Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen To Good People?

This question always bothers me, because it shows what a selfish perspective we have on life. Now, most Christians answer this question about the same. They will say it is not God’s fault that bad things happen; it is our fault, as sinful man. Though this is true, the problem with this argument is that it would imply that somehow the victim is also the cause. You wouldn’t tell a child that is their fault they were beaten, or a rape victim that they somehow deserved it. We all know better. It’s never the victim’s fault. Yet, we find it so hard to answer this question without making either the victim look guilty…or God, for not stopping it.

This is a problem.

But the real problem, you see, is not the answer, but rather the question. By asking, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” you are making two very big assumptions. The first, is the classification of “bad.”

How do you decide, what is or is not bad? Such a term is entirely relative. Of course, there are some circumstance which most would agree are unquestionably bad, such as the aforementioned rape and child abuse. But what about other situations? Is losing ones job bad? Sometimes, perhaps. But always? Is sickness or injury or being cheated or lied to always a bad thing? What I mean by this, is that there are obstacles put in our lives that are there for the sole purpose of building us up and making us stronger. Someone once said “God gives us mountains, so we can learn how to climb.” Indeed, without challenges and chances to grow, we would all be as fundamentally weak, naive, and innocent as children with a very small sense of what makes us who we are.

So yes, not everything that seems to us as being “bad” truly is. It is not until all is said and done, and you can see the bigger picture, that you would truly know for sure. That was the first assumption, but the second is just as important and has even bigger holes, and that is, the assumption that there exists such a thing as, “good people.”

Are there such things as “good people?” Somehow, I doubt it. Is it not Romans 3:23 that starts by saying “For all have sinned…”

Every one of us is made of sin, fleshed in sin, birthed in sin. We can not go a day without it. It is fundamentally a part of who and what we are. We are sinners. We can try to fool ourselves. We can say that we are a good person. But as 1 John 1:8 clearly reads, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” So it’s time you cast aside your foolish notions of goodness. It does not exist in our mortal realm. No matter how much good you do in life, it will never cover up or outweigh the bad. Isaiah 64:6a states, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” You are not good. I am not good. And no one you will ever see or meet, will ever fit that description.

And so the question is fundamentally erred. The question should not be, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” but rather “Why do good things happen to bad people?” And this one can only be answered by the grace of God. As sinners, none of us deserve any sort of protection from God, and yet, every so often, he gives it to us, with countless other blessings that we could never hope to repay.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. ” Romans 6:23

As sinners, the only thing that we truly deserve is death itself, but instead the Lord grants us the option of eternal life, with other blessings to boot. Why he does this, is a question that I do not know the answer to and never will.

Changes

I’ve made a lot of changes to the site’s layout, so a lot of the old links that are in the posts won’t work anymore, but I feel that this new layout will be much more constructive. It should be both easier to manage and easier to navigate.

Loving God with Nothing

My gosh, I love God. Really I do. He’s just so darn good to me, I can’t say enough. I freaking love him! I love him so freaking much, that it’s hard to explain without expletives.

Why do I love God so much? Because he is good. He’s so darn good!

 

I found this psalm awhile back. Today I feel like I know exactly what David was talking about.

Psalms 18:1-19

“¹ I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. ² The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. ³ I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. ⁴ The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. ⁵ The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. ⁶ In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. ⁷ Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. ⁸ There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. ⁹ He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. ¹⁰ And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. ¹¹ He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. ¹² At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. ¹³ The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. ¹⁴ Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. ¹⁵ Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. ¹⁶ He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. ¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. ¹⁸ They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. ¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.”

 

I can honestly say that I am in a worst place than I have ever been in my life. I am completely alone. I never see my friends or family. I am making no income. I don’t even really have a job. I have no prospects for a future. Every dream that I have ever had, I’ve seen die before my very eyes. I see no light on the horizon.

