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Answer
The Bible addresses some of life’s most significant questions. These are the inquiries that people worldwide appear to be pondering:
• Does God exist, and if so, what is He like?
• Who am I?
• Why am I here?
• What is my purpose in life?
• Why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?
• How can I lead a joyful, meaningful life in a world with so much evil?
• What happens after I die?
• Is history progressing towards a specific direction?
Most religions seek to respond to these questions. Even non-religious beliefs like atheism, naturalism, and secular humanism still provide answers to these types of questions, even if at times the response they offer is that there is no definitive answer. (For instance, when addressing, “What is my purpose in life?” the naturalist might respond, “You don’t have one” or “You determine it as you wish.”)
The Bible addresses the question “Does God Exist?” in its first four words: “In the beginning God . . .” «In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. », (Genesis 1:1). In essence, at the commencement of the universe and all life as we know it, God was already present. The nature of God is further explained throughout the Bible, with two prominent characteristics being His love and holiness. Being holy, He must punish sin; yet, being loving, He desires to forgive sin as well. This is a central theme expounded in Scripture.
Who am I?, Why am I here?, and What is my purpose in life? are also addressed in the initial chapter of Genesis. Genesis 1:27–28 states, “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the f
God said, “Let there be fish in the sea and birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” We exist because God created our first parents and placed them on earth. We are made in God’s image, and our purpose is to act as God’s representatives on earth, living in obedience to and fellowship with Him. Our treatment of others reflects our view of the One they represent. When we work, cultivate, invent, explore, innovate, have children, and love others, we fulfill the purpose for which God placed humanity on earth. However, if we engage in these activities without being in fellowship with Him, we miss the essential element.
Why does the world experience so much pain and suffering? This question is addressed in Genesis 3. God had given Adam and Eve, our first parents, dominion over the entire world with only one restriction—there was one tree they were forbidden to eat from. God warned them that eating the fruit would result in death. Despite God’s warning, they disobeyed and ate the fruit. Consequently, they immediately felt shame and were separated from each other and from God, as seen in their attempt to cover themselves with makeshift clothing and hide from God when He came to meet them, as He did regularly. Their disobedience introduced pain and death into the world. Eve would endure pain in childbirth, and Adam would toil and suffer to provide food for his family. Both would age and eventually die. The entire creation was affected by their disobedience, leading to the suffering we witness today. Even the animals were impacted. Their son, Cain, murdered his brother Abel (Genesis 4), perpetuating a cycle of pain, suffering, and death as people rebelled against God.
How can I find joy and purpose in a world filled with evil? Despite Adam and Eve’s transgression and its consequences, God did not forsake them or their descendants. God continued to reach out to humanity, offering a way for them to be reconciled with Him in a world tainted by evil. God selected Abraham (Genesis 12) to carry out His plan.Be a special conduit of blessing for the world. Through Abraham would come the people of Israel, who gave us the Scriptures that show us what God is like. Ultimately, Jesus Christ, who would save us from sin and its penalty, was born into the world through the people of Israel. Jesus was God in human flesh; He lived a perfect life and died to pay for the sins of human beings. (This was foreshadowed in the animal sacrifices that God prescribed for Israel.) But, unlike the animal sacrifices, Jesus rose again from the dead, guaranteeing that His sacrifice was sufficient. On the cross, God punished sin but made it possible for the sinner to be forgiven—both God’s holiness and His love were combined in this one event. In Christ, we can be forgiven of all our sins and made acceptable to God. We can also begin to be reconciled with other people and truly begin to live the kind of life that God wants us to live. Because God’s Spirit lives within the believer, he begins to experience love, joy, peace, and a multitude of other virtues that make life better for everyone. This is a small taste of what is to come.
What happens after I die? is also answered in the Bible. Hebrews 9:27 says that “people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” For those who have been reconciled to God by faith in Christ, there is no condemnation « There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. », (Romans 8:1). For the Christian, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord «we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. », (2 Corinthians 5:8), but, for those who do not know Christ, there is only a “fearful expectation of judgment” «but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiEvery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” , (Hebrews 10:27). Death is merely a transition to eternity. Humans, created in God’s image, will exist forever either in God’s presence or exiled from Him in eternal punishment.
Death is not the ultimate conclusion. The Bible reveals that history is progressing towards a purpose. God plans to establish new heavens and a new earth—replacements for what was corrupted by sin. The new creation will be filled with God’s righteousness “as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” , (2 Peter 3:16). Christians are instructed to await that day patiently, as Christ could return at any moment and fulfill all of God’s plans for the earth.
