Why Does God Allow Terrible Things to Happen?! Romeo 1/20 A QUESTION WITH NO SIMPLE OR COMPLETE ANSWER. This lesson will attempt in some way to answer what I don't believe we have been fully given the answer to. However, what God hasn't said in His Word - I can't tell you. Even from what God does tell us, our understanding is at best incomplete. The O.T. is filled with prophecy concerning Christ, but no one fully understood it until well after Christ had come. This lesson may seem to be a collection of ramblings as I share different ways of looking at this difficult question? THIS IS A QUESTION THAT HAS BEEN PRESENT EVER SINCE MEN LEFT THE GARDEN OF EDEN. We only have to wait for the 4th chapter of Genesis to encounter the evil potential of man kind and see the suffering of an innocent victim of that evil. Gen 4.3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. Does the concept of freewill fully answer this question. Why God allows Bad Things to Happen Page 1 of 11
At least partially. If man could not choose to do wrong, we would be mere puppets. Could God have chosen to stop Cain from killing Abel? Obviously He could have, so why didn't He? If God stopped Cain, than Cain would not have had that choice. But God could have stopped him just before he did it and still punished him just the same. But again we might ask - if God stopped us just short of sinning would we really have free will? However, many will not accept the answer of free will. They might answer that if God really cared about each individual He would intervene to save them from all evil. How do we explain the killing of 20 children in Connecticut? What about all of the young fathers that are killed in war? What about those killed by terrorists in Algeria this week? Is this explained by the concept of freewill. choose to do terribly evil things? Can God not stop those who WHAT ABOUT TERRIBLE THINGS THAT ARE NOT CAUSED BY MAN? What about babies that are born with terrible birth defects? Recent video of baby born without eyes. Why God allows Bad Things to Happen Page 2 of 11
Obviously, things like this and natural disasters aren't caused by free will. This might give some understanding to why some people take a deist view of God. However, some of these things, like the baby born without eyes, do seem to fit into God's overall plan. John 9.1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. IF THESE TRAGEDIES ARE PUNISHMENT WE MIGHT ASK WITH HABAKKUK. DOES THE CRIME JUSTIFY THE PUNISHMENT? Habakkuk's Plea Hab 1.2 How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, Violence! but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. Habakkuk's response to God's answer: Hab 1.13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? Habakkuk was told that the Babylonians would get what they deserved. Why God allows Bad Things to Happen Page 3 of 11
Hab 2.7 Will not your creditors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their prey. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. The old testament has many more examples of the destruction of God's people brought upon them by their disobedience. Are we as a nation any different today? As a nation that was founded based on belief in God and whose laws are based on Biblical principles, what are we bringing upon ourselves by our rejection of God. People are highly criticized when they suggest that disasters such as 9/11 or hurricanes, floods and tornadoes might be warnings or punishment from God. Yet, consider: Amos 4. 6 I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord. 7 I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. 8 People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord. 9 Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, I struck them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord. 10 I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord. 11 I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord. Why God allows Bad Things to Happen Page 4 of 11
GOD'S VIEW OF MANKIND BEFORE THE FLOOD. Gen 6.5 The Lord saw how great man s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the Lord said, I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air for I am grieved that I have made them. 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Where is mankind today in relationship to then? There are no doubt many wicked people today, but also there are an awful lot of really good people. It is clear that God cares about the good people and does often intervene in this world on their behalf, but not in all cases. The story of Jonah. Jonah 4.9 But God said to Jonah, Do you have a right to be angry about the vine? I do, he said. I am angry enough to die. 10 But the Lord said, You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city? God intervened and sent Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh, but it was still up to them to save themselves by repenting. Why God allows Bad Things to Happen Page 5 of 11
