Questions and Answers #5 (Why do bad things happen to good people?)

Question: How come some of the most healthy people end up with cancer, the safest drivers get injured in car accidents, or the fact that too many lives are lost in natural disasters. There are too many undeserved deaths? If God has so much power why doesnt he use it, and possibly spare a few more lives? Sometimes it just doesnt seem fair...


I have to be honest. I love blogging and trying to give answers to everyones questions but the reality is that usually most of the answers I give could have whole books written about them. The question of suffering is one of those questions. So firstly let me give you a few easy to read books that will deal with this issue with a bit more depth than I can here.


The first book worth reading is "If I were God, I'd end all the pain" by John Dickson. Its short but moving, clear and intelligent. The second book is in a series called a little black books, it is called "Suffering and Evil". This book is written by Scott Petty and is written specifically for youth. Both these books will help you think more clearly about suffering.


The best I can offer are a few brief things, if you want further answers let me know and I can lend you the books. All I can do now is give you my best thoughts that I have found from the Bible in a short space. 





1. Suffering is not academic
Suffering is a sensitive topic. I have suffered painfully in my life but compared with others my suffering is almost trivial. It is easy for me to sit here on my computer and write about suffering. When you are in the midst of suffering the last thing you want is an academic answer. Sometimes the best thing you can say is nothing at all and just be there for someone. I don't have all the answers and there is more that needs to be done than just having an academic answers, we need to love those who are suffering.


2. The world is suffering because of sin
Why is the world in pain? It is because mankind allowed evil to come into the world. It happened in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve in eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil did not just disobey God, they became the determiners of what is right and wrong for themselves. Essentially in eating the fruit Adam and Eve were saying God is giving us a raw deal (even though he created them and gave them a paradise), we need to take the place of God and choose what is good and evil. Basically this meant their decision meant they no longer trusted God. The world has pain because of this decision. Here is where we can get into philosophical confusion. If God is in control of everything and is good, why did he allow Adam and Eve to do this. The answer is we don't know. We need to trust that God has a reason for it (it may be for a greater good). Yet even though God is in control, Adam and Eve were fully responsible at the same time for their choice. This doesn't mean they were puppets. We are not cleverer than God, just because we can't be in total of control of something with its own will doesn't mean that God can't. But it is important that we remember the world is in pain because of Adam's sin and our sin. We are not just feeling the pain, we are all part of the problem because all of us sin.


3. We don't have all the answers but we trust a God who has them and who is in control
The book of Job is a book all about suffering. It is a very profound yet misunderstood book. The book of Job starts by introducing us to Job. He is a godly man and a loving father. He is rich but still blameless, God had blessed him above all others around him. The next scene we see Satan coming before God (notice that Satan submits to God they are not equal). God talks about how godly Job is, Satan claims that Job is so godly because God has made Job's life so easy. God then allows Satan to cause Job suffering to show that Job won't curse God even in the midst of his suffering. This happens several times. When all is said and done Job loses it all, his riches, his children, he even loses his own health yet he does not curse God. 


The majority of the book is Job and his friends arguing about what is going on. Job's friends argue that God is just because Job must have sinned if he is suffering. Job argues that even though he is suffering, he hasn't sinned. He doesn't believe God is unjust but he is angry and he is frustrated that it seems like he is suffering without cause. Job wants God to give him answer. At the end of the book God appears to Job (he doesn't have to but in his mercy God does). God flips Jobs question. God comes and questions Job (Job 38-41 they are worth reading). He asks Job whether Job has the same sort of knowledge and power as God. God puts Job in his place. Job is a mere mortal, God is God. God owes Job nothing, Job deserves nothing, yet God gives Job an answer. His answer is I am God you are not. In chapter 42 Job acknowledges that he spoke of things to wonderful for him, Job humbles himself before God. 


The reality is God is in control, he has the answers and we don't. We trust God because he has all the answers, we trust him because he is in control. It seems like a non-answer but the reality is God has not given us all the answers. This forces us to trust God, we may not like it but we are mere humans. What was going on with God and Satan Job has no idea about, yet Job in the end humbly trusts God, we should too.


4. We see in Jesus that God suffers for us
Suffering may not seem fair but God has his reasons. Yet we know much more than Job. We know that God didn't just abandon his creation. God came and suffered with it. In Jesus, God became a man. Even though he was God, Jesus felt what we felt, Jesus suffered as we suffered. Jesus wept as we wept. Jesus went hungry as many go hungry. Jesus experienced human pain. Most importantly Jesus came to face the ultimate pain. He died on the cross and experienced hell on the cross so we wouldn't have to for eternity (even though for our sin we deserved it). Jesus doesn't just leave us to our suffering, he experiences it, he takes it upon himself for our sake. We have a God who knows greater suffering than we do. What is important is not just that God spares lives, it is that God saves sinners (who don't deserve his love) for eternity. Jesus came into the world to solve our most fundamental problem, sin and eternal death. That is the answer we have. So how should we respond to suffering.


In Luke 13:1-9 Jesus is presented with two tragedies that happened. Jesus points out that these people didn't die because they were more evil than others. Why they died we don't know. But Jesus points out that the fact these people died is a sign for us that we should repent. If God spares us he is being patient with us. If suffering doesn't happen to us we should be thankful to God and realise, that God is giving us an opportunity to turn back to him. Suffering happens to show us there is something wrong with this world, we have turned away from God and we need to return to him and trust him. As Christians we know that we are friends with God through Jesus, we trust God. Therefore we know that God is using our suffering for our good (Romans 5:1-5, Hebrews 12:4-13, James 1:2-4) . God is using suffering, we don't know how but we do know it is for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). What we should do is trust him, knowing he loved us enough to suffer for our salvation. In fact it is not fair for God to save anyone because what we deserve is God's judgement for our sin. 


For more info you can read this article:
http://fervr.net/qna/why-does-suffering-seem-so-random/




Or you can watch this video:
http://phillipjensen.com/video/natural-disasters/