Why do bad things happen?
Introduction:
First of all, realize that the world in its present state is not God's original plan.
Who is to blame? Blame Satan primarily then remember how Eve and Adam disobeyed God's command in the garden. (See Gospel, Sin, and Free Will pages.)
As a result of man's first sin, mankind and the world have been changed.
There was no pain. There was no suffering. There were no deaths of men or animals. There was no disease. There was no reason to fear. There was no need to protect oneself against the enviroment.
There was perfect harmony in all of the world.
Man was given spiritual and physical authority over all the Earth.
Yet when Adam allowed himself to be lead into sin, he allowed Satan to infiltrate the Earth.
keynote: When sin is committed, a spiritual door for Satan is opened into one's life.
Repentance and deliverance through Christ closes these doors.
This is the most basic of natural-spiritual law.
Bad things happen to good people.
Bad things happen to bad people.
Good things happen to bad people.
Good things happen to good people.
"He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Matthew 5:45
God doesn't intervene in every decision men and women make.
He has however set a spiritual and ethical standard. Rather, laws He previosuly set into motion and doesn't need to intervene in every life event.
He set the law of gravity into motion. He doesn't have to intervene because gravity is now a set law.
The same applies to inertia, reproduction, foods, light, wind, water, air, fire, etc.
Spiritual law dictates that when we do not ask God for guidance in decisions, we make bad choices that negatively effect ourselves, others, and our world.
We may very well be a victim of someone else's bad decision.
THE GREAT TEST is this:
What will we do to change our circumstance and help ourselves and others recover from someone else's bad decision?
Yes, God is the solution for every bad choice that causes pain and suffering!
God gives us wisdom and knowledge on how to repair things. . .
. . . if we ask.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
When we begin asking God how to fix things, He will begin to show us through the Bible, in dreams, in visions, through other Christians, and He may even speak to us personally if we have placed ourselves in a position or lifestyle where we are able to hear His voice.
Translation:
#1 - You can hear God better if you follow the instructions He already has given in the Bible.
#2 - Receive His Son Jesus.
#3 - Be filled and baptized with the Holy Ghost.
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. James 1:17
EMAIL from my friend Robin:
Jeremy,
The Lord gave me this tonight. I am not certain if it will help, but there may be some stuff in here you can use for your new page. Talk to ya later. :) --- Robin
Is God a just God? If so, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world? Why are people allowed to die such a horrible death as what happened in the attack on the US, while it would seem that God sit's silently by? He could have stopped the attack right? He could have made it so it didn't even happen.
Well, yes He could have in fact stopped it before it started. So why didn't He? Let's look to His word for the answers, because yes, God is a just God. We are a wicked people. We have forsaken the ways of God. There are many different aspects to this whole thing.
Psalm 7:11-13
11God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day.
12If he does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready. 13He also prepares for Himself instruments of death; He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.
God does not love wickedness. He loves the soul of those who are wicked, but does not love the wickedness they do. We are all given an opportunity to repent. If we choose not to we are in danger of judgement.
God desires to have mercy on all. He cannot show His mercy to people who are unwilling to repent. So there are times that He will allow circumstances and trials to bring people to repentance. Take a look at Ps 107:10-12
10Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, Bound in affliction and irons-- 11Because they rebelled against the words of God, And despised the counsel of the Most High, 12Therefore He brought down their heart with labor; They fell down, and there was none to help.
If people walk in continual disobedience to God, out of His love for them, He will allow adverse circumstances in their lives in order that they might see that they are heading the wrong way and turn back to the one who is suppose to be leading them.
This is part of His mercy believe it or not. If He never corrected us, we would never realize we are going the wrong way and turn back. Why should we? We don't even realize just how far we have strayed. But look at how God responds in Vs 13-16:
13Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. 14He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their chains in pieces. 15Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! 16For He has broken the gates of bronze, And cut the bars of iron in two.
He delivers them because they cried out. Had they not cried out they still would have been sitting in darkness. They wouldn't have cried out if He had not done what He did because they did not see their wickedness. That's the thing with deception. We don't see it. We can be totally decieved about something and not even realize we are. That's the whole point, to get us to walk away from God but believe we are somehow still serving Him.
There is one big principle in the bible that I have rarely heard talked about. It's the law of sowing and reaping. In Psalm 7:14-16 it talks a little about this:
14Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity; Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood. 15He made a pit and dug it out, And has fallen into the ditch which he made. 16His trouble shall return upon his own head, And his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown.
Also look at Galatians 6:7-8
7Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
We cannot sow bad things and reap in good, and visa versa, we cannot sow good things and reap in bad. We have a responsibility in this. What we sow is what we get. We have the choice here of what we sow, and we as a nation have chosen to sow some bad things.
Let's look at what we have sown:
"We teach our children about premarital sex (fornication), cause they are going to do it anyway, so we should give them the tools to do it any time they want."
We kill the unborn children (murder) that to some (not all) would just be an inconvience. Sadly, many young girls are using abortion as a means of birth control now.
There are psychic hotlines to call 24 hrs a day so that we can "know our future" (sorcery) or get answers to those questions no one else seems to be able to answer.
We promote all the works of the flesh listed in Gal 5:19-21 through television and movies.
19Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries,
And then there's the whole "American Dream" / keep up with the Jones's theory that a lot of us fall into. Money as a priority, to gain status or worth.
Supermodels on magazine cover's leading our young girls to believe they have to starve themselves to look a certain way to be accepted in society.
I could go on and on, but I'll stop there. And what are we to do? Do we want God to just let us continue in these sins until they consume us completely and many people who thought they were saved go to hell because they were decieved?
Look at Matthew 25:31-46
31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
41"Then He will also say to those on the left hand, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'
44"Then they also will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 45Then He will answer them, saying, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
What will our end be? Can we go to church every sunday and wed and make it into heaven? Isn't there more to being saved than that? I believe there is. We are called to reach out, to share this free gift of God's grace and mercy with the lost. Our salvation is not based on how many times we went to church while we were here on earth. Yes church is important! But where is our heart? What are we doing with our money? How much goes to entertainment rather than to helping the poor, the homeless, the hurting, the desperate?
Are we going to church events to learn and grow more in God and to reach out to the people who don't know Him there, or to see our friends that we haven't seen all week? Are we letting God touch the area's in our lives that need healing so that we can be made more able to reach out?, or are we hiding behind things and relationships to avoid having to go through any pain ourselves? What are we doing here people? What do we want from God? For Him to bless us in our sins?
He wants to bless us! It's in His word! In order to do that though there are things that need to go in order to make room for the blessing. God wants us to return to Him. We are being given an opportunity here to humble ourselves, repent and turn from our wickedness. To return to the One who loved us enough to send His only Son to die for our sins. What will we choose?
2 Chronicles 7:14
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
- 2001 Robin souledout2jesus@hotmail.com
Jeremy Brown 2001