{"id":11886,"date":"2015-03-01T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-28T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reasons.org\/publications\/life-from-death\/"},"modified":"2015-03-01T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-06-28T06:00:00","slug":"life-from-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/creation\/life\/life-from-death","title":{"rendered":"Life from Death"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cruelty in nature highlights the problem of pain and suffering. When asked about the elegance of biological systems, Charles Darwin retorted, \u201cWhat a book a devil\u2019s chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering, low, and horribly cruel work of nature!\u201d<\/p>\n

This issue keeps many skeptics and seekers from the Christian faith and troubles some believers. Scientific research can help us understand the purpose for the supposed \u201ccruel work of nature.\u201d For example, ecologists note that many ecosystems are poised to collapse as top predators go extinct. Carnivores play crucial roles in stabilizing ecosystems and promoting biodiversity. Pain and suffering play a benefi cial role, too. A recent study shows that squid experience heightened sensitivity to pain after injury, which helps them to avoid predation in the future.<\/p>\n

But can we really understand nature\u2019s harsher aspects as part of God\u2019s \u201cgood\u201d design? The Bible itself records praise<\/em> for God providing prey for predators (Psalm 104:20\u201322 or Job 38:39\u201341). Psalm 104:27\u201330 celebrates<\/em> God\u2019s role in nature\u2019s cycle of life and death. These passages treat animal death as part of the natural order established by God from the beginning.<\/p>\n

We also need to remember that God may have a higher purpose for pain, suffering, and death. The Creator is also the Redeemer. Consequently, I believe creation displays redemptive analogies. One theme is life\u2019s coming from death. Death does more than allow carnivores to exist; it stabilizes ecosystems and makes life possible throughout our planet. This theme is also central to the New Testament. It is through Jesus\u2019 death on the cross that we have eternal life. Christians no longer live but Christ lives within us. We must continually die to ourselves so we may be transformed into Christ\u2019s image.<\/p>\n

When we apprehend these ideas, the concern that keeps many people from the Christian faith can be used to point them to the hope of the Gospel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Explore how pain, suffering, and death play a role in God’s design and support ecological balance, linking biology with Christian hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_person_authors":[],"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":"","_classifai_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_scheduled":false},"categories":[63990,63997],"tags":[70504,70664,67678],"discipline":[64079],"reading-level":[64149],"class_list":["post-11886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-is-god-good","tag-predator-prey-relationships","tag-scriptural-references","tag-pain-and-suffering","discipline-biology","reading-level-advanced-deep-dive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLife from Death - Reasons to Believe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore how pain, suffering, and death play a role in God's design and support ecological balance, linking biology with Christian hope.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reasons.org\/creation\/life\/life-from-death\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Life from Death\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Explore how pain, suffering, and death play a role in God's design and support ecological balance, linking biology with Christian hope.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/reasons.org\/creation\/life\/life-from-death\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reasons to Believe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RTBOfficial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-06-28T06:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fazale \u201cFuz\u201d Rana\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@rtb_official\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@rtb_official\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fazale \u201cFuz\u201d Rana\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reasons.org\\\/creation\\\/life\\\/life-from-death#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reasons.org\\\/creation\\\/life\\\/life-from-death\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Fazale \u201cFuz\u201d Rana\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reasons.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/af6c3c9b62bf3619ce1041d5b8a3c82d\"},\"headline\":\"Life from Death\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-06-28T06:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reasons.org\\\/creation\\\/life\\\/life-from-death\"},\"wordCount\":321,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reasons.org\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Predator-prey Relationships\",\"Scriptural References\",\"Pain And Suffering\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Life\",\"Is God Good?\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/reasons.org\\\/creation\\\/life\\\/life-from-death#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reasons.org\\\/creation\\\/life\\\/life-from-death\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reasons.org\\\/creation\\\/life\\\/life-from-death\",\"name\":\"Life from Death - 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