Manage Account

<div>Why is there death and violence in nature if God created the Earth good?</div><div><p>God’s creatures—beginning with the devil and his demonic confreres, and then mankind, beginning with our first parents—are responsible for the moral evil in the world, not the Creator. Moral evil results from the misuse of the God-given gift of free will, first with the fallen angels and then mankind, and there is associated general disorder that results from that moral evil.</p>
<p>For more on this general subject, please see our responses on <a href="https://www.catholic.com/qa/can-free-will-thwart-gods-plan">how the free will of creatures can’t thwart God’s plan</a>, <a href="https://www.catholic.com/qa/to-hell-with-heaven">the devil’s creation and related consequences</a>, and <a href="https://www.catholic.com/qa/augustine-had-it-right-calvin-did-not">how St. Augustine had it right on free will and John Calvin didn’t</a>.</p>
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Why Death and Violence in God’s Good Creation?

<p>Why is the Church so defensive about marriage even when it is not sacramental? Why does the Church insist on the goodness of natural marriage? What does this say about sacramental marriage?</p>