Why does "god" allow bad things to happen iffin.....?

Question

When I asked my "born again christian" sister this question, her response was "So that we can see and realize how lucky we are"

Now seriously, is that a real "christian" attitude. Does this make any sense to anyone, even "christians"

Another all time winner answer she always has is "Because it says so in the bible, that is why it is true"

Keep in mind that she is over 50 yrs. old. I would expect that from a little kid

This is a serious question and I really do want serious answers. But a good funny one could just get you 10 stars so don't be shy

I can't help but notice that a lot of these answers, not all, that are from obvious "christians", have nothing really to do with the questions asked and it just perpetuates the fact that a lot of you just want to hear yourselves talk. Don't take it personal as it is an observation, that is all.

Ok, you people are missing the point of my question.
I am not talking about people being stupid and making bad decisions that pave a way for their future.

I am talking about NATURAL events such as Tsunamis, Typhoons, Dust bowls The plague.
SLAVERY which isn't natural but those psople sure had no choice in the matter except maybe for going hunting at the wrong time.

I mean where innocent victims that have absolutely NO CONTROL of the climate
THINK and plse stop quoting the bible.
I want YOUR answer.
PLEASE.

Just what I figured, no answers for over 1/2 hour. The "christians" can't answer that one and never will

Answer 1

God neither allows or prevents bad things from happening to people.

We have free will; and that is one of the consequences we have to put up with.

If God prevented bad things from happening; God would be yiolating our free will to make bad choices.

Answer 2

I'm not Christian but my theory on this is that it's necessary to have a balance in life. The concepts of good and bad are relative to each other. If nothing bad ever happened then what would be considered good? I know this isn't a very satisfying answer, especially because one could argue that a world without pain and suffering would be better than one without truly high points. But in order for that to occur, g-d would have to completely control human actions at the expense of free will. I'm sorry if I didn't explain this very well, it makes sense in my head but I'm not great at putting ideas into words.


I thought of something else that might help. If you've ever read the book The Giver by Lois Lowry, she creates a society where everything is completely controlled. There is no disease, hunger, or natural disasters. There is no religion or art. Racism doesn't exist. Everything is in black and white. There is no political unrest because everything is run by community cooperation. They've succeeded in eliminating the desire for sex. A committee chooses the jobs for each person and forms the marriages. Couples have to apply for children. They're permitted one girl and one boy that are born to a few selected mothers in the community. Death by accidents or natural causes are very rare because the weak and the old are euthanized. There is no such thing as love. Nothing is beautiful, just practical. Everyone is equal. There are no thrills or real emotion. If g-d didn't allow bad things to happen, life might be something like that. Maybe not with those specific examples, but probably as bland, lacking everything that in my opinion anyway makes it worth living.

Answer 3

Well I am 50 also. I have been a Christian most of my adult life but in the last three years I have been studying Sprituality and it has opened many doors for me.
God made us with eternal souls. Therefore he wants our souls to come to earth and learn and grow. The most growth occurs when we face pain, sorry, uncertainty and real problems and even death (of the body).
Now, you say: "What would God want our souls to learn?"
Here is his commanments for growth:
wisdom, patience, understanding, faith, hope, love, tolerance, compassion, forgiveness, and courage.

If we learn these in one lifetime or many, he will be proud and it will bring us closer to him. We will become his apprentices and work at his side. He wants us holy.

God knows it is hard to be perfect. He knows we must suffer to grow. And he know there are dark spirits on the Earth too that have no conscious and can not love. He wants to see what we do with our lives. Do we waste it? Do we continue to be non-belivers? Do we use our pain to hurt others?

or?

Do we help other people? Volunteer our time? Give our money and our Love? Be Humble, be kind, be loving and gentle.

Dont you think this would make a better world? A better place than when we leave it? Better for our children and grandchildren and humanity?

Please do not say I am not a Christian because I believe we live many times and I belive we all have a destiny to follow. Our path leads right to where it was meant to go before we were born.
Follow your path, Godsplan,or follow a crooked dead end path and never fullfill your destiny in life. It is all your choice and my choice.
I spend a good part of my life living for ME. Now the years I have left I want to live for OTHERS.

Answer 4

WHY -

If according to the Bible we are all sinners who deserve to spend eternity in hell unless we repent - then shouldn't the question be:
"Why does God allow any good to happen to any of us?"

But as for myself, the only thing I can come up with is this...
When I play chess, in order for me to win the game, I must put innocent pieces in jeopardy. Sometimes I must allow them to even be captured for my ultimate winning plan to materialize. So, I can't help but wonder if God's plans work in a similar way. What may look like a bad thing to us, may actually be working for our own good in the long run.

I have this strong feeling that when we all see God someday, all the lights will come on, so to speak, and we will be shocked at the answers we find when we get there and we will then realize how stupid it was for us to ever have questioned Him.

A great example of this theory can be illustrated in the movie "The Karate Kid". Remember when Daniel was being made to wax cars and paint the fence? He thought a "bad thing" was happening to him, but it was all working for his ultimate good. He was totally unaware that the crap he was being put through was the training he so desperately needed. And he prevailed in the end because of it.

I think our lives are something like that.

Answer 5

It's the Yin and Yang. There always has to be a balance of good and evil. That's the way the world works. The only reason the world was created was to bring glory to God. And us being able to distinguish the difference between the two glorifies him. It shows how holy HE is. Satan is the one who causes sin since God cannot cause sin himself. God's perfect. So he uses Satan to glorify himself. That may sound extremely selfish and egotistic of God but he deserves glory because he is perfect and holy. It's true and it pisses me off and I hate it but that's just the way it is.

"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" Romans Chapter 9 verses 20-21

In other words God can do whatever the hell he wants with us because he created us and we have no right to question him. That really pisses me off but there's nothing I can do about it. I'm not a Christian and that means I'm goin' to hell. So naturally I'm a little bitter about this truth. There's your answer, enjoy.

Answer 6

Do you have children? Or is there someone who you care deeply for? Of course there is, now they could fall down and hurt themselves even if you are standing right there beside them that doesn't mean you allowed it to happen, but your special person knows, that with your unconditional love, you'll pick them up and try to make the hurt go away, try to heal them, you'll cry when they cry, and rejoice when they are well. Same with God. In all my life God has been there beside me, the truth of God's love is not that he allowes bad things to happen, its His promise that he'll be there with us when they do.

Hope this helps, and please by all means continue to ask questions I'l love to help.

Answer 7

I have often wondered that myself. I was told that the earth is ruled by Satan until Jesus comes back again. Satan is trying very hard to win souls from Jesus. It is a challenge that Jesus took from Satan. Satan told Jesus that if everything in this world, the earth, was perfect and the people never had hardships or disappointments, they would always follow him but if they had hardships and disappointments and had bad things happen, would they still believe in him, love him, and follow him?

Answer 8

I have heard so many things. That God is testing our faith in him and letting us run our own lives by following his words....The do unto
others as you would have done to you thing. That bad things happen because of the devil or you bring them unto you by doing bad things yourself. That and he is wanting us to do good unto the world by helping the poor and the sick/and in need ect.....

Answer 9

god created the earth. satan rules the earth and makes the bad things happen without gods control. god only has control in certain places such as churches

Answer 10

The funniest answer I get is that "it's not god that allows bad things, all bad things are the work of the devil"... give me a break!
As for a real answer I don't have one for you , sorry =)