If God is infinitely powerful AND infinitely merciful, why do bad things happen?

Question

I know, it's an old one. If God was both infinitely compassionate and infinitely powerful, then it would be within his power, and in his interest, to end all suffering. Yet suffering continues and acts of evil are even carried out in his name. Either God isn't all powerful or he isn't all compassionate; he can't be both. Or maybe he just doesn't exist. I don't know, what do you think?

Answer 1

NOT another GOD QUESTION.
Please forgive me your magnifessence holy sheep I'm truly sorry.

Answer 2

God is infinitely powerful and God is infinitely mericful. The reason why suffering continues as well as acts of evil is because only what God allows to happen will happen. We as humans cause the evil not God. Do not see the evil in this world as lack of God's mercy because it is not. The life of this world is just a small part of a very important thing. The Hereafter is a reality and this is where everyone will be given what they earned in their living days. All wrongs against every person will be made right and everything good that someone lacked in this world will be given to them the next if they lived a righteous life and believed in God. If God was not merciful he would not send books (Bible, Torah, Quran,etc) or Prophets to show us how to live rather he would expect us to live righteously and never tell us how. Also if God was not merciful there would be no heaven. But there is a heaven and those in it will have everything and much more and will no longer feel sorrow,hunger,aniexty, or the other negative things of this life. Gods power is infinite. Who can cause rains to come upon a drought stricken land or cause crops to grow or fail? Only God can do this. God exists and those who don't belive this fact will only find themselves at a loss.

Answer 3

God gave us choices. And many of us have decided to go our own way and push Him out of our lives. He gave us rules to live by so that we would have a good and prosperous life. But again, we choose to do things our own way. He gave us life. He gave us everything. What have we done for Him? Look at how evil the world is today. All the bad that is happening in this world today comes from our sins against Him. Yes, He can end all the evil and the suffering, but why should He when we continue to turn away from Him? We all need to clean up our acts and start caring more for each other and less about ourselves. We can all stop the evil in this world ourselves if we just believe in Him. He is more compassionate than we deserve.

Answer 4

Well.. Let me ask you this. If God was your only choice, could you say you truly loved him? Probably not, because Love requires making a choice. God is just and fair, so he has to give everyone the same shot. He has to allow the Hitlers, Osamas, and Warlords their choice as well. He had to allow Adam and Eve a chance at the fruit too. Now if he always prevented the evil people from their choices, would he really be giving them the same opportunity as everyone else? No. Where God uses his power against evil, is after the event. God will always turn a bad situation good. You just have to wait and see what it is. As for God's compassion, he hurts to see people suffering at the hands of others, but in order to be fair, and true, he has to play by his own rules. But the evil spend an eternity in the absence of God.

Answer 5

Well, first let me say that God definately does exist and He definately is all powerful and He definately does have compassion. If He didn't, you wouldn't be here right now. Listen...don't you know that we have an enemy and he would love for you to believe that God does not exist? Read your Bible...you will learn many things about why there are bad things in the world. One of God's angels turned into Satan the Devil and was hurled down to the earth many many years ago. He took a third of the stars with him (other angels that became demons). The Scriptures say that Satan roves about on the earth seeking to devour someone...and he knows his time is short so he is BUUSSY!. Also the scriptures say that we have a wrestling, not against flesh and blood, but against the wicked spiritual forces...book of Ephesians. Trust me God is merciful because Satan would have destroyed us along time ago if God's mercy was not with us. Jesus, as we speak, is gathering up his sheep (Book of Matthew). He is separating sheep from goats for His return (soon). The parables say that He cannot destroy the weeds (the wicked) because the wheat (the godly) are mixed in among them. He is separating now and will return. He WILL destroy Satan and His hordes...He promises! Then there will be peace, okay? Please read your Bible...there's lots more! : 0 )

Answer 6

Think about this: He gave humans free will. Okay, so due to that fact bad things happen. Yes He has the power to change the bad things, make evil good...but wouldn't we just be puppets then? We don't run the world like He prefer it...He takes free will back...then all is good again...and so it will go on. I see it different: Can you imagine how compassionate He must be to let the people be born..knowing how they will destroy His world..knowing that no matter how much He loves them...they will choose against Him and they will make people suffer. He give them the chance to live...to experience life in full glory...knowing that they will just through it back in His face. He knows what will happen yes...but He is sending everyday messages to try and change the outcome. But due to the biggest gift He gave us...free will...we changed His perfect world into suffering. His compassion is too great for us to understand

Answer 7

a lot of people apparently think that it's because god works in "mysterious ways" or because he gives us free will.

but somehow, they still thank god when something good happens to them. how can they believe both things?

if god has the power to get you a promotion at work, why can't he end poverty and starvation in africa? he sounds awfully ridiculous to me.

and if a christian needs to buy a new car and finds a hundred dollars on the ground, they'll probably thank god. but someone had to have dropped the money. so if god caused the first person to find the money, he must also have caused the second person to lose the money; he intentionally caused something bad to happen to someone.

i think the christian explanations of the contradiction you bring up despite their gratefulness to god for good things in their life is a lot like the notion of "creation science," in which the science that seems to support biblical claims is paraded around, but the science that denies biblical claims is accounted for by god's supposed omnipotence.

