Tough Question 5: Why does God let bad things happen to good people?
Anyone with a pulse has probably asked that question. If there really is a God out there, and if that God is all-knowing and all-powerful like the Bible says, then why in the world doesn’t He do something about all the crap down here? Disease, famine, war, injustice, genocide, pollution, etc….why doesn’t He put an end to all of it if He has the ability to do so? The short answer may surprise you. It’s LOVE. Let me explain….
First of all, let’s take the “bad things / good people” dichotomy. At the end of the day, there are no “good people” or “bad people”….there are just “people.” Sure, there are those who are “gooder” and “badder” by comparison with everyone else, but intrinsically we are all a mixed bag. In our spiritual nature, we are very, very good. God created us that way…unique as the only creatures made “in His own image.” We are worthy and valuable and wonderful by nature, and capable to amazing acts of love & beauty. That being said, I think it goes without saying that we’re all imperfect and somewhat compromised in our inner center of motivation…each of us prone to pride & narcissism in our own different ways. This is not how God created man & woman, but it is how we ended up, following what C.S. Lewis refers to as “The Great Divorce”….when Adam & Eve, the first man & first woman, broke their relationship with God and were cast out of His presence into a fallen world.
That world has gone through many changes over millennia, nevertheless it is the same fallen world you & I live in today. We are, all of us, the same mixed-bags of goodness/badness. So to wonder why bad things happen to “good” people, really doesn’t make any sense to me. What DOES make sense is the deeper meaning it points to about God’s love. God had to create man & woman with the ability to make that choice….to choice to obey & stay or to rebel & leave….or it would not have been love. God loves us so much, always has & always will, that it was worth the risks to create us with the right to choose.
My 18-year old daughter is about to graduate from High School, and 2 months after that we’ll move her down to Phoenix, AZ, for college. I love my daughter dearly, and I desire that she love me too. Because of our love for her, my wife & I have been loosening the reins gradually over the past year or two. Not only because it’s our job to help her learn to be successful and responsible without us, but also because we desire her to love us after she leaves. If we put a bunch of unrealistic rules around her to limit her mobility, or smother her with attention, or try to shelter her from the adult world, we would be doing her no favors. Actually, it would reveal a shallowness to our love for her, and it would tarnish her love for us. Love and trust are related. When she goes away from home, I hope she doesn’t spend time in dark rooms alone with stupid boys or start doing drugs or get in a fatal car crash or decide she wants to worship Satan. But because I love her, and I desire for her to love me too, I must give her complete freedom to do what she chooses, regardless of the consequences…because REAL LOVE IS WORTH THE RISK. I would give my life for my daughter in a hearbeat…but this is just a taste of the love God has for us as we sojourn through this fallen world of pain & suffering. He beckons us to Him through the storm.
Final thought, from Timothy Keller’s book “The Reason For God”:
“The Bible says that Jesus came on a rescue mission for creation. He had to pay for our sins so that someday He can end evil and suffering without ending us. If we ask the question: ‘Why does God allow evil and suffering to continue?’ and we look at the cross of Jesus, we still do not know what the answer is. However, we now know what the answer isn’t. It can’t be that He doesn’t love us. It can’t be that He is indifferent or detached from our condition. God takes our misery and suffering SO seriously that He was willing to take it on Himself.”
9 replies on “Tough Question 5: Why does God let bad things happen to good people?”
I've been thinking about your statement regarding God's love for us and that ,…"it was worth the risks to create us with the right to choose." We've talked about His knowing all the terrible things that would happen because of giving mankind the right to choose and yet, He decided to include it as part of His plan anyway.
Would it be correct then ethically, morally and spiritually to say that a person has the right to choose to kill someone but would be subject to the laws and consequences of that choice and action? Next of course, the 'hot potato' question would be, "Does a woman have the right to chose to have an abortion and then be subject to the laws, and consequences of that choice and action? Along with that, any person who disagrees, has the right to choose to protest, choose to block clinic doors, choose to try getting the laws changed etc, and then they also would be subject to the laws and consequences of those choices and actions.
