Why does God let bad things happen

[jdb91758]

Hello, my name is John, new to the site. Active catholic all my life but now questioning why God lets things happen. I am very close to my neice - a very good person who has done things the right way yet she just lost her second baby in two years, How can this be justice when so many bad people have no problems having kids who often grow up as bad if not worse than the parents?

Also my family is the only ones in the extended family who are active in our faith and pray for all others when thy are facing difficulties, so when things like this happen we often get the angry “so what did your praying get you or us” response.

 

[Apollos]

Hello, my name is John, new to the site. Active catholic all my life but now questioning why God lets things happen. I am very close to my neice - a very good person who has done things the right way yet she just lost her second baby in two years, How can this be justice when so many bad people have no problems having kids who often grow up as bad if not worse than the parents?

Also my family is the only ones in the extended family who are active in our faith and pray for all others when thy are facing difficulties, so when things like this happen we often get the angry “so what did your praying get you or us” response.

Sorry for being curt, but I have hurt other people and God didn’t immediately swoop down and burn me to a crisp. Is it a moral outrage only when it happens to other people?

 

[TommyWommy]

Hello, my name is John, new to the site. Active catholic all my life but now questioning why God lets things happen. I am very close to my neice - a very good person who has done things the right way yet she just lost her second baby in two years, How can this be justice when so many bad people have no problems having kids who often grow up as bad if not worse than the parents?

Also my family is the only ones in the extended family who are active in our faith and pray for all others when thy are facing difficulties, so when things like this happen we often get the angry “so what did your praying get you or us” response.

Welcome to the site, John!

I’m sure volumes have been written regarding this question. I can’t do the answer justice, but I’ve heard a few responses that might make a small dent.

Sin is the ultimate cause and all of creation suffers from it’s effects (bad behavior, disease, animals eating each other, etc). The rain falls on the just and the unjust.

Free will means that God respects our ability to make choices, even bad ones that hurt others. Again, sin.

Prayer does not change God. Prayer is supposed to change us.

Suffering has redemptive purpose and allows us to unite ourselves more closely with Christ if we let it. (“Offer it up” as they say).

Eternity is the goal, not happiness in this life. As nice or as horrible as this life may be, it is temporary. Our true hope is in the eternal promises of God. Here we are to take up our cross and follow Him. The servant is not greater than the Master. If He suffered so much, then we should expect suffering in this life. But it leads to greater joy, eventually.

Maybe these are at least some thoughts to explore further.

Peace.

 

[germys9]

All evil in the world is a result of sin, which is a result of man’s freedom, not God. God could have created creatures without free will, but they would not have been “humans” and they would not have been able to love. God permits evil to bring about a greater good such as drawing closer to Christ.

Welcome to the site, John!

Sin is the ultimate cause and all of creation suffers from it’s effects (bad behavior, disease, animals eating each other, etc). The rain falls on the just and the unjust.

On a side note, animals eating each other is not a result of sin; that is simply their nature. Did tigers before the fall of flat, nurf teeth? Are they supposed to eat plants? Wouldn’t that still be “killing” a living being?

 

[Pat_De]

Hello, my name is John, new to the site. Active catholic all my life but now questioning why God lets things happen. I am very close to my neice - a very good person who has done things the right way yet she just lost her second baby in two years, How can this be justice when so many bad people have no problems having kids who often grow up as bad if not worse than the parents?

Also my family is the only ones in the extended family who are active in our faith and pray for all others when thy are facing difficulties, so when things like this happen we often get the angry “so what did your praying get you or us” response.

This is an issue of what is bad in man’s sight verses God’s sight. All have fallen short of God’s perfect and Holy standards. In other words when God looks at all of men from the earth, His foot stool, he sees nothing but sinners. Is a sinner a good person; no! Are their people who generally do good things in the sight of other men and COMPARED to other men? yes.

