Bad things - do they have a purpose?

[vtech2009]

I have been subject to theft. I was wondering, since God has allowed for it to happen (in the sense he did not intervene), does it have some purpose? Does every evil that is allowed to happen, does it have a greater purpose in bringing us closer to God? Is it a test?

I’m quite indifferent to this theft as it is from this material world (I thank God that it’s not a death or health issue), but nonetheless it has “shaken” me a bit, and I was wondering if everything bad that happens, if it has a purpose, or sometimes, there is no purpose?

I guess I have to forgive the perpetrators, even tho I do not know who they are, and they haven’t asked me for forgiveness?

God bless!

 

[fred_conty]

I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic but why not get a security system?

We had to do that after being robbed about four times. We haven’t been robbed since we put it in.

There are some systems that are cost effective and just as good as the more expensive ones…in fact even better.

The best to you.

 

[vtech2009]

I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic but why not get a security system?

We had to do that after being robbed about four times. We haven’t been robbed since we put it in.

There are some systems that are cost effective and just as good as the more expensive ones…in fact even better.

The best to you.

Yes of course! That’s a lesson for me in this material world, but I was wondering about the spiritual world

 

[GEddie]

Not everything negative that happens to us is a “test” or meant to teach a lesson; sometimes, they are just a result of living in a world full of sinners.

IMNAAHO.

ICXC NIKA

 

[marlap2]

When I look back at some of the things that have happened to me and others I love in the last years, I can see that there were many opportunities in the “bad things” that happened. Sometimes they ended up being lost opportunities. Other times they ended up being amazing blessings.

My brother in law and I were both in horrible motorcycle accidents around ten years ago. He lost his leg and part of his shoulder use. Through the healing and restoration period, he ended up really bonding with his kids and being an amazing dad. For me it was a time of prayer that I didn’t have before. TIME …

Losing friends to cancer was and still is always so difficult. The only opportunity that exists when I am at their bedside is to love them with as much of my heart that I can give, and pray with and for them during this time. I have had time to spend with them. Losing friends to accidents is much harder. You don’t have time for goodbyes.

The spiritual aspect of things such as being robbed is interesting. There is such a sense of invasion, of invasion of privacy and of your life. You can always look at this as a spiritual battle, in a sense, and arm your home spiritually as well as physically. My priest has a devotion to Our Lady, and has given us this prayer :

HOLY Mary, Virgin Mother of God, who was conceived without sin, I choose thee,
this day, for the lady and Mistress of this House; I beseech thee through thy
Immaculate Conception, to preserve it from pestilence, fire and water; from
lightning and tempests, from robbers, from schisms and heresies, from
earthquakes and from sudden death. Bless and protect, O holy Virgin, all its
inmates, obtain for them grace to avoid sin, and save them from every other
misfortune and accident.
Amen.

 

[Todd977]

We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

A Commentary on the New Testament, prepared by The Catholic Biblical Association in 1942, page 430, on Romans 8:28, says in part:

The Greek reads: “he (God) makes all things work together unto good. . . .” All the circumstances of life whether favorable or unfavorable, God employs as a means of further sanctification of the faithful.

 

[vtech2009]

We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

A Commentary on the New Testament, prepared by The Catholic Biblical Association in 1942, page 430, on Romans 8:28, says in part:

The Greek reads: “he (God) makes all things work together unto good. . . .” All the circumstances of life whether favorable or unfavorable, God employs as a means of further sanctification of the faithful.

Thanks, I was wondering if it’s a coincidence that everyone is quoting Romans 8:28 left, right, and center. Is it a favorite scripture of Catholics ?

 

[fred_conty]

What Todd said was quite right.

Jesus instructed us that we must love those from whom we can expect nothing back. Because if we only love those who love us, even bad people do that. Christ asked us to give and not expect, and to those who took to give to them even more.

The benefit of this is that you will be gracing those who took from you the same as Jesus graced us who took from him by our own sins. This is the way the world is saved, thru each of us giving. And in addition to that, we then are also graced for our generosity. But it is all done unseen and in the heart. And that is what makes it so special to Our Father in heaven.

May God bless and keep you. May God’s face shine on you. May God be kind to you and give you peace.

 

[BobCatholic]

Not everything negative that happens to us is a “test” or meant to teach a lesson;

False.

It is those. And there is a third one: To make a choice.

After a bad thing happens, we are then given a choice: Get Better or Get Bitter. We must then make a choice between those two.

Get Better: Use this to improve yourself, get more understanding, etc.
Get Bitter: Get angry, cynical, distrusting, curmudgeon, paranoid, etc.

 

[CRATUS]

I have been subject to theft. I was wondering, since God has allowed for it to happen (in the sense he did not intervene), does it have some purpose? Does every evil that is allowed to happen, does it have a greater purpose in bringing us closer to God? Is it a test?

I’m quite indifferent to this theft as it is from this material world (I thank God that it’s not a death or health issue), but nonetheless it has “shaken” me a bit, and I was wondering if everything bad that happens, if it has a purpose, or sometimes, there is no purpose?

I guess I have to forgive the perpetrators, even tho I do not know who they are, and they haven’t asked me for forgiveness?

God bless!

This may not be a Catholic belief, I do not think God “allows” bad things to happen to teach people a lesson. I think it is just coincidence. Not everything has to have a “purpose.” Some people find peace with that solution, but I do not believe it.

 

[nuntym]

+JMJ+

False.

It is those. And there is a third one: To make a choice.

After a bad thing happens, we are then given a choice: Get Better or Get Bitter. We must then make a choice between those two.

Get Better: Use this to improve yourself, get more understanding, etc.
Get Bitter: Get angry, cynical, distrusting, curmudgeon, paranoid, etc.

Exactly!

That is the lesson of the two thieves.



Both were guilty of the same crime, and both suffered under the same punishment beside Jesus. But one was damned because of it, yet the other was saved because of it.

 

[phil_at_dayboro]

These things happen,good things and bad,it’s what shapes us as free thinking people,