Answer 8

Let's start with Basics:

1. God has given mankind freewill - this means that He doesn't interfere with every little thing. As a father/mother to all beings he will also intervene when things do go horribly wrong - just as parents normally let their kids argue or fight for a while but later may intervene and put a stop to the arguments/fighting.

2. Before accusing God you should ask yourself whether the suffering, natural disasters are due to God or mankind. For example can you categorically state that all the factory farming to rear beef cattle for hamburgers has no impact on the environment? Are you aware of how much rainforest is being cleared by these farms every year? The hamburgers are not only bad for our general diet but are also having enormous impact on the lives of thousands of animals, insects, birds, marine life etc which inhabit the rainforests not to mention any indigenous local population.

3. Acts of evil are also carried out by so called moral democratic governments, e.g. selling arms to developing countries, exploiting slave labour in developing countries, e.g. coffee production, clothing, footwear etc. I believe that God will intervene and punish those who misuse his name but it is upto him to decide when and how not for you or me. God has clearly said that "judge ye not lest you yourself be judged" - therefore leave this to God. Instead you should try and understand the difference between those who claim to follow God and those who actually do. Even those who believe and implement democracy, laws and moral standards commit crimes. Don't tar everyone with the same brush.

God's existence cannot be proven by any scientific means and you may call this a big cop-out but face facts:
1. Humans are by and large corrupt and selfish.
2. Humans do not have perfect senses - they need instruments to see/detect things with,
3. If you wanted to judge God what criteria would you base this on and would you pass these criteria yourself?

God has described his presence amongst us as the invisible thread in a string of pearls. If you try to understand the scriptures you will find enough evidence, but if you don't then no amount of evidence will be enough. Try to look beyond the superficial, e.g. scientists trying to prove that earth couldn't have been created 5000 yrs ago or how could God make every thing in 7 days etc - these are things no one can prove, instead look for logic and reason within the scriptures which will explain why mankind is suffering and whether the prescribed laws would help ease suffering or not.

Ask yourself the question would you rather have freewill or would you rather be a robot? Ask yourself whether modern society is currently providing freedom and choice for everyone or whether it is simply driving everyone to becoming drones/robots? You sleep, get up, get in your car, do some mostly pointless work, come home, eat, watch TV and sleep and repeat everything ad-infinitum? Do you think that scientists trying to work on genetic modification are ultimately trying to improve conditions or simply trying to find ways of controlling more and making more money? What do you think will be their aim even if they manage to eradicate diseases - do you think they might move onto trying to make all huimans more friendlier, less prone to commit murder, more hard working so that they produce more goods per hour? Do you think these will give humans more freedom or do you think it will make them more like robots?

Try to find some real answers at:

Answer 9

Well!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For Starters!!!!!!!!!!!!! God is infinitely powerful
and merciful. If you truly follow Jesus and his word, you would realize it, Just because you are a christian, doesn't mean God is
going to give you all the comforts you desire, Here on this planet.
Christ tells us, we and the world will face trials and difficulties.
Because we serve him. And if God cured all that was wrong with this life, we wouldn't need to serve him. and when he does do this and he will. You will see all pain end, all suffering end. Because that will be the day of his glorious return! And yes God exists! If you don't believe, seek him and he will enlighten you. Or continue to be lost and confused. But I encourage you to seek him, learn what he wants you to learn of him.

Answer 10

if everything was honky dory all thr time how would you appriciate god.if he hadnt created the fella with the horns and george bush how would we know good from bad.if god was indifinatly compassionate and powerful and there was no suffering and george bush didnt carry out acts of evil why would we need a god .why dosnt god strike down george bush and save us having to go through a third world war.only for evil we would not recognise good.we have a very sneeky god

Answer 11

If God created the universe and everything in it, then he created Evil and suffering, pain and death. Therefore God must be a real sick individual who really gets off on messing up people lives.

Personally I don't believe that God exists - but if he did then he would have a lot to answer for!