Greatest Problems

What would you say were the greatest problems facing humanity today? Would it be environmental concerns? What about war? Famine? Poverty? The answer to this would be as varied as the people answering the question, but it is a fair question. After all, we cannot improve something if we cannot identify the problem.

There are some problems which supersede all others. If one determines to rank all of the problems humanity faces, the most logical order would involve the frequency of the problem. Some incredibly difficult problems may only affect a relatively low number of people. Famine is an example. While the prospect of death by starvation is a terrible thought, there are relatively few people who will die in that way. Some estimate that every day 200,000 people die of famine. This is a grossly exaggerated figure. The fact is, there are a relatively few number of people who can claim that their deaths were from starvation. Certainly other diseases that kill them might be prevented if the people had a healthier diet, but it is impossible to determine exact numbers. In spite of the gross exaggerations and the unknown factor, starvation from famine is a terrible problem that we must address somehow.

There are, however, more sweeping problems that humanity is facing. In fact, there are two problems in the world that every person alive will face eventually.
The First Problem: Death

The first problem is death. Billions of dollars are spent each year in a vain effort to “cheat death”. We are a nation obsessed with prolonging life. Much of that frantic desperation comes because we are so materialistic. The number is growing of people who are beginning to question whether or not there is life after death. The American mindset at this point is that we enjoy life so much now, why would we want to even worry about an afterlife? Life is good. We want our enjoyment now. We want to live to the fullest.

These attitudes are deemed healthy and reasonable by our society, but actually the attitudes amount to unhealthy denial.

No one should walk through life dreading the end of it. That makes a person miserable. Likewise people should not ignore the reality of death. And we certainly should not hold to the idea that we can somehow find a “cure” for it. There is no cure. Our bodies will die eventually.

If we rank problems by vastness of scope, this must be the greatest problem of humanity. Every life now will eventually face death. This would not be a problem, however, if not for the second fundamental problem of mankind: sin.
The Second Problem: Sin

Alexander Pope is credited with penning the famous words, “To err is human; to forgive is divine.” That no person alive today can claim perfection is so obvious it scarcely needs to be stated. We strive for it. We desperately want it sometimes. At other times we use our inadequacies as an excuse to make even more mistakes.

But there is something more to sin than mere error. Mistakes are one thing, but sin is altogether a different thing.

For example, we might make a wrong turn on a road while driving to a destination, but that is not the same as making a wrong decision and murdering another human. Both are mistakes, but the similarities end there. They are not differences in degree but in kind. Deep within us we know this to be true.

The difference lies in the word “sin”.

Sin is not a thing. There is no object in this world that could be classified as “sin” or “evil”. Objects are not good or evil, they are merely instruments used to do good or evil. There is nothing subhuman that is good or evil.

Sin is an activity. It is also more than that: it is an activity that contradicts the nature of goodness. It is an activity that transgresses the nature of God Himself.

The Bible teaches us that sin is transgression against the word of God. 1 John 5:17 says that “all unrighteousness is sin”. Unrighteousness is activity that is not righteous and good. Sin is more than activity that is a mistake; it is an activity that contradicts the nature of what is good and just.

Mankind does not always know what is right and wrong. In fact, since we are in nature neither good nor evil (but we actually must choose for ourselves how we will use our bodies and minds) then we cannot know everything about righteousness without outside help. That help comes from the Bible. (See 2 Timothy 3:16-17 for example.)

Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” If we are honest, we all will admit that we have fallen short of perfection morally. We have transgressed against holiness and righteousness.
Death would not be a problem without sin

The reason death exists is because of sin. Adam and Eve were created and placed in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2), and they had access to the Tree of Life. We know very little about that tree except that its fruit would allow a person to live perpetually by its continual nourishment as they consumed it in their normal diet. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were cast from the Garden of Eden and not allowed access to that Tree again (Genesis 3).

Some think this as a myth, but Jesus spoke of it as historical fact (Matthew 19:4). These two people changed the world forever by their decision to succumb to the temptation of sin.

To make matters worse, Romans 6:23 states that “the wages of sin is death…” You will notice that the word “sin” is singular; the nature of sin is that it separates us from God. All that is required for that separation is one sin because that one sin stands in stark contrast to a holy and perfect God.

Sin is punished by separation from God because God is just and holy and as such He cannot tolerate the presence of sin. This is not an arbitrary decision from Him as if He were too conceited to abide near sin. If perfection equates separation from sin, then a perfect God cannot remain perfect without responding to sin in some timeframe.

Separation from God has grave consequences, specifically: separation from all that is good and right. Considering that “place” where good and right does not exist does not bring to mind a pleasant environment, though it is difficult to imagine how bad life would be in that place (if you could call such an existence “life”).

The Bible describes such a place with a familiar word: Hell. It was described many times in the Bible as a place of torment, darkness, and fire. These are figurative ways to describe the misery and agony that comes to a person who is separated from God in eternity—a terrible place, created for the Devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41).

Death puts us in the realm of the spiritual. Because of the holy and perfect nature of God, those who have sinned will face a separation from God for eternity once they leave this world through death. If we did not sin then death would not be a problem for us. Unfortunately, we all sin.

If not for the fact that we all sin, death would simply be another part of life—we would move on to a better realm and be with God forever. We could look forward to the end of life’s journey without fear or dread, and we could see life as a preparatory journey to a greater destination instead of something to be held onto at all costs. But this is not reality.

Our awareness of our own sins causes us to dread the future. Even those who have deluded themselves into thinking that there is no God (and thus think they have nothing to fear) find they are apprehensive when standing at death’s door—not to mention the pangs of vanity and worthlessness that must accompany such a mindset.
What Choice do we Have?

The greatest problems humans face are death and sin. Ironically, these two things are often overlooked and ignored. Putting our heads in the sand, ignoring reality, is not a healthy way of dealing with reality. But what choice do we really have? How can we change anything?

We cannot go back into the past and change what we have done. The past is gone, never to be recovered. Even our tears and piety cannot change what we have done, even if we come to fully realize just how bad those things were. We all delude ourselves into thinking that our errors are not as bad as the sins of others, but sin against the righteousness and holiness of God is not done in matters of degree.

Most feel that the only choice we have is to desperately attempt to avoid death—to cling to life with all that we have. This is actually easier for us to comprehend than trying to change the past, but one is as likely to happen as the other. We cannot escape death.

This fundamental dilemma of mankind reveals a need for help. Contemplating our situation shows one further option—we could go to God and ask His pardon. Surely our loving God would forgive anyone who came to Him.

This brings up another problem when dealing with the nature and consequences of sin: when we sin, we separate ourselves from God! Isaiah 59:1-2 states, “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”

Just as a ray of hope peaked into our hearts with the thought that we could simply apologize and ask for forgiveness we learn that we have separated ourselves from God. And who can find Him if He is not near? Where would one go to search for God to ask for forgiveness? As the prophet Job stated, “Oh that I knew where I might find Him; that I might come to His seat!” Where would we go if we had such an inclination? And if we did manage to find Him, what could we offer as excuse to receive pardon for the decisions we made?

There is more to the story though—another avenue of help. Our only hope would be that God would seek us out—that He would find a way to reach us even though we separated ourselves from Him. Our only authentic hope would be that God’s nature would cause Him to seek us out and provide a way to escape the wrath of His justice.

Thankfully, this is what He has done. This is the Plan of the Ages, imagined in the mind of God and played out throughout the history of our world: the Gospel of Christ. Thanks be to God that before we humans began to learn of our need for God, God was already working out a plan to save us from ourselves!