The Bible teaches that a righteous man’s prayer avails much. Who is the righteous man?
The person who saw themselves as God sees themselves as a wretched sinner worthy of death and hell. Therefore upon reaching this point, which is granted by God, one will cry out in repentance, which is turning away from sin and toward God. What does the Bible tells us how we know? You will know them by their fruits, can a good tree (Christian) produce bad fruit? no Can a bad tree (non-Christian) produce good fruit? No You will know them by their fruits. So for those who have realized their offensiveness to God’s holiness and have come to true repentance and asked God for mercy through Jesus Christ and the result is a regenerate life as seen by what? Their fruits as the result of repentance and walking in obedience to His word, which most people never truly repent and many believe their religious affiliation will save them or their rituals and ceremonies will save them or you had an alter call and prayed a prayer and now you are saved…none of that is Biblical and it is all heresy.

We are called to repentance and obedience. Do you read and study your Bible everyday? Do you seek to know God everyday? How do you say you love someone when you show more interest in religion or the things of this world and expect any response? Do you continually repent because you hate sin or because you are afraid of hell? These are the questions that need to be asked and can only be answered by each person and transformation can only come from Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit at conversion. Most people calling themselves Christian are headed straight to hell. Lord Lord…depart from me I never knew you; you who practice lawlessness". You will know them by their fruits. So bad things do not generally happen to “good people”; most of the time bad things happen to bad people. And for those righteous in the Lord when the bad happens; he is chastening or as Romans 8:28 states ALL thing work together for the good of those who love God according to HIS purpose.

Listen to this and you will understand; it is about 54 minutes and you can also type in “Paul Washer” on YouTube and watch this sermon. Audio quality isn’t that great, but the message will or should send chills down your spine. sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=52906154239 The sermon is based on Matthew 7 and to my knowledge there is nothing mentioned in regards to Catholicism, but more toward Southern Baptist. This man is a missionary pastor and has put himself in places we would not want to step foot in.

Hope this helps and remember your best friend is the one who tells you the most truth; is that not right?

 

[saveusfromhell]

Whats the worst thing that ever happened in the world.
don’t even have to think about it , it has to be the cross. our lord being crucified has no equal.
whats the greatest good that has ever happened again easy question. it’s our lord redeeming the world through his death on the cross.
the devil never saw this coming never understood this. We don’t know the good that GOD can make from bad situations, we only know that he can and does.

when a child is getting it’s vacination as a baby it most wonder why its mother is allowing it to be injected and put through such pain

 

[TommyWommy]

All evil in the world is a result of sin, which is a result of man’s freedom, not God. God could have created creatures without free will, but they would not have been “humans” and they would not have been able to love. God permits evil to bring about a greater good such as drawing closer to Christ.

On a side note, animals eating each other is not a result of sin; that is simply their nature. Did tigers before the fall of flat, nurf teeth? Are they supposed to eat plants? Wouldn’t that still be “killing” a living being?

My understanding is that prior to the fall, we did not eat animals, and they did not eat each other (or us ). (Gen 1:29-30). We all ate the “herbs” and “trees” for our “meat.” Vegetarian diet.

Notice also, that after the fall, God provided Adam and Eve with animal skin clothes.

 

[Scoobyshme]

Hello, my name is John, new to the site. Active catholic all my life but now questioning why God lets things happen. I am very close to my neice - a very good person who has done things the right way yet she just lost her second baby in two years, How can this be justice when so many bad people have no problems having kids who often grow up as bad if not worse than the parents?

Also my family is the only ones in the extended family who are active in our faith and pray for all others when thy are facing difficulties, so when things like this happen we often get the angry “so what did your praying get you or us” response.

Well, the answer you’re looking for is a theological no-brainer.

God allows bad things to happen so that a greater good can come out of it. Prime example: He allowed His Son, Jesus Christ, to be tortured, crucified, and killed on a Cross. Horrific event! But in so doing, Jesus redeemed the world! Sometimes, we don’t see the good that comes about, but we will in heaven!

Tell your niece that God love her babies SO much, that He couldn’t wait another second to have them up in heaven with Him, where they will wait for her and have a glorious reunion one day.

Let me share a little story with you that a Benedictine abbot shared with me once.

