How do good things happen to bad people?

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Lexee15

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I was reading another thread and began wondering how good things (things of this world) happen to some of the worse people:confused: ?

I’ll give one example that I am very familiar with. The example is that of my soon to be ex husband. Many people on this forum know my story and what I’ve through because of him. Basically he’s an adulterer, liar, etc., but he does very well with his work in other words makes very good money. This has helped in making him into a worse person, it doesn’t matter how bad he performs at work he doesn’t get fired, demoted, transferred…nothing:shrug: . I just don’t understand it, opportunities open up for him all the time, I don’t get it.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wish anything bad upon him in fact I feel sorry for him. The work he does…he’s actually leading people astray, he’s an on-air radio personality and very influential with his listening audience. He was cheating on me with his radio groupies, they knew he was married and they didn’t care. He makes nasty jokes, and comments on the air etc., it’s disgusting. Just imagine the spanish speaking Howard Stern…that’s who he is.

Anyway, why is it that he is continually blessed with not having to worry about money, a place to live or being able to put food on the table? When we were living together I would tell him that we needed to thank God for his blessings and he would tell me that he got to where he was because of his work and talent, that God had nothing to do with it. I was heartbroken when he would say stuff like that. Anyway, he has ruined so many lives, especially children’s lives that I don’t understand why he is still where he is.

Does anyone have ideas as to why this happens?
 
when i see such things happen, i am reminded of the verse in the Bible - where the owner (God) of the garden comes and see a tree that has not been giving any fruit, owner asks the gardener(Jesus) to cut it down… the gardener says let me try for one more year… i will put more nutrition to it and see if it does not bear fruit… if it does not then you can cut it down…

i believe your husband must be at the stage where he is being watered by Jesus who is trying to save his soul… if he does not recognise that and act upon it, he will be cut down after a while.
 
One of our Lord’s parables:
“There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.’
Abraham replied, ‘My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.’
He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.’
But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’
He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.”
Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’" (Luke 16:19-31, NAB)
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It is maddening sometimes, isn’t it, to watch as others commit heinous acts and reap great rewards from the world. I feel that way when I hear of abortions or child abuse, and want to shake the people who have committed such acts, and ask them “Don’t you know what you have done? If you don’t want the child, give him to me!” But then I kind of feel sorry for such people. I cannot imagine what it would be like to live in such spiritual poverty.
 
To be honest, I can’t really explain why bad things happen to good people, or vice versa. It’s a funny thing, you know. For years and years, I was sexually abused by a priest from an ultra conservative group of Catholics (SSPX). I was too young and scared to say anything until just recently. However, the priest in question has had nothing by praise and adoration heaped on him for years; has had a meal on his table; a roof over his head, as well as free travel and accomodation around the world for the past 20 years. Where is the justice? Does he simply go to confession then when he dies, sits up there in heaven and all is forgotten? They say that God is just: I just hope so.

Est autem fides credere quod nondum vides; cuius fidei merces est videre quod credis
 
Mishi73 said:
To be honest, I can’t really explain why bad things happen to good people, or vice versa. It’s a funny thing, you know. For years and years, I was sexually abused by a priest from an ultra conservative group of Catholics (SSPX). I was too young and scared to say anything until just recently. However, the priest in question has had nothing by praise and adoration heaped on him for years; has had a meal on his table; a roof over his head, as well as free travel and accomodation around the world for the past 20 years. Where is the justice? Does he simply go to confession then when he dies, sits up there in heaven and all is forgotten? They say that God is just: I just hope so.

Est autem fides credere quod nondum vides; cuius fidei merces est videre quod credis
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I’m so sorry to hear that this has happened to you. If the priest does confess, I see two possible outcomes: 1) he is truly remorseful, confesses and is absolved, and because he is truly remorseful, has to live with the knowledge of what he has done (which would certainly be punishment for someone who has had a change of heart and soul). Or 2) he confesses but is not truly remorseful, goes about his merry way as he has done, and God will deal with him later.
 
Oh, come on, guys – you make it sound as if temporal comfort bears any relationship to one’s eternal abode! Aren’t you all Catholic?

ThisOne
 
Hmm…I’m still unhappy with how someone can commit such a premeditated sin, over and over again, over a period of 4 and a half years, yet simply is ‘forgiven’ after confession and a ‘change of heart’. What about the people whose lives he has utterly destroyed? So does that mean,hypothetically, that he can be forgiven, then in the future dies, goes to heaven, and then I may go to heaven and be sitting right next to him in heaven?
 
ThisOne said:
Oh, come on, guys – you make it sound as if temporal comfort bears any relationship to one’s eternal abode! Aren’t you all Catholic?

ThisOne
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I don’t understand what you’re saying here, sorry…
 
Mishi73 said:
Hmm…I’m still unhappy with how someone can commit such a premeditated sin, over and over again, over a period of 4 and a half years, yet simply is ‘forgiven’ after confession and a ‘change of heart’. What about the people whose lives he has utterly destroyed? So does that mean,hypothetically, that he can be forgiven, then in the future dies, goes to heaven, and then I may go to heaven and be sitting right next to him in heaven?
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Do you think God is unable to detect an insincere confession?

No one who lies to God can go to heaven.

Look up and read the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew13:24-30): " He proposed another parable to them. 9 “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25
While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds 10 all through the wheat, and then went off.
26
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
27
The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’
28
He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29
He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.
30
Let them grow together until harvest; 11 then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

ThisOne
 
Mishi73 said:
I don’t understand what you’re saying here, sorry…
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I mean that you make it sound as if earthly suffering has something to do with one’s salvation and that Jesus didn’t tell us what he told us.

ThisOne
 
Nice parable, however it bears very little application to my situation. Of course, God knows the difference between a good and bad confession, however, the question still remains: Why should a rapist go to heaven and be in the same place as someone who has done good and virtuous things all their life (for example, Jesus)? How is it possible that these acts be forgivable?
 
ThisOne said:
I mean that you make it sound as if earthly suffering has something to do with one’s salvation and that Jesus didn’t tell us what he told us.

ThisOne
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Now I’m REALLY confused…doesn’t earthly suffering have something to do with salvation? :confused:
 
Mishi73 said:
Nice parable, however it bears very little application to my situation. Of course, God knows the difference between a good and bad confession, however, the question still remains: Why should a rapist go to heaven and be in the same place as someone who has done good and virtuous things all their life (for example, Jesus)? How is it possible that these acts be forgivable?
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I don’t know how I can more plainly state what I’ve said already, but let me try:

There is **no forgiveness of sin and no going to heaven **for people who lie to God.

If a rapist goes to confession and lies about being contrite, he is not forgiven. In fact, he commits a grave sin by doing so.

Where did you get the absolutely 100% false idea that such a person would go to heaven? It wasn’t from the Catholic Church.

And no, earthly suffering has nothing to do with salvation – do you think the millions of innocent people who have been murdered, tortured, raped, and so forth since the beginning of time are not saved – but those who committed the sins against them (and God) went to heaven by lying in confession?

ThisOne
 
If i was the devil. i’d take care of my own.

Christ tells us in Matthew that the Father provides and not to worry what we are to eat or drink or wear.

If I was king of this world (satan) - i’d provide wordly things for 2 reasons…

a.) it will keep a person trapped in a materialistic mindset.
b.) it works on the virtuous person’s sense of envy.

reward the sin, the attack good with a deadly sin.

one two punch.
i was just putting my daughter to sleep in her crib (one of about 10 times in the next 30 minutes i’ll have to walk in, rub her tummy and say ‘nite darlin’ before she decides she wants to sleep) … and i was thinking about the OP… i have an analogy.

The devil is like a REALLY cheap caterer at a wedding reception. He’ll try to get the crowd drunk on the cheap wine and your belly full on cocktail weiners and eggrolls. the cheap stuff.
God is there at the roast beef carving station with the good stuff.
The devil’s goal is to get you drunk, dumb and full so you’re not thinking about the dinner you have waiting for you.
The smart person enjoys, but doesn’t fill up on the appetizers.

Life is like the wedding reception and heaven is the carving station.
Enjoy yourself now, but not at the sake of being so filled there’s no room left for the sprial cut honey glazed ham God offers.

The people who are the materialistic, worldly lovers of things… they’re full of finger food. they never get past it. and the devil just keeps feeding them. keeping the in a proverbial holding pattern until their ticker expires and they’ve never thought about the carving station until its too late.

insidiously evil.

we’ll, it SEEMED like a good analogy. 🤷
 
Mishi73 said:
Hmm…I’m still unhappy with how someone can commit such a premeditated sin, over and over again, over a period of 4 and a half years, yet simply is ‘forgiven’ after confession and a ‘change of heart’. What about the people whose lives he has utterly destroyed? So does that mean,hypothetically, that he can be forgiven, then in the future dies, goes to heaven, and then I may go to heaven and be sitting right next to him in heaven?
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I am so sorry this happened to you:(. I also understand your anger, this person goes on with his happy little life while you are dealing with pain that will be with you for a lifetime. I understand, I was also sexually abused, not by a priest but by family members. I also learned to let go, before I did that I did many self destructive things. When I forgave and after counseling I realized it wasn’t my fault, I didn’t ask for it and I shouldn’t punish myself for it. I was hurting myself for something that wasn’t my fault, I put the responsibility on who it belonged to and I didn’t carry it anymore. The only people I told were my best friend and my mom. My mom of course couldn’t believe it, I didn’t care I just wanted her to know. I still have to see the perpetrators, they’re family, but I don’t feel anything anymore. I will always carry this with me, but it does not dictate my life and frankly I got tired of being angry all the time.

I know God is a merciful God, but he is also a just God, I trust in Him and if I can’t forgive them for what they did then I cannot expect God to forgive me, I’ve done things I’m not proud of and frankly ashamed of I pray that He will forgive me.

The reason I started this post is because I find it interesting how people who live terrible lives and are destructive to other people still seem to have many blessings. Just wanted to get some insight on how others feel about this, maybe get some scripture quotes on how Jesus saw this and how to get over feeling like it’s unfair.
 
As to how God can forgive sin, which you also asked, that’s a huge subject. But recall what Jesus said on the cross, okay? “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

When a sinner has fully comprehended his sin and truly is sorry for his sin, God has compassion on him or her. The quality of one’s relationship with God is the most important thing. The recognition of one’s sin and the desire to change is what God is interested in – the sincere desire to change, not a formulaic confession that is a sham.

That priest is in grave danger, mishi, of totally missing the mark. If I were you, I would pray for him.

Two related Catholic websites you might be interested in are:

chastitysf.guidetopsychology.com/
guidetopsychology.com/topics.htm

ThisOne
 
I’m fascinated…so many of you have completely missed the point here. Perhaps because there are so few parents here (or it would seem so), you do not seem to understand the pain, suffering, degradation and humiliation of rape - least of all by a priest to a little girl. It is fascinating how many Catholics ignore this simply by parroting off parables and talking of forgiveness - maybe to ward off the discomfort that it conjures up?

Because it was a priest who did this, does he get more punishment than a layperson would?
 
Mishi73 said:
I’m fascinated…so many of you have completely missed the point here. Perhaps because there are so few parents here (or it would seem so), you do not seem to understand the pain, suffering, degradation and humiliation of rape - least of all by a priest to a little girl. It is fascinating how many Catholics ignore this simply by parroting off parables and talking of forgiveness - maybe to ward off the discomfort that it conjures up?

Because it was a priest who did this, does he get more punishment than a layperson would?
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what would your ultimate outcome be? if you were God what would Mishi73 do to this Priest?
 
ThisOne said:
As to how God can forgive sin, which you also asked, that’s a huge subject. But recall what Jesus said on the cross, okay? “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

When a sinner has fully comprehended his sin and truly is sorry for his sin, God has compassion on him or her. The quality of one’s relationship with God is the most important thing. The recognition of one’s sin and the desire to change is what God is interested in – the sincere desire to change, not a formulaic confession that is a sham.

That priest is in grave danger, mishi, of totally missing the mark. If I were you, I would pray for him.

Two related Catholic websites you might be interested in are:

chastitysf.guidetopsychology.com/
guidetopsychology.com/topics.htm

ThisOne
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Sorry ThisOne, I have no intentions of praying for him. He ruined my life and he deserves to rot in hell. Having said that, I don’t wish him to rot in hell, but he deserves it. Perhaps you could pray for him instead?!
 
thechrismyster said:
If i was the devil. i’d take care of my own.

Christ tells us in Matthew that the Father provides and not to worry what we are to eat or drink or wear.

If I was king of this world (satan) - i’d provide wordly things for 2 reasons…

a.) it will keep a person trapped in a materialistic mindset.
b.) it works on the virtuous person’s sense of envy.

reward the sin, the attack good with a deadly sin.

one two punch.
i was just putting my daughter to sleep in her crib (one of about 10 times in the next 30 minutes i’ll have to walk in, rub her tummy and say ‘nite darlin’ before she decides she wants to sleep) … and i was thinking about the OP… i have an analogy.

The devil is like a REALLY cheap caterer at a wedding reception. He’ll try to get the crowd drunk on the cheap wine and your belly full on cocktail weiners and eggrolls. the cheap stuff.
God is there at the roast beef carving station with the good stuff.
The devil’s goal is to get you drunk, dumb and full so you’re not thinking about the dinner you have waiting for you.
The smart person enjoys, but doesn’t fill up on the appetizers.

Life is like the wedding reception and heaven is the carving station.
Enjoy yourself now, but not at the sake of being so filled there’s no room left for the sprial cut honey glazed ham God offers.

The people who are the materialistic, worldly lovers of things… they’re full of finger food. they never get past it. and the devil just keeps feeding them. keeping the in a proverbial holding pattern until their ticker expires and they’ve never thought about the carving station until its too late.

insidiously evil.

we’ll, it SEEMED like a good analogy. 🤷
Click to expand...
This makes alot of sense, you’re absolutely right. I guess I was seeing everything he was getting as God’s blessings, but if I see it the way you put it then it makes alot of sense of why he just doesn’t fall flat on his face. You know that “hitting bottom”, I keep waiting for that to happen (he’s also addicted to gambling and an alcoholic) cause I can’t imagine someone being able to live like this and have no consequences!!! But if these are not blessings but help from the other side to keep him enslaved it makes perfect sense.
 
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