by jimwalton » Sun Oct 29, 2017 5:02 pm
> However, wouldn't Genesis 3:17-18 indirectly suggest the Pre-Fall world contained no natural event we would label a "natural evil", such as hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts, and volcanoes?
Great question, and a fair one. The exact nature of this curse and its effect on the earth are difficult to pin down. The text itself is about human beings. They were given the role of dominion over the earth, and now that will become a difficult thing to achieve, as if now the earth and humans were at odds with each other when it came to providing resources for food. But it's also true that the language of Romans 8.19-22 suggests that human sin led to some kind of change in the functionality of the cosmos itself. It's not explained too deeply because the point is that now humans would have a rougher go of it, and that's the only point it's making.
The ground is cursed because of what Adam & Eve did. The word used ("cursed") indicates that something had been removed (the term means "taken from; banned") from God's protection or provision. In the garden their food had been provided for them. Now the ground will not show them favor, but make them work hard for every morsel. It would be untamed and disordered. It's difficult to know if we can extrapolate this to natural events like hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts, and volcanoes. Such phenomena, according to the scientists, actually have quite a bit of beneficial effect on the planet.
> And how does human sin lead to disease?
Again, great question. I'm not sure the Bible claims it does. If you know of a text, I'd be glad to discuss it with you. People often make the mistake of thinking that Eden was a perfect environment, and that the world before sin was Paradisal. The Bible never claims that (again, unless you can point me to something that says differently), but only that the world was ordered and functional ("good"). As far as we know, there was death before Adam & Eve sinned. It's just that they weren't accountable for sin before that. So there may have been disease as well. But if you have a text that says differently, let's talk about it.
> As for moral evil, you might argue that God allows its perpetuation to respect our free will, but then how would you explain His constant interventions throughout the Old Testament, like the Great Flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah?
I wouldn't call two events "constant" interventions. The Flood is never identified as a judgment. It's a restoration to order of a system that had become disordered. (The ancient world was ALL about order and disorder.) The world (meaning society) had become dysfunctional—disordered.
S&G were definitely a judgment for sin. It is within the purview of the King (like our civil authorities) to maintain righteousness in the land. Ideally speaking, the whole point of military, police, governments, and courtrooms is to maintain order, reward good and punish evil. God, as judge and king, perceived a situation that was beyond being detrimental to humanity, and he acted to judge it. After many years of patience and other attempts to correct it, the only reasonable course was to bring it to an end. It was the case with Hitler's Germany, and we see some rogue nations that are possibly in this situation today, viz. North Korea or Somalia. Intervention is warranted, in my opinion, when situations deteriorate to the point of no return without such moral (via military) intrusion.