There was a young man once, who studied to be a physician. When it came time for his state board exams, he was very anxious about passing. Everything he’d worked for was riding on this one exam! So, he heard about a miraculous cross in Italy, that, if you prayed fervently enough, would give you an answer to your prayers. So, he flew there and went and knelt before this cross and prayed, “Lord, if it be Your will, PLEASE let me pass this exam and become a doctor so that I can help people.” Suddenly, the head on the corpus on the cross nodded yes! Encouraged, he kept praying, “And also, Lord, if it be Your will, let me be at the top in my profession and make a lot of money, and meet and marry a beautiful, virtuous young woman with whom I’ll have two kids, a boy and a girl.” Again, the head nodded yes! Encouraged even further, he prayed, “And, also, Lord, let my kids grow up to be successful professionals like me, and provide my wife and I with wonderful grandkids in our old age.” Once again, the head nodded yes! So, kind of running out of things to pray for, he concluded, “And, finally, Lord, if it be Your will, let my wife and I die in our sleep at a ripe old age and go straight to heaven!” He looked up, and nothing happened. So, he repeated that prayer. He looked up, and again, nothing happened. Finally, a deep, sad voice rang out of nowhere, “My son. There is but one heaven. You can either have your heaven in this life, or in the next. Choose.”

We cannot have our Easter Sunday unless we have our Good Friday! Jesus said to follow Him. Where is Jesus? On the Cross! We should all thank Him profusely when He allows us to suffer and offer our sufferings up in reparation for our sins and the sins of others!

 

[challam2010]

John - welcome to CAF - I hope you find what you’re looking for here.

The question you pose is one that really doesn’t have an easy answer (no matter how easy the responses you may get here may sound). It’s hard for anyone to really understand why a loving God permits the action of evil, illness and other suffering (and theologians are still working on explanations – it’s not a completely answered question by any means).

All the things others have posted are true – but none of that will help your family to understand the loss of another child.

I’ve buried two sons and a husband (along with most everyone else in my family), and what I’ve learned is that in loss and the pain of that loss we can grow closer to God, and we can grow and develop in our spiritual and even our natural lives.

When things are peachy and we have everything we want we may be happy, but we’re not driven to become closer to God, we’re not urged interiorly to grow – it’s often just a sweet, stagnant time. But when things are tough we DO grow, we DO change, we DO seek answers, and those answers lead us directly to God if we listen to our hearts, and to Him, through the suffering. In a seemingly perverse way, suffering is a great gift from God, although it’s hard to realize at the time.

There’s really nothing to do about the pain except experience it, endure it, and seek God within it. The adage that time heals is a true one, although little comfort in the loss of family members.

It has helped me in those terrible times to remember God giving us his Son and the death He endured at our hands – and to also remember the Resurrection. All of life is a constant cycle of birth and death, but it can help to remember that we’re in God’s hands through it all.

My sympathies to your family – I will pray for the gift of hope for you all.

 

[germys9]

My understanding is that prior to the fall, we did not eat animals, and they did not eat each other (or us ). (Gen 1:29-30). We all ate the “herbs” and “trees” for our “meat.” Vegetarian diet.

Notice also, that after the fall, God provided Adam and Eve with animal skin clothes.

Well, the Church doesn’t have a teaching on this matter. But remember that Genesis is symbolic language of real history. But we know that animals eat other animals by nature, not by fallen nature. In other words, the fall didn’t change animal instinct.

 

[James224]

Hello, my name is John, new to the site. Active catholic all my life but now questioning why God lets things happen. I am very close to my neice - a very good person who has done things the right way yet she just lost her second baby in two years, How can this be justice when so many bad people have no problems having kids who often grow up as bad if not worse than the parents?

Also my family is the only ones in the extended family who are active in our faith and pray for all others when thy are facing difficulties, so when things like this happen we often get the angry “so what did your praying get you or us” response.

This is the million dollar question! I would recommend reading the Book of Job. In the first chapter you see God allowing Satan to have his way with Job for a time. The short answer is that God does not cause evil but permits it for our spiritual growth. When we are in unbearable circumstances, we can’t understand it but when we go to heaven we will.

 

[TommyWommy]

Well, the Church doesn’t have a teaching on this matter. But remember that Genesis is symbolic language of real history. But we know that animals eat other animals by nature, not by fallen nature. In other words, the fall didn’t change animal instinct.

If there’s no Church teaching, how do we “know?” I think we are both permitted to believe either way.

