The reality
Many people who doubt an all-powerful, loving God ask typical questions… If God exists, why has he permitted so much pain and wickedness throughout history? Why does he allow the terrible conditions we see around us today? Why doesn’t he act to stop war, crime, injustice, poverty, and other escalating miseries?
Some suggest that God created the universe, placed humans on Earth, and left them to manage their own affairs. This view suggests that God isn’t responsible; people bring the trouble upon themselves through greed, corruption and bad management.
God Does Have a Purpose
God’s original goal was for the world to be filled with righteous, perfect humans. The prophet Isaiah wrote…
18 “For this is what Jehovah says: The Creator of the heavens, the true God, the One who formed the earth, its Maker who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, but formed it to be inhabited: “I am Jehovah, and there is no one else.“
– Isaiah 45:18
Rather than population through direct creation of people, God intended to populate the world through human reproduction. When Adam and Eve rebelled, it didn’t ruin his original plan, but it required adjusting certain details so his purpose for humans and the world could still be fulfilled.
For thousands of years, God has allowed humanity to act without his direct control. That’s what our first parents, Adam and Eve, chose of their own free will. This freedom from divine guidance has shown that people simply cannot direct their own steps or govern each other successfully.
Jehovah knew this outcome beforehand and inspired Bible writers to record it. The prophet Jeremiah wrote…
23 “I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way doesn’t belong. It doesn’t belong to the man who is walking, even to direct his step.”
—Jeremiah 10…23.
King Solomon also noted the tragic results of human rule through the centuries…
9 “All of this I have seen, and I applied my heart to every work that has been done under the sun, during the time that man has dominated man to his harm.“
—Ecclesiastes 8:9.
Far from being a passive spectator, Almighty God has valid reasons for permitting human independence without intervening directly in most people’s lives.
18 “For this is what Jehovah says: The Creator of the heavens, the true God, the One who formed the earth, its Maker who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, but formed it to be inhabited: “I am Jehovah, and there is no one else.“
— Isaiah 45:16
