If god exsisted then why do such horrible things happen?

Question

An 8 year old girl who attends a catholic school and whos family are very religious was murdered and sexually assualted at MY local shopping centre on Monday , I just cannot see how if gods exsists such things can happen! especially to a dear little girl... it is just so sad and such a waste of a precious little life...

Answer 1

"If God is good and all-powerful, why does evil exist in this world?"

Time to bust out the big words: Theodicy.

Theodicy: "an explanation for the presence of evil and suffering that is consistent with the nature and character of God."

Boy, I'm not sure where to start. There's so many points to make and I'm not sure how to organize my thoughts....but here goes nothing. This is my theodicy:
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First, let's start by defining "evil." Evil is not a force or a created thing, so it would be faulty to use the circular logic that either God created evil (meaning God isn't good) or that God isn't the Creator of everything (since He didn't create evil).

Evil is the absence of good, much like rust on a car. God, by giving us free will, allowed us to "create" evil by choosing against Him. For, if God is good, then to choose against Him would by evil and the consequences would be death (since God gives life). Just as darkness is the absence of light, so evil is the absence of good.

Sometimes evil is the perversion of good. Cancer is a good non-moral example. It's a harmful mutation of otherwise healthy cells. Whether evil twists good or flat-out rejects it, the results are the same.

Evil is not God's fault. He created only good and we distorted it, which is evil.

Enough on this topic. I'm leaving a few loose ends and there's much more to say on this, but I would be getting off track.

Second, let's point out a major implication of the question. Anyone who asks our topic question for today is demonstrating the influence of Christianity on western thinking. Hindus don't ask this question. Animists don't grapple with it. To them, the gods themselves are evil and corrupt and evil is to be an expected, embraced part of this world. Suck it up and live with it. It's the ying and the yang. The Dark Side and the Light Side of the Force. It's still the same Force.

But by asking the question, you are saying that there is a definite "evil" in this world that can be defined and identified. There's something wrong and not right. There is injustice. And you presume that whoever this God fellow is, it's supposed to be His job to oppose this stuff and He's doing a lousy job.

This is a Christian worldview: that evil is not normal and should be opposed. The Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc. are Christian influences in our society. There is something in us as human beings that desires to fight injustice, help the suffering, etc. This would make sense if we are made in God's image... but I'm getting off track again. Let's move to the third point.

The question is usually vague and impersonal. What I mean is that people who ask this question usually have in mind for God to go over and fix that mess in Iraq, or do something about sweat shops and child labor in China. Why doesn't He oppose child pornography, or hold to account genocide in Africa?

But they don't want God to interfere with the sin and evil in their own hearts and lives.

See, for God to come in judgment, He would have to be fully just and judge all... and this brings me to my final point.

The question neglects another key element of God's character. Yes, He is good. Yes, He is omnipotent. But He is also merciful. This may seem like a contradiction (i.e., why would He then allow suffering?), but let me explain.

God holds back His judgment with patient love in order to give us time to repent and be set right. The painful side of this is that we also then have more time choose evil. But the day will come when He will judge the earth. The sweat shop owners will be held to account...and so will you and I. God is good. He is perfect, holy, and righteous. He is pure. He opposes evil. We all have evil in our lives: the twisting of good or the absence of good (and you know what I mean: sin. Lying, selfishness, lust, pride, a "screw you" attitude, etc.).

And so here's the gospel in a nutshell: God justly dealt with sin by Himself dying for it (since evil results in death, He took the punishment Himself). Jesus was on that cross in order that He might by able to extend mercy to us without doing so at the expense of justice. It would be like the traffic cop giving you a speeding ticket..and then taking out his own wallet...and scratching out your name and writing his own on the ticket. He's able to let you off, but it's because he himself paid your debt. Make sense? (With God it's even more than that. See, Jesus didn't just die; He rose again. He defeated the power of sin and evil and death. Therefore, He's able to change you from the inside out so you're no longer prone to sin and evil, so that you are a transformed person, a new creation. This brings true, ultimate peace: knowing you're in right standing with God and have nothing to fear.)

"Turn or burn" is not the most fun or popular way to present the good news of Jesus Christ (it's a method that's made fun of even in Christian circles), but it's also true...if preached in the context of God's love and mercy. It's not that God's out to get you and He's some stern, distant, angry Being who is hovering over the smite button. He is quick to forgive and His passion is redemption.

