Spiritual guidance powered by AI and grounded in Scripture
Your Question:
why does god let bad things happen to good people?
Answer:
As a pastor and a Christian, I've grappled with this question many times. The Book of Job offers a profound insight into why God permits evil and suffering to occur, even in the lives of good people. It's not that God is unable to prevent evil, but rather, He allows it to happen because of humanity's free will. When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, they introduced sin and evil into the world, and it has been a part of human experience ever since. The Bible teaches that evil is not just an intellectual concept, but a personal experience that affects our hearts and minds. When someone is hurting, it's not helpful to simply offer arguments or explanations; instead, we should hurt with them and offer compassion. As humans, we're interconnected, and our suffering is never completely private. We inherit the consequences of evil from our ancestors, share them with our contemporaries, and bequeath them to posterity. The question of why God allows evil to happen to good people is a complex one, but it's rooted in the idea that God is not just a powerful being, but a moral one who created us with free will. This means that we have the capacity to choose good or evil, and God respects that choice, even when it leads to suffering. While it may seem counterintuitive, the existence of evil actually reinforces the authority of the Bible and reminds us of our moral orientation as human beings.
Sources:
jesus on trial
david limbaugh
why does god allow evil
clay jones
evidence that demands a verdict
mcdowell
job
francis andersen
raising kids to follow christ
lee ann mancini
christian theology
millard erickson
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