Crime, Corruption and Poverty Are Ever-Present Because We Live in a Fallen World
There are many political candidates who campaign that they will get rid of crime, corruption and poverty down to zero. While it's good to have programs that will help eradicate said problems but we have to understand the real problem is that we live in a fallen world. While one can certainly find ways to lessen these problems but the Earth in its fallen condition will be full of people with evil in their hearts.
The issues of the world today are a result of the sin of Adam and Eve. Why is there a lot of calamities? God cursed the Earth ever since Adam sinned. Why are there a lot of wicked people? Everyone got the sin nature from Adam and humanity is fallen. Man is no longer basically good ever since the fall at the Garden of Eden. The idea that people didn't inherit Adam's sin nature or Pelagianism is not in the Bible
And it's because we live in a fallen world that laws are meant to exist.
Why do you think God gave the ten commandments as a rule to love by? All those sins were already committed. People were breaking all those ten commandments resulting in so much chaos. When God set laws, it was because of the situation that mankind itself is evil as a result of the fall of Adam. Without those laws there would be chaos. Those laws were made with the very truth that mankind is not basically good. Anybody who teaches that mankind is basically good needs to check the daily news and look for facts to defend such a heresy.
You can take a look at developed countries. Not even the strictest countries can eliminate crime. Sure, one can expect much less crime but you can read the news with how people are getting arrested, jails are still filled, there's still officials getting removed from office for corruption related charges, and some people are poor as a result of laziness even in countries with better job opportunities. It can be verified by this truth in Ecclesiastes:
Countries where guilty people get punished as soon as possible have lower rates of crime, corruption and poverty yet it's not zero. If these problems can be zeroed down then there would be no need for laws against crime, corruption and unreasonable economic policies. These countries even have to acknowledge the fact that they keep these laws up because it's a problem that will never disappear. It doesn't matter how good they are but they will always have criminals, corrupt officials and poor people as a result of laziness to deal with even if the society's safety standard is pretty high. While it's good to have such policies but it's not enough.
Punishing crime and corruption is a must (and the Bible gives such laws such as punishing corrupt authority figures) and teaching the poor to work or providing for the helpless are biblical but they aren't enough. The Law itself shows just how wicked we are. The Law itself is a mirror of the reality that man can't keep the Law. Have you ever paid a parking ticket or a littering ticket? The Bible says you've broken God's Law (James 2:10-11). You don't need to be a criminal to go to Hell. Sad to say even the most law-abiding citizen will still go to Hell without Christ with the worst of criminals.
The one time that the world will have no more crime, corruption and poverty is when Jesus Christ returns. No one can do it but Him. This is still the old Earth where death and decay is very present. Jesus Christ will establish the New Heaven and New Earth where the whole of creation is restored and all the death and decay is gone forever. All the wickedness is already thrown into the Lake of Fire. The question is are you going to be there on that grand and glorious moment of eternity?
See also:
Genesis 3:17-19
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; [18] Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; [19] In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Genesis 6:5
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it
Romans 3:10-18
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: [11] There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. [12] They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. [13] Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: [14] Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: [15] Their feet are swift to shed blood: [16] Destruction and misery are in their ways: [17] And the way of peace have they not known: [18] There is no fear of God before their eyes.
The issues of the world today are a result of the sin of Adam and Eve. Why is there a lot of calamities? God cursed the Earth ever since Adam sinned. Why are there a lot of wicked people? Everyone got the sin nature from Adam and humanity is fallen. Man is no longer basically good ever since the fall at the Garden of Eden. The idea that people didn't inherit Adam's sin nature or Pelagianism is not in the Bible
Romans 5:14
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
And it's because we live in a fallen world that laws are meant to exist.
1 Timothy 1:9-11
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, [10] For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; [11] According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
Why do you think God gave the ten commandments as a rule to love by? All those sins were already committed. People were breaking all those ten commandments resulting in so much chaos. When God set laws, it was because of the situation that mankind itself is evil as a result of the fall of Adam. Without those laws there would be chaos. Those laws were made with the very truth that mankind is not basically good. Anybody who teaches that mankind is basically good needs to check the daily news and look for facts to defend such a heresy.
You can take a look at developed countries. Not even the strictest countries can eliminate crime. Sure, one can expect much less crime but you can read the news with how people are getting arrested, jails are still filled, there's still officials getting removed from office for corruption related charges, and some people are poor as a result of laziness even in countries with better job opportunities. It can be verified by this truth in Ecclesiastes:
Ecclesiastes 8:10-12
And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity. [11] Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. [12] Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
Countries where guilty people get punished as soon as possible have lower rates of crime, corruption and poverty yet it's not zero. If these problems can be zeroed down then there would be no need for laws against crime, corruption and unreasonable economic policies. These countries even have to acknowledge the fact that they keep these laws up because it's a problem that will never disappear. It doesn't matter how good they are but they will always have criminals, corrupt officials and poor people as a result of laziness to deal with even if the society's safety standard is pretty high. While it's good to have such policies but it's not enough.
Punishing crime and corruption is a must (and the Bible gives such laws such as punishing corrupt authority figures) and teaching the poor to work or providing for the helpless are biblical but they aren't enough. The Law itself shows just how wicked we are. The Law itself is a mirror of the reality that man can't keep the Law. Have you ever paid a parking ticket or a littering ticket? The Bible says you've broken God's Law (James 2:10-11). You don't need to be a criminal to go to Hell. Sad to say even the most law-abiding citizen will still go to Hell without Christ with the worst of criminals.
The one time that the world will have no more crime, corruption and poverty is when Jesus Christ returns. No one can do it but Him. This is still the old Earth where death and decay is very present. Jesus Christ will establish the New Heaven and New Earth where the whole of creation is restored and all the death and decay is gone forever. All the wickedness is already thrown into the Lake of Fire. The question is are you going to be there on that grand and glorious moment of eternity?
See also: