Why did it have to be this way?

Why did God create the world in such an imperfect way with so many things going wrong? Surely He could have made it a much better place?

I believe the answer is that God had no other option, and I would like to suggest that given just two pieces of information, much of life as we know it simply has to be this way. This includes the creation of heaven and earth, the existence of angels and humans, death, the problem of evil and suffering generally, the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Law, salvation through faith, the resurrection of humans, the destruction of the existing heaven and earth, the Judgment, and the new heaven and earth. All these things have to come to pass and perhaps more things as well.

What are the two things we need to know? Firstly, God is who He is - one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, holy and righteous, loving and merciful; and secondly, God decided to create individuals with their own will to live with Him forever.

The aim of this booklet is to show these two things alone constrain God into creating the world the way we find it.

Why did God create the world with all the sickness, death, suffering, accidents, unfairness and evil? Our relationship with Him can be adversely affected if we find these basic problems of life difficult to handle. This book, designed especially for housegroups, aims to bring us to the place where we have sufficient understanding of God's ways so that our relationship with Him can grow unhindered.

It covers the basic necessary doctrines of the Christian faith and deals with many other questions such as: Why is Jesus Christ the only way to God? Why is God so extreme in our choice of heaven and hell? How much should we seek God's will for our lives? Why are the old and new testaments so different? How important is it for us to believe in creation? What difference does the Holy Spirit make in our lives? How does God help us? and Why does God help us?