 

[Pat_De]

Whats the worst thing that ever happened in the world.
don’t even have to think about it , it has to be the cross. our lord being crucified has no equal.
whats the greatest good that has ever happened again easy question. it’s our lord redeeming the world through his death on the cross.
the devil never saw this coming never understood this. We don’t know the good that GOD can make from bad situations, we only know that he can and does.

when a child is getting it’s vacination as a baby it most wonder why its mother is allowing it to be injected and put through such pain

You have a mixed up theology if you believe the worse thing that ever happened in the word was the cross. For it PLEASED God to crush Him!! Isaiah 53:10 - please read it!!

Also, if not for the cross no man would be reconciled to God as most are NOT. The worse thing was the curse put on the earth and the whole of creation including man. Did you know God is the God of love, but to be that you also have to be the God of hate or wrath? Here is an analogy; if you love babies, then you must hate abortion and those that perform them or wickedness.

The silly saying that God hates the sin, but not the sinner has no theological or Biblical basis. As an example proverbs 6 There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness {who} utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.

Men are an abomination to God, but to know and understand this you have to understand the holiness of God. Just like the cup that He drank was the cup of God’s wrath that was drunk to satisfy and justify (redeem-paid the price for the penalty) His children through Christ Jesus. This is why the church celebrate the Lords supper in remembrance of the cup He took for the church and His victory over death.

 

[Pat_De]

Well, the Church doesn’t have a teaching on this matter. But remember that Genesis is symbolic language of real history. But we know that animals eat other animals by nature, not by fallen nature. In other words, the fall didn’t change animal instinct.

What???
The whole creation was cursed with the fall of man, this includes every animal. The whole nature of ALL creation has been cursed and that includes all of creation. Why do you think there is going to be a New Heaven and a New Earth without any stain of sin? Spend time in the Scripture and in prayer with God on a routine basis and you won’t make these errors. Find godly counsel to help with the things you do not understand; I am assuming you understand true repentance and are part of the church that Jesus Christ continues to build.

 

[TommyWommy]

You have a mixed up theology if you believe the worse thing that ever happened in the word was the cross. For it PLEASED God to crush Him!! Isaiah 53:10 - please read it!!

Also, if not for the cross no man would be reconciled to God as most are NOT. The worse thing was the curse put on the earth and the whole of creation including man. Did you know God is the God of love, but to be that you also have to be the God of hate or wrath? Here is an analogy; if you love babies, then you must hate abortion and those that perform them or wickedness.

The silly saying that God hates the sin, but not the sinner has no theological or Biblical basis. As an example proverbs 6 There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness {who} utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.

Men are an abomination to God, but to know and understand this you have to understand the holiness of God. Just like the cup that He drank was the cup of God’s wrath that was drunk to satisfy and justify (redeem-paid the price for the penalty) His children through Christ Jesus. This is why the church celebrate the Lords supper in remembrance of the cup He took for the church and His victory over death.

We are all sinners. Are you suggesting that God hates all of us? Do you sing that song in your church, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so?” If you do, then maybe you better stop.

 

[marymary1975]

Well, I think that most of the time the bad things that happen are a consequence either of our actions (sins, wrong choices, weakness, etc.) or internal issues we have in our own self. For example, people that have a lot of hate or jealousy in their hearts, I don’t think too many good things will come to them because they too busy hating. Also, many times we focus ourselves in looking only at the bad things in such a way that we miss all the good things that God is giving us, and we even maximize the bad things in a way that we think everything is bad when there is a possibility that the good is more than the bad.

Another thing is that our vision of things is very narrow. We only know what is available to us in our time and space. God knows eveything, present, past and future so his vision is very different. Something that might seem bad to you in x moment might be benefitial for you in the future. You just don’t know what it is going to happen while God does know.

I recall the movie the Pursuit of Happyness, I saw an interview with the real guy and they asked him if he would change anything about his story if he could, and he that if he could live again he would go through every single struggle (including being homeless) exactly the same way, because thanks to all those struggles he was in the position he is in today. What might seem like something terrible today, if you approach it with God and fight hard to make things better, can turn into a better future for you.

Jesus said that unfortunate things can happen to good people, but I think God permits those things because sometimes it is necessary in order to cut our pride and teach us some lessons. Remember is very difficult for one person to see what he/she is doing wrong and many times “bad things” can make you realize your wrongs. Also, we can decide what we do with something bad. Am I going to get angry and resentful because of a bad experience or am I going to use to help others that are going through the same difficulties and make the world a better place. Many people decide to help other because they have been through that and they use what they learn for the good. So instead of asking so much the whyyyy this happens try to think what can I do with it and how can I make it better. I think that if more people would ask God what do you want me to do with this instead of why you are doing things, thewoeld would be a better place.