But among all of this, God has never left my side and he has always been just a prayer away. Nothing has changed. Nothing has improved…only my mindset and relationship to the Lord… But you know what? My God hasn’t changed either. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is still the same God that loved me enough to send his son to die for me. Why should I expect God to only bless me in life? He’s not my God, in the sense that I can order him around like a dog and expect him to do my bidding! I deserve NOTHING in life. All that I deserve is death. That is the punishment for my sins. So, I cannot blame him for the bad things that happen, but praise God, I will honor him for all the good things that come my way. Theyare the blessings that I do not deserve. As James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

Every bad thing that happens in my life occurs because of something that I did or because of something that someone else did. It’s not God’s fault that it happened, nor do I have any right to blame God for not protecting me from it. He’s not my servant! I AM HIS! How did we, as humans, get such a distorted mentality on this? God owes us absolutely nothing! Nothing! But he gave us his life! His son! We owe him everything! Absolutely everything! Still, he asks for nothing from us…nothing but our love and faithfulness.

Imagine that you are walking through the park in Washington DC, when out of the blue, a man with a gun jumps out from behind a bush and is about to mercilessly shoot you. You are scared, but you have no way to save yourself. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, someone in jogging clothes leaps in front of you and takes a hard bullet to the chest. The criminal runs away in fright, and as you stand there in shock and horror, you now realize that the man who is lying at your feet, panting in a pool of blood, is the President of the United States! Amazingly, he survives his injury and the two you create a sort of bonding friendship due to the event.

How would you treat the President after this? Would you be so greatful for what he had done, that you would become a loyal servant of his? Would you do any favor that he was to ask of you? Would you always answer the phone when he calls you? Would you constantly tell others about what a wonderful person he was? Or, would you take advantage of the fact that you know the President and constantly ask favors of him? Would you become angry that he didn’t call the police department and have them drop your speeding charge? Would you be resentful towards him, when he doesn’t write you that Letter of Recommendation? Would you stop talking to him, after he doesn’t slip a check into your birthday card?

How foolish we are to think that God owes us anything! He has given each of us so much more than we deserve and every good thing that he does for us from now until kingdom come only adds to the excess of his goodness. So, don’t hate God for the bad…Bad things happen. Rather, praise him for the good, because every good thing is just another gift that you don’t deserve, from a man who owes you absolutely nothing.

God doesn’t do anything to us or for us because he is obligated to. Everything that he does for us, he does because he loves us, and he wants to. It brings him joy to shower his children with blessings. If you find yourself disrespecting that which he gives you, and you start feeling like you deserve more, then maybe, like me, you have allowed yourself to become spoiled.

Mini-Study on 1 Corinthians 13

After writing some general thoughts on 1 Corinthians 13, I have decided to make an indepth piece by piece study of the subject of agape love. I will be looking at each characteristic of love, the greek definition of each word, and how we can apply it to our daily lives. As of right now, I have finished looking at patience and kindness, but I still have a ways to go before I will be anywhere close to be doing done. I’m learning a lot along the way and I hope that you do as well.

The “Love Chapter”

So, last night as I lied awake in bed I couldn’t stop thinking. For some reason, 1 Corinthians 13 crossed my mind and I felt as though, I had recieved a sort of revelation on it. Do you realize that the chapter before and after have nothing to do with romance what so ever? So, why do we always interpret this chapter to be about romance? The love that Paul is talking about is not the love that should be found between spouses. It is the love that each of us are to have towards everyone. So, I have written a bit about it on the page for 1 Corinthians 13, and I am planning on doing an in depth study on the chapter in the near or immediate future. I want to look peice by peice through the definition of love and see what steps we can go about to make it real in our lives, personality, and how we treat others.

One A Day

I have a new goal for myself and I would encourage you to join me. There are way too many lost people in the world and I pass them by everyday without doing a thing to stop it. So, I have been convicted and have decided that from now on, my day will not be over until I have talked to at least one stranger or unbeliever about God. One a day. It shouldn’t be hard to do. It just takes a little courage. Please join me on this quest. By the end of April, you will have witnessed to 30 people! In under three years, you will have reached 1,000. It’s not hard to do and the results could be phenomenal. Join me and have your One A Day.

One Chapter At A Time

I just wrote a review on Genesis Chapter 1. I plan on recording my thoughts on every book of the Bible. Though it could take me years and years to complete, I think it will be a very fulfilling goal. I will try to make each of them clear, simple, and easy to find here on WordPress. You can find my first one here: http://mwisner.wordpress.com/genesis-1-a-look-at-creation/.