Why do bad things happen to good folk?

[MrVersatile48]

Here's a great article from http://www.crosswalk.com


Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen to Good People?
Hank Hanegraaff

"We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28 NIV).
Christian celebrities who appear on shows such as Larry King Live are commonly asked why bad things happen to good people. At first blush, it may seem as though there are as many responses as there are religions.

In reality, however, there are only three, namely, pantheism, philosophical naturalism, and theism.

Pantheism denies the ultimate existence of good and evil because in this view god is all and all is god.

Philosophical naturalism (the worldview undergirding evolutionism) supposes that everything is a function of random material processes, and thus there can be no such thing as good and evil in an ultimate sense.

Theism alone has a relevant response - and only Christian theism can answer the question satisfactorily.

First, Christian theism acknowledges that God created the potential for evil when he created humans with freedom of choice. We choose to love or hate, to do good or evil. The record of history bears eloquent testimony to the fact that humans of their own free will have actualized the reality of evil through their ungodly choices.

Furthermore, without choice, love is meaningless. God is neither a cosmic rapist who forces His love on people nor a cosmic puppeteer who forces people to love Him. Instead, God, the personification of love, grants us freedom of choice. Without such freedom, we would be little more than preprogrammed robots.

Finally, the fact that God created the potential for evil by granting us freedom of choice will ultimately lead to the best of all possible worlds - a world in which "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain" (Rev. 21:4 NIV). Those who choose Christ will be redeemed from evil by His goodness and will forever be free from sin.

For further study, see Joni Eareckson Tada and Steven Estes, When God Weeps (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997).



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[Quadeshet]

Bad things happen to good people because... things happen and people exist.

There are events that are damaging and hurtful to some that are healing and strengthening to others. See Leonore Dvorkin's "Why I'm Glad I Had Breast Cancer."

The thing that philosophical naturalism gets wrong is that it abuses the notion of 'random.' It's true that most events are random, but we look for origins in the wrong way.
We lock events to a specific time and place, when any historian can see that things happen as a result of many processes (of which some may be random, and others developing from initial chance events) and are all just beads on a string. You can pick out the most glittering bead, or you can look at the entire necklace.

I would be interested to see how other people feel about this... what do you consider 'bad' and what do you do about it? How do you attribute events?

 

[Quath]

Here is where I see a problem. Does Godd have choice and free will? If so, then free will does not mean that imply that evil is there. If not, then God is not intelligent, just a force of nature.

So if God can be good and have free will, then anything He makes must also be good (good makes good). However, if there is evil and God is the only being that can create, then He must have made evil.

People treat good and evil as if they were solid things. Personally, I just see it as a prejudiced way of describing other people's motives.

Quath

 

[Soma-Sight]

Satan,

Thats the answer......

 

[Quath]

Satan,

Thats the answer......

Are you saying that Satan is why bad things happen to good people. Like if there is a car crash, it is because of Satan?

Quath

 

[Soma-Sight]

Are you saying that Satan is why bad things happen to good people. Like if there is a car crash, it is because of Satan?

Quath

I am taking this from the context of Job....

God ALLOWS for some Divne reason the torture of ol Job by the great horned dude.....

So if a tragic car accident happens it theoretically could be God allowing Satan to influence your drive to death.....

 

[Quadeshet]

Soma - So because god 'allows' satan to have a go at you, then you have no free will? You are constantly being worked upon by one force or the other?

 

[Solo]

Remember the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Until man decided that God was a liar, Adam chose upon himself to disobey the one who knew what would happen.

No man knows what God's entire purpose is with his creation of heaven and earth and mankind, but many often act as if they are authoritative in their assessment with a guess of natural, physical illusions, instead of Godly orgins.

Satan fell into disobedience prior to the creation of the heavens and the earth, therefore, it is entirely possible that mankind's creation was to fulfill justice in the spiritual realm. That is one possibility that science will never see.

Why bad things happen to good people is because of the knowledge of good and evil being unleashed on the world, and the ability of evil to gain permission to attack man in his temporary mode of existance. God had Jesus Christ's redemption of mankind thoughtout prior to the creation of the world.

18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. 1 Peter 1:18-21

Man has opened up our temporary existance to good and evil, but God has provided man a means by which to live eternally with him, apart from pain, sin, sorrow, death.

1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. Revelation 21:1-8

 

[Guest]

It should be noted that if God is all-knowing, there can't be free will. See Aristotle's famous Sea Battle argument in De Interpretatione IX.

 

[Soma-Sight]

Soma - So because god 'allows' satan to have a go at you, then you have no free will? You are constantly being worked upon by one force or the other?

Correct.

From a bona fide Judeo - Christian stance you are nothing more than a pawn in the cosmic game of Pride and Justice......

Think of yourself as a science experiment for the whole universe to observe....

Makes you feel good doesnt it?

We are cosmic examples of the powerstruggle of duality.

1 Peter 2:21 (New International Version)


21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

 

[Quadeshet]

To be honest, Soma, that sounds like no fun at all.

The only elements we are pulled between are the biological limitations of our own bodies and the illusion that we are something more than that.