How many preachers has God sent today to warn us to turn from our wicked ways? How many innocent people will continue to die because men refuse to accept the savior that God sent into the world. GOD WANTS ALL ME TO BE SAVED 1 TIM 2.3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. YET NO MATTER WHAT GOD DOES MANY WILL NOT REPENT Rev 9.20 The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. GOD'S LOVE FOR MAN HAS RESULTED IN THE DEATH OF INNOCENT CHILDREN. Consider all of the babies that Herod had killed in and around Bethlehem when he learned that the Christ child had been born. THE DEATH OF JEROBOAM'S SON 1 Kings 14.1 At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill, 2 and Jeroboam said to his wife, Go, disguise yourself, so you won t be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there the one who told me I would be king over this people. 3 Take ten loaves of bread with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy. 4 So Jeroboam s wife did what he said and went to Ahijah s house in Shiloh. Why God allows Bad Things to Happen Page 6 of 11
Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age. 5 But the Lord had told Ahijah, Jeroboam s wife is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else. 6 So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door, he said, Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I raised you up from among the people and made you a leader over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. 9 You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back. 10 Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. 11 Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has spoken! 12 As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord, the God of Israel, has found anything good. And so the question is: Has God left us or have we left God? JOB WANTED TO DEFEND HIMSELF BEFORE GOD BECAUSE HE HADN'T DONE ANY THING WRONG TO DESERVE WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO HIM Why God allows Bad Things to Happen Page 7 of 11
When Job questioned God and pleaded for an audience before Him, God responded by asking Job many questions that he could not answer: Job 38.1 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: 2 Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4 Where were you when I laid the earth s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Thus part of the answer is that we don't know enough to fully understand what is taking place in this universe. Do we know that death is really evil. While we know it is evil to take a life, is it evil for one to die If the good go to a far better place, to which if given the choice they would not return from, is God proved to be good or bad by not intervening. Yes the process of dying may be very painful, but so is child birth. How many women who have had one baby refuse to have another because of the pain they endured. What is bad from one point of view, might be good from another. Rain is bad for an outdoor wedding, but the answer to prayer for the farmer, whose crops are dying for lack of water. Why God allows Bad Things to Happen Page 8 of 11
When I lost my job at the camp it didn't seem to great, until a few months latter I found out that God had an even better place for me - right here. What did Jesus say about what was yet to come in this world? Matt 24.6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9 Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. MANY HAVE STRUGGLED IN THERE ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND THE PRESENCE OF EVIL IN THE WORLD. Psalm 73.1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. 3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Good can triumph over every evil. It is really up to us as to whether we want to be defeated by it or to bring good out of it. Why God allows Bad Things to Happen Page 9 of 11
Rom 8.28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Is it possible for us to really know why terrible things happen? When they do, how often do we put the blame in the right place? Consider all of the deaths caused by drunk driving. Can we deny that we publicly glorify drinking in this country. Then after encouraging people to drink there is the little blurb - "Do it responsibly." How can you drink responsibly when drinking takes away the ability to make responsible decisions? Why are people allowed to drive to a bar, get drunk and get back in their cars. Why not have them check their keys when they enter and then have them pass a breathalyzer test to get them back? Why, because it would hurt the liquor industry. No matter what is done there will be people who do terrible things for what ever the reason. Why do we have so many violent crimes. But when we live in a culture that glorifies violence and sex more than anything else, why are we surprised by violent and sexual crimes? If anything we should be surprised that there aren't more. What about, so called, Natural disasters? Would you be the person that you are today if you hadn't experienced the bad things that have happened in your life? Why God allows Bad Things to Happen Page 10 of 11
Conclusions: Much of the bad is the direct or indirect result of Man's refusal to fully do what God wants him to do. We always want to find something that we have no control over to blame it on. We really don't see enough of the big picture to understand why things happen. However, we often see good coming out of bad. We often see God intervening to save people. Two crane operators in London who both overslept on the morning that the helicopter hit their crane. IT MAY NOT SEEM LIKE IT, BUT GOD IS IN CONTROL AND NO MATTER HOW MUCH DAMAGE SATAN DOES HE STILL WILL LOOSE IN THE END. Why God allows Bad Things to Happen Page 11 of 11