Answer 2

Hi Michael: Yes the times are pretty discouraging right now as they have been throughout history. But to doubt the creator or blame the creator for the actions of man which has a free will does not make any sense. Recorded history makes no mention that God will intervene to solve our problems nor should he. What would be the point as this is not heaven, this is merely earth? This is the proving ground and we have only to prove ourselves worthy of a home where things do not go wrong. But hopefully that is in the far future by our standards of time. The wind blows and sometimes things fall down in the wind, sometimes good people we love were under those things when they fell. Should we blame God for our loss of course not, just because he knew of it does not mean that he made it happen. The wind blew the thing down on our loved one, his knowing did not make it happen. Should he have stepped in and stopped the event? This is earth, not heaven, the place where our loved now resides is heaven. Is it a bad thing that god did not intervene? We think so, but I'm sure our loved would rather remain in heaven. We have a free will and the opportunity to do the best we can, so why not be as happy as we can be and help our friends with a smile, a touch and a little encouragement. We are not going to get out of this alive anyway and when we don't, we will be in a better position to decide whether God should have intervened. Wishing you the best Michael, Bob

Answer 3

It is really strange. Instead of killing Osama Bin Laden or other evil doers God just let a small shild to be murdered and sexually assualted. Believe me or not I ask the same question to my self sometimes when things go as if God has completely forgetten us. The world trade tower, the pentagon, the bomb blasts, terrorism etc. I just keep on asking " If God is loving, then why there is suffering?" The only thing which makes me believe that there is a God is 1) Bible 2) the question of how humans were created.

Answer 4

Satan is the cause of all of this grief and heartache we are receiving. Yea some might argue, why won't God stop him? That's dumb to ask that question. God made the world without simplicity so why should we live with simplicity? Even though the girl was done wrongly, that means good will come out of it in the end. Her life in heaven will be far more joyous than any life she could have received on earth.

Answer 5

The Goddess & the God (or God) has it's own ways of handeling stuff... We are all here to learn things and experience things and in a world like we live in it is not considered weird if this kind of thing happens (its not cool, for sure, but people dont act surprised, i know)... So maybe just trust that all things have a reason and at least they have gone to a better place then we are... I know I wish I was there already ...

Answer 6

you need to remember that God tests people in diff ways....he may grant you an unexpected windfall of fortune to test how steadfast you are or he may even subject you to acute agonising pain ,again to test how steadfast you are!
Sorry to hear about her,but I feel that its a test for her family,they were religious ,yes, so this is a test to exactly measure how God fearing they are...if they are truly religious they will somehow overcome this trauma by consoling themselves with the fact that its Gods will ALONE.
Being religious does NOT mean yr life will be a bed of roses,why were all the Prophets tortured and massacred then? All the people on this planet would then be very very religious if it was true that it completely wards of evil!
Religion is in fact facing a crisis today...people have lost faith...thts one more reason for evil.

Answer 7

that's the question of the century. everyone wants to know why God allows bad things. He gives us a freewill. He gives us a chance to repent and follow Him or turn away from Him. we're the ones who do bad things. God has His own reasons that we cannot see or understand for allowing such things to happen. we just have to trust Him and fully lean onto Him.

Answer 8

I am sorry, that is truly sad.
since the fall of man, evil lurks freely in the world.
Jesus came and showed us God is Love.
We might not always understand, but we know, by faith, that that is not Gods will.
Satan has devised a world in which there is heartache and sufferring, God will reclaim it, its just not time yet.
What God is responsible for is the life and joy that the girl was able to give and bring to the world, he is the creator.

Answer 9

We are placed here on Earth to gain earthly experiences and to grow through our choices. God gave us a free will to choose right or wrong. Unfortunately, some people choose the very wrong and it affects other people. The victims then must choose how they will respond, if possible. Irregardless, God won't take the gift of free choice from us even though there are consequences that affect others unfairly.

Answer 10

God exists and I guarantee you he does. He does not do those things to punish people. When a person suffers, he wants that person to depend on God. God exists I promise you and hopefully one day you'll be able to meet him the way I did. I once too questioned the existence of God but I kept praying and praying and I know that God exists. As hard as it is to believe, you grow closer to God in times of mourning. It would be easy to believe God if everything was dandy and fine. It doesn't work that way though.

Answer 11

If a God exists as depicted in the bible he is a homicidal psychopath. There is no other explanation.

That is one small reason I am an atheist. I absolutely refuse to believe that a (real) "Supreme Being" could not have "designed" a better system than the one we live with daily.