I heard a song not too long ago where one of the lines in the song started with, “If I were God.”  I don’t recall what came after that part because my brain started chasing a rabbit down a hole.  If a person were God, what would that person do?  Let’s look at (more than) a few things that I suspect a lot of people would do.

Killing

No more killing.  Whether you look at killing on an international level, like one country invading another, or one people trying to eradicate another, or if you look at killing on a more local level(watch the evening news), it is clear that a lot of people are killing other people.  It would be easy to blame guns, but guns have been around for less than 1,00 years, and people were killing other en masse before the invention of the gun.  People like Attila the Hun (AD 406-453) lived over 500 years before guns were even invented, yet he was responsible for about 300,000 deaths.  More recently, people like Hitler, Stalin and Mao(all in the 20^th century) were each responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people.  I would keep anyone from killing anyone else if I were God.

Stealing

Don’t you hate it when someone takes something away from you?  They steal your car your money, your phone . . . whatever.  I would eliminate stealing, if I were God.

Hatred

Don’t you hate people who hate?  Wait . . . maybe that’s too strong.  But we could keep people from hating . . . anyone.  That would solve a lot of problems.  Most of the terrible things that people do to other people is rooted in hatred.  If we just keep people from hating, the world would be a much better place.  Of course, this involves mind control.  With killing and stealing ,I was just stopping people from engaging in physical acts against other people.  Now, I am talking about people’s thoughts – not actions.  This might be pretty invasive, but I think this would be okay.  After all, look at all the bad that wouldn’t happen.  I would keep people from hating others if I were God.

Death

No one likes to talk about dying, but if I were God, I could eliminate dying entirely.  No one would ever have to talk about it again.  After all, people don’t want to die, and they don’t want their loved ones to die.  If I were God, I could eliminate dying entirely.  Of course, if I did that, this planet would start getting really crowded if nobody ever died.  That would create all kinds of resource and spatial problems, but we’ll ignore that for now.

Aging

Who wants to live forever if you keep getting older and more feeble?  If I were God, I could eliminate aging.  I’m not sure we could all agree on what age people would stop aging at.  18?  25?  35?  I could also eliminate all the negative consequences associated with again, although I had already eliminated dying.

Sickness and Injury

Why stop at death?  If I were God, I could eliminate all sickness and injuries.  Nobody would ever get cancer or have a heart attack.  No one would ever get sick or suffer physically.  No more broken bones or skinned knees.  No more shots, blood draws or doctor visits.  No hospitals.  No ambulances.  If I were God, no one would ever get sick or injured.

Car Accidents

Have you ever been in a car accident?  They can be scary, expensive and sometimes cause death.  But if there were no more car accidents, think of all the grief that we could avoid.  If I were God, there would be no more car accidents.

Poverty

Nobody likes poverty.  Look at all the poor people all over the face of the globe.  They struggle just to stay alive.  If I eliminate death(see above), I should eliminate poverty.  Otherwise, people would never die, but they would be poor and suffer forever.  That doesn’t’ make me sound very nice.  If I were God, I would eliminate poverty.

Homeless

Being homeless is not fun.  It makes every other part of your life more difficult, but if I were God, I could eliminate that.  Everyone would have a roof over their head.  It would be comfortable.  If I were God, I would eliminate homelessness.

Hunger

Have you ever been hungry?  I mean really hungry, like you have not eaten in days.  In many parts of the world, hunger is a real problem.  Every year, people starve to death because they do not have enough food to eat.  If I were God, I would eliminate hunger, and not just the hunger that causes death, I mean ALL hunger.  No one would ever experience hunger again.

Too Hot/Too Cold

Most people do not like it when it’s too hot out or too cold out.  Too much of one or the other can cause death(although I already eliminated death – see above).  If I were God, I would eliminate cold and heat.  There would only be a nice comfortable temperature for everyone(yes, I understand that comfortable temperature varies between individuals, but as God I could fix that, too).

