Why do people experience brokenness in the world and who’s to blame?
THE FALL
All we have to do it turn on the news and instantly are confronted with the brokenness in our world. Wars, natural disasters, injustice, and disease bombard our senses. We deeply feel the brokenness in our relationships with others and we begin to question where God is in the midst of all this pain.
Everybody has a deep seated belief about the cause of brokenness and a deep desire for justice against the evil in this world. People may blame parents, family, friends, boss, government, culture, etc – for their experiences and desire some kind of justice for their own pain and the brokenness in the world. Someone must be to blame and they need to pay.
So whose to blame for the world’s brokenness according to the Bible? We are. This is the hard teach of the Bible. Starting with Adam and Eve and all mankind that followed – we have rejected the rule and reign of God over his creation.
The book of Romans says this in Chapter 1, verses 18-25, “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.”
The Bible calls this rejection of God – sin – and says that “everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). The consequence of our sin is death – spiritually and physically. Death means separation. Spiritual death is separation from God and disharmony with one another. Physical death is the separation of our soul from our physical body when we die.