Even when something goes against God's ethical and spiritual laws, including the laws of man, and in order for His plan to 'work,' giving mankind self or free will seems to be THE foundational part of it.?.?.? (stating and asking)
gearsdad
I also like your second paragraph thoughts regarding the "bad things / good people dichotomy." Question; Do you see the spirit of man or our "spiritual nature" still being fallen, in need of regeneration, even though being reflective the God who created us able to do,…"amazing acts of love and beauty?"
gearsdad
One more comment, using the example of you daughter going to college is scary and challenging to say the least. And to say the more, I remember with our son going to college and can only imagine it being a daughter! But, "REAL LOVE IS WORTH THE RISK!" Let's co-write a book on that one?????
Agree or disagree?
"Under God, no one has the 'right' to do anything but, everyone does have a God-given right to choose to do right or wrong."
Some changes/additions to my current posting in light of your, "REAL LOVE IS WORTH THE RISK" statement.
Knowing what man would choose to do, along with all the evil and atrocities that God knew would follow, He still gave mankind the ABILITY and FREEDOM to choose doing right or wrong." To understand that His choosing to do it that way is at the foundation of His love for 'man,' in giving him 'freedom to choose,' still makes it difficult for me to reconcile His direct destruction and killing of His enemies and His own people, including the 'innocent' on both sides, with the teachings of Jesus. Even though a new administration, dispensing of God's dealing with man takes place, what happened until He got there is mind boggling.
I do feel that as a result of my questioning I have become more 'unjudgingly' aware of an unbelieving world that has stood by and watched God's 'religious' people over the centuries of time and asked, "Why should I follow or love your God?" It's pretty challenging even though, to have some type of answer and to help rest my mind, I've concluded that He's God, He created it that way and so it is!
The even bigger challenge for me is to look inward and also ask myself some of the tough questions I like to ask God like, why don't I love and obey Him more or why don't I love others more? It's probably not a short list, especially if I listen to WHO might be asking me some of the questions. It's not to be a guilt thing because ALL has been paid for, I am one of His beloved ones seated with Him in the 'heavenlies,' as I type. I have become the righteousness of God in Christ. It's a child of God having been given the ability, freedom and power (HOLY Spirit) to choose to follow Jesus. A child who is loved beyond understanding by a Father who understands ALL!!
Gearsdad. Sorry for the delay in replying, it's been a crazy busy week for me! Anyway, yes I agree with you that freedom of speech and behavior does not necessitate freedom of reaction or consequence. We are free to make as many right or wrong choices we want…but will either reap the benefits or pay the consequences of how we respond to that freedom. You mentioned the idea that giving mankind free will seems to be the foundational part of God's plan, yes i agree with that wholeheartedly….because that's how love works….it must be free.
Of course! We are, all of us, wonderful and terrible at the same time….God's children made in His image yet hopelessly compromised. Hopeless, that is, without His help. This is the reason for Jesus, who is called "The Savior" in scripture….He saves us from ourselves.
I don't think i understand the distinction of the two parts of your question?
Yes, I also struggle with these thoughts….trying to make sense of God's seemingly wanton destruction of whole people groups during the period of Israel's inauguration into the Promised Land…and how the very nature of this stands in stark contrast to the "Love your neighbor and pray for your enemies" orientation of Jesus and the early Church. I think that when we, as followers of Jesus, shy away from admitting our discomfort with this dichotomy, we look like blind idiots to our skeptical, unbelieving friends. But when we embrace the mental & emotional struggle of these things, and avoid the temptation to gloss over them or talk each other out of them, we identify ourselves as mutual strugglers just like those who have chosen not to believe. That's really the only main difference between those who believe in Jesus and those who do not. It's choice….those who do not are saying "I see all the evidence I have been exposed to and am choosing to say NO…there is either no God at all, or there is but you're not it." Those of us who do believe are saying what you said above.