Were we created to die?

Answer:

In regards to your first question, see: If babies are not sinners, then why do some babies die?

It is difficult to fully guess what God's intentions were when He created this world. We do know that God planned before the world was created to rescue men from their sins. Peter said that Jesus was chosen before the foundation of the world to save men (I Peter 1:17-20). That implies that God knew men would sin, and the wages of sin was death (Romans 6:23). "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12).

Adam and Eve were denied access to the Tree of Life because of their sin. "Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" -- therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken" (Genesis 3:22-23). Without eating from the Tree of Life, men cannot live forever; therefore, the fleshly bodies we have appear to have been designed to not be permanent.

Even though, "it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27), God's goal has always been the salvation of men (Hebrews 9:28). And in the abode of God we, who are faithful, will have access to the Tree of Life. "Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever" (Revelation 22:1-5). These words can be relied upon because they are true (Revelation 22:6).