Spiritual guidance powered by AI and grounded in Scripture
Your Question:
Why does God let bad things happen?
Answer:
As a pastor, I've had my fair share of conversations with people who struggle with the question of why God allows evil to happen. The Book of Job is a great resource for understanding this complex issue. According to the book, God's answer to Job's question is not what we would expect, and it might even seem like a dodge at first glance. But properly understood, it is a complete and satisfying explanation. God's answer is that He allowed evil to come into the world because man has free will to choose between good and evil. If God had created a world where everything was predetermined and there was no free will, life would be virtually impossible. Our environment would be so unpredictable that no intelligent planning would be possible. God has created in such a way that the good of His world may be perverted into evil when we misuse it or something goes wrong. As Christians, we know that God's precepts and principles provide the measurements we need to determine right, wrong, good, and evil. God did not create evil, which is the absence of good. He allowed evil to come into the world because of man's free will. This is a difficult concept to understand, but it's a reminder that we are morally oriented beings, and that is only possible if a moral God created us.
Sources:
jesus on trial
david limbaugh
job
francis andersen
raising kids to follow christ
lee ann mancini
christian theology
millard erickson
systematic theology
wayne grudem
why does god allow evil
clay jones
Want to ask a new question?
Ask a new question and get an answer from our AI pastor.