Things like natural disasters and disease are evidence of the fallenness of all of creation. Sin did not just affect human relationships but the entire earth (Genesis 3:17). For decades, corporations carelessly released toxic chemicals or waste into the environment, unaware of just how harmful it could become. In one small town in West Virginia, a chemical plant’s waste disposals have had devastating effects on the community—the fish and local livestock aren’t safe to eat, and people are developing cancers (Kent Garber, “A Small Town’s Battle with Dioxin Pollution,”S. News and World Report, April 23, 2010). We are now seeing the effects of these supposedly small disposals—entire river systems are destroyed, animal species go extinct, and our own food supplies can be impacted. Sin is the same way—even a single act had ripple effects for the entirety of humankind. Even now, our “smallest” of sins can have a chain effect that we never anticipate or intend. A broken world magnifies it exponentially.
Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/energy/articles/2010/04/23/a-small-towns-battle-with-dioxin-pollution
