the first instance to deliberate disobedience to God on the part of the first o...