How can a good God allow bad things to happen? Part 1
By all accounts, this question is the toughest one of the bunch. As theologian John Stott wrote, “The fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith, and has been in every generation. Sensitive spirits ask if it can possibly be reconciled with god’s love.” George Barna conducted a nationa survey i which he asked, “If you could ask God only one question and you knew he would give you an answer, what would you ask?” The top response was: “Why is there pain and suffering in the world?”
The magnitude of this issue is clearly not only felt with those outside the Christian faith. Many have abandoned their faith because of it. Charles Templeton, the co-founder of Youth For Christ and co-evangelist with Billy Graham ended up denouncing Christianity because of the problem of suffering and evil and wrote a book entitled, “A Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith”!
I believe that to conclude, with Templeton and others, that pain and evil in this world proves that God is not loving is the path of least resistance and I choose to resist taking that path and take another. The path I take begins with the realization that the blame for all of the mess we are in is not with God but with Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey God in the Garden of Eden. It is because of that one act of disobedience that all pain, suffering and evil can be traced.
But secondly, I believe God can stop any pain, suffering or evil. The Bible is full of stories of God demonstrating that he is all-powerful and loving and can stop any magnitude of evil, cure any disease and calm any storm. I don’t deny the evidence of pain and evil, but I also won’t deny the evidence that points to God’s ability and willingness to act to stop it.
“Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” - Jeremiah 32:17
“For nothing is impossible with God.” - Luke 1:37
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever!” - Ephesians 3:20-21
Against evidence that sometimes points in a different direction, I believe that God is all-powerful. I believe he is good. I believe he can stop any pain and any evil any time he chooses to. And I believe we live our lives under the care and protection of a loving heavenly Father who sees it all and is firmly in control.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Tim, one of the things I love most about River Oaks is the passion in your sermons. Yesterdays sermon was definitely one of those with passion. Listening to you speak about this topic gave me chills, and there were several teary eyes in the crowd, including your own. To me this is a topic that is really close to home. Because of the pain and the suffering from a divorce, that is how I came to accept Jesus as my Savior. I can’t imagine how I would have ever gotten through any of it without Him. Even 4 years after the onset, I still see hurt and the after-effects in my children from it. But I know with Christ, we will persevere.
Thank you so much for bringing your passion to your messages. That is what has kept me coming to River Oaks for almost 3 years now.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Tim,
My thoughts on why God allows bad things to happen:
1. He does it to get our attention, whether it’s something big or as small as a flat tire, he does things that will build us up and cause us to look to him for whatever it may be.
2. He does it for His Glory, I had a friend die my senior year, about 3 weeks before I graduated, it tore me up inside, but it united my entire school, it caused me to look to God. More importantly people came to know Christ through it all, which made it worth it, though you may not see the glory and the good in it right away eventually you do.
Thanks for your past sermons they have been great.
reply
I agree and both of your thoughts will be a part of my message this Sunday when I finish my answer to the question, ‘How can a good God allow bad things?” See you then.
Tim
October 19th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Tim, thank you for this message. My wife and I just listened to it while at our condo in Colorado. I have concluded too that the “fall” is the beginning of all our suffering and that God cries with us in our hurts and pain. It isn’t what He wanted to happen, but giving us a free will allowed us to have our way, and we are receiving the consequences of our ignorance and selfish desires. With respect to allowing bad things to happen, I have a little trouble with “He does it to get our attention” and “He does it for His glory” as stated in the above response. I believe that due to the fall, God has lifted His hand of protection as in pre-fall. I also believe that when bad things do happen that we are often much more attentive to and aware of His presence, and that He often does use the event to bring honor and glory to Himself. But, I don’t think it is “the end justifies the means” sort of thing. I think it is more like, when God removed His hand of protection after the first sin, He allowed entropy to take over. Entropy in scientific terms is the tendency for something to go from its current state, to a lesser state; entropy is disorder; and the analogy is in regards to the original perfect world, versus what we live in today. We are all going to experience pain and suffering and bad things in this life (and it won’t be fair), until Christ takes us to heaven and the perfect conditions are once again restored. I also believe that while God is concerned about our current status of well being, He is most certainly more concerned about our eternal well being. Without pain and suffering, we might not feel the need for a closer relationship with God, relying more on our own selves than we should. I have wondered, Tim, what will prevent another fall in heaven, just as Lucifer fell in a perfect place? I wonder how long Adam and Eve were in the perfect world before they decided to go against God’s command? I guess there are some things we are better off not knowing!