 

[Pat_De]

We are all sinners. Are you suggesting that God hates all of us? Do you sing that song in your church, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so?” If you do, then maybe you better stop.

No, God loves His own for whom Christ paid the price, which is redemption. Read Proverbs chapter 6, then come back to me and tell me what God has said!

God loves some because He set His love on them on the basis of the cross in that it pleased God to crush (Is 53) Him for the churches sin and the penalty of that sin, which is the wrath that will be poured out for eternity on the wicked in His sight. If He is the God of love, then He is the God of anger and wrath or justice! What judge is just if he overlooks the pedophile who kidnapped and kept a child lock in a basement for 12 years and when caught the judge gave the criminal 5 days of civil service; we would say that is unjust. Why? Because he overlooked the gravity of the situation and is corrupt; therefore the God of perfect love and perfect justice can not overlook sin.

What in anyone can be an acceptable act in His sight? Nothing; salvation is all of God and nothing of man.

 

[Pat_De]

**Jesus said that unfortunate things can happen to good people, but I think God permits those things because sometimes it is necessary in order to cut our pride and teach us some lessons. ** Remember is very difficult for one person to see what he/she is doing wrong and many times “bad things” can make you realize your wrongs. Also, we can decide what we do with something bad. Am I going to get angry and resentful because of a bad experience or am I going to use to help others that are going through the same difficulties and make the world a better place. Many people decide to help other because they have been through that and they use what they learn for the good. So instead of asking so much the whyyyy this happens try to think what can I do with it and how can I make it better. I think that if more people would ask God what do you want me to do with this instead of why you are doing things, thewoeld would be a better place.

Please provide the Scripture that “unfortunate things can happen to good people”, to make it easier show where God say a single person is “good” in His sight. Jesus said “why do you call me good? Only god is good” God will find favor on those whom He has chosen for Himself, but He clearly says there is not any good, no not one" (paraphrased).

(Edited)

 

[marymary1975]

Please provide the Scripture that “unfortunate things can happen to good people”, to make it easier show where God say a single person is “good” in His sight. Jesus said “why do you call me good? Only god is good” God will find favor on those whom He has chosen for Himself, but He clearly says there is not any good, no not one" (paraphrased).

(Edited)

I don’t have the bible right next to me right now to give you the exact verse but it is the passage where the disciples asked Jesus about the blind man, who sinned this man or his parents for him to go blind, and Jesus makes a reference to the death of some Galileans in an accident and said “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than the other people in Galilea.” Yes, Jesus didn’t say literally bad things can happen to good people but the point of what he said is that some things are just unfortunate and they don’t happen because the person is a sinner or not. I’ll post the whole verse as soon as I get it. I think is somewhere in Luke.

 

[Catholic_Dude]

Hello, my name is John, new to the site. Active catholic all my life but now questioning why God lets things happen. I am very close to my neice - a very good person who has done things the right way yet she just lost her second baby in two years, How can this be justice when so many bad people have no problems having kids who often grow up as bad if not worse than the parents?

Also my family is the only ones in the extended family who are active in our faith and pray for all others when thy are facing difficulties, so when things like this happen we often get the angry “so what did your praying get you or us” response.

I’m merely re-echoing a lot of what others have already made clear. The traditional Catholic ‘answer’ on this is indeed that it is a question of the ages, with a few ‘guidelines’ as to why God lets bad things happen:

1. To bring about a greater good than what could have originally been.
2. To prevent a worse evil that could have occurred.
3. To punish some sin, to ‘wake up’ a spiritually lax person, etc.
4. To help a Christian grow in holiness through suffering, especially if that’s the Cross they’re called to bear.

The #3 (punishment) is the one folks should be most careful with, since if one is Christian, then God is their Father in a special sense (i.e. not Tyrant) - and usually it’s grave sin that results in grave temporal punishments.

And as always, it’s easier to speak like this when something tragic has not (at least recently) befallen us - so the best advice is stay close to the Sacraments, especially Reconciliation and Eucharist!