Since the release of my book, “The Physical Death and Resurrection–A Surgeon’s View”, I have been using several avenues to share the book to reach more people. One goal of the book is to encourage believers in the faith, and another to provide a resource to people who are unsure of who Jesus really is and what his death & resurrection meant.
In my book I focus a lot on Jesus–the man. I present very relevant historical and socio-political facts regarding this legendary man. The book also revealed the science behind the crucifixion proceedings.
Our belief in Christ can sometimes bring up some very hard questions about life. In fact, I was recently faced with a very challenging question someone asked on our Facebook page.
If God is real - Why does he allow such extreme poverty & hunger? (The question was accompanied by a photo of a very malnourished African boy.)
I truly believe that this particular statement / question is lacking objectivity. It also reveals a profound anti-God feeling.
Let’s start by saying that God has given us, humans, a beautiful world with plenty of natural resources. Furthermore, the Lord has given us intelligence and specific instructions about how to coexist and take care of His creation.
“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
“Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Genesis 1: 28-31 Excerpt From: Zondervan. “Holy Bible (NIV), Red Letter Edition.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/BC9VR.l
Before I continue, I should clarify that in this case, the word “subdue” has different meaning than “dominate or conquer”. It actually means “Take care of it”. But also, the Lord gave us free will. Unfortunately, we have chosen to administer to our Earth in a very different way and sometimes opposite of God’s advice.
The poverty and misery in the world is a direct and exclusive responsibility of mankind. We did it ourselves! There is not doubt in my mind that there are enough financial resources to completely abolish poverty. In fact, there are also enough natural resources to eliminate hunger from this world.
How is it possible that one man can have more money than a whole third world Nation’s budget? So, I must ask: How much money is enough for one person? But also, I would like to ask: why are we destroying our planet by cutting trees and killing animals for pleasure?.
Some countries are allowing the destruction of the forest near the rivers. The consequence of this action is that the rivers are drying out. Then we complain that there is not water. This particular situation is happening a lot in Latin America.
It is obvious that the question should be: Why are we, mankind, destroying our world?