Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

[sexdrugsmoney]

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I believe bad things happen to good people because
1. they show God's power
2. God is just- He doesn't let sin go unpunished
3. it brings them closer to God
4. not all good people are Christians

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Why doesn't 2+2 have a emoticon? [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Anyway FYP.

[baggins]

the rain falls on the just and the unjust.

bad things happen to everybody.

assuming all that your question assumes (there is a God and He did create the universe, and he created humans as moral beings) then you have to understand the framework of the universe that he's set up.

first of all, if there is no God, there is no 'good' or 'bad'. if there IS a God, then good and bad derive from His ultimate standard. there may be 'more desirable for me' and 'less desirable for me', but without God, there is no 'good' or 'bad'.

to create us and then decide every move we make, would be to program us, and take away any free will we have. if the God of the bible is real, and more or less the way we interpret the bible to describe Him, then we are to understand that the greatest choice we have is whether or not to follow Him. this 'choice' would be meaningless if we had no free will. if we were simply programmed to accept everything that we were given from God, and there was no possible path otherwise, then that 'choice' would cease to have a purpose or a meaning. note that we are talking about a meaning to God. it matters very much to Him that we choose Him of our own volition and with other options available. thus, he has to give us the option to follow all the guidelines he's given us. human beings are notorious for screwing things up - even the ones that are trying hardest not to. the results of these choices and decisions and actions is that bad things happen. if the consequences of these choices were removed, then they would cease to be 'bad' things. to give weight to good and bad means that bad things will happen.

note that all of this is God's sovereign prerogative. he chose to have it this way. this is not something we as lesser beings get to judge. we have no ground to say that he was abusing his power, or that he should have asked the rest of us, or that he should have done it differently.

if you read in Job, when Job questions why God allowed Satan to bring all the pain and suffering into his life, and then to allow his closest friends to accuse him of sin, when he was blameless - God answers Job. he asks Job if he was around for the design of the universe, for the creation of the sun and moon and stars and horses and hyenas and zebras... He offers to let Job take the reigns of the universe for a while. all of this to say that, if the words and questions and accusations Job had for God were to have any binding significance, then Job must be prepared to handle all the responsibility of holding the universe together and making things run properly.

the question we really have to ask ourselves is 'what am I doing to make Good things happen?'

[PoBoy321]

Bad things happen to good people because you touch yourself.

[TheQ]

lol, my worst fear confirmed. I must, try, to, stop.

[TheQ]

Just started the reading the Bible a few months ago, partly because because my Kid is asking questions, but mostly because I'm interested. Can't wait to start the Old Testament. Besides, if I can read and reread my poker books over and over, why can't I put that same dedication into everything else in life?

That post had a lot of thought in it.

[baggins]

wow. good for you. i encourage you to stick with it, at least for a complete intellectual curiosity if nothing else.

also, if Job is kinda wierd, please don't stop reading. it has a cool ending.

let me know if you have any questions. i'm not a bible scholar or anything, but i have studied it, and i lead a small group bible study, and my dad is a pastor. i have access to a wealth of material regarding the bible and questions that arise from reading it.

[NobodysFreak]

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Bad things happen to good people because you touch yourself.

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I had this one all queued up... I think I would have added "at night" but its all the same. Nh, sir.

[Godfather80]

Why do we assume that both death and suffering are bad? From our perspective, they can certainly be painful, but are they morally evil? If we are all moving on to a better place, shouldn't anything that speeds this process along be seen as a good thing? I believe that it is all about perspective.

This notion of God testing us is very silly. What would God ever need from us? A passed test? God already knows what is going to happen anyway. Do you think we are going to surprise God with our faith/disbelief?