Sadness

Some people struggle with depression or sadness.  The world would be a much better place if no one were sad.  And everyone experiences sadness to some degree during their lives.  If I were God, I would eliminate sadness.

Others

This list could keep growing and growing, but I think you get the idea.  So why didn’t God just do what I put on my list?  He’s smarter than I am.  He knows more than I know.  Yet, we still have to deal with all these issues(and others).

The Answers

Does God know about all these problems?  Yes.

Can God fix all of these problems?  Yes.

Why hasn’t God fixed all these problems?  He has.  It is called heaven.

 

Heaven

I don’t know what your vision of heaven looks like, but the Bible shows us that heaven basically eliminates all the problems I listed above, and so much more.  Here is a list of verses that demonstrates how God effectively solves each of the problems I listed above.  This article is already long enough, so I won’t elaborate on each one.  Instead, I will merely list a verse after each topic that demonstrates my point.

Killing – Rev. 21:4 - There is no more death in heaven, so nobody will be killing anyone.  Just a few verses later in Rev. 21:8, it states that murders will go to the lake of fire(i.e. Hell).

Stealing – Rev. 21:27 – Nothing impure will enter heaven.  No one who does what is shameful or deceitful will enter heaven.

Hatred - Rev. 21:27 – Nothing impure will enter heaven.  No one who does what is shameful or deceitful will enter heaven.

Death – I Cor. 15:51-55 – Paul explains that when Jesus returns, the dead will be raised and all will be given bodies that are incorruptible(i.e. immortal – cannot die).

Aging – I Cor. 15:51-55/Rev. 21:4 – The incorruptible bodies and the lack of death seems to imply no aging or getting old.

Sickness and Injury -  I Cor. 15:42-44 – The new, incorruptible body(mentioned in Death above) will no longer have any weakness(i.e. sickness or injury).

Car Accidents - I Cor. 15:42-44 – There wouldn’t be any cars in heaven, so this seems a little silly to even consider, but it was on my list, so here we are.  As mentioned earlier, there is no weakness(i.e. sickness or injury).  Since heaven is a spiritual place, there would not be any cars to have a car accident in.  And even if there were and you did, you would be fine, as your body would be incorruptible.  Also, see I Pet. 1:4, which states that our inheritance(i.e. heaven) will never perish(die), spoil(go bad) or fade(slowly pass away).

Poverty – Rev. 21:21 – Since heaven has streets of gold(not literal streets made of literal gold, as heaven is a spiritual place not a physical place, but I think you get the point), poverty would seem to be eliminated.

Homeless – John 14:1 – 4 – Jesus tells His disciples that He is going to prepare a place for them(in heaven) and that His Father’s house(heaven) has many rooms.

Hunger -John 6:35 – Jesus said that anyone who would come to Him would never be hungry or thirsty.  This is a spiritual hunger and thirst, but as seen above, people in heaven have spiritual bodies, not physical ones with physical needs.

Too Hot/Too Cold – Rev. 21:23-24 – There will be no sun or moon in heaven(those are physical things that produce light – see Gen. 14-18).  In heaven, God provides the light.  It might sound like a bit of a stretch, but if God provides the necessary light, we shouldn’t have to worry about it being too cold or too hot.

Sadness – Rev. 21:4 – God shall wipe away all tears.

Conclusion

Of course, none of us is God.  We cannot eliminate any of these things by ourselves.   It's kind of silly to even think about, but I heard a song and here we are. Simply put, we are not God.  He is.  Isa. 55:8-9 states that God's thoughts and ways(actions) are not like ours.  They are higher and better than ours, and as such, we should be drawn to Him to learn from Him.  He will teach us, if we will be willing to listen and learn.  He does that through His Word.  So let's use it.  Let's learn about Him.  Let's learn about ourselves.

Based on the above, heaven sounds pretty good.   We should all want to go there.  I cannot fathom why anyone wouldn’t.  Let’s strengthen our faith daily(Rom. 12:2).  Let’s make our calling and election sure(II Pet. 2:10).  We would not want to lose out on what God has prepared for those who are faithful to Him.