Chapter- 8 -WHY DOES GOD PERMIT SUFFERING?

A PERFECT BEGINNING

All of us are accustomed to seeing and feeling pain and suffering.  It may therefore be hard to imagine a time without suffering,  but that was how things were at the beginning of human history.  Even the legends of some nations allude to such a happy start.  In Greek mythology, the first of the "Five Ages of Man" was called the "Golden Age."  In it humans lived happy lives, free from toil, pain and the ravages of old age.  The Chinese say that during the reign of the mythological Yellow Emperor (Huang-Ti), people lived in peace, enjoying harmony even with the elements and the wild beasts.  Persians, Egyptians, Tibetans, Peruvians and Mexicans all have legends about a time of happiness and perfection at the beginning of mankind's history. 

The myths of the nations merely echo the oldest written record of human history, the Bible.  It informs us that God placed the first human pair, Adam and Eve, in a paradise called the garden of Eden and commanded them:  "Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it."  (Genesis 1:28)  our first parents enjoyed perfection and had the prospect of seeing the whole earth become a paradise occupied by a perfect human family living in lasting peace and happiness.  That was God's purpose in creating the earth and humankind. -Isaiah 45:18.

Next time: A MALICIOUS CHALLENGE

The Book - KNOWLEDGE That Leads To Everlasting Life, 1995