Suffering and Disease from Humanity's Fall

How does humanity's fall into sin bring disease and suffering to humanity?

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Answer

How did humanity's fall into sin affect the physical world? Well, certainly the world was entrusted to our care. I say "our" because Adam and Eve were our representatives in the garden, and one of God's first commands was for them to have the dominion, not to exploit but to care for creation. The animals were entrusted to their care. The physical world became disrupted in a major way through the Fall.  The world fell on our coattails, so to speak. So, we fall, and the creation that's under us falls. And now you have disease, not only among human beings and animals, but in the vegetation.

And then you have human beings who are living on a planet that's cursed, where weeds are growing up, where the natural process that God built into fertile soil, now you have a loss of certain things where extra work has to be gone to, to cultivate the earth so that it can grow the kinds of crops that it should. The great thing is that we're promised that the curse will one day be lifted. We're told in Revelation 22, "There will be no more curse." So, the curse that came upon the physical world, including the animal kingdom, will be lifted, just as it will be lifted for us. 

Answer by Dr. Randy Alcorn

Dr. Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries (EPM), a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching biblical truth and drawing attention to the needy and how to help them.