It can only be one. Either God allows bad things to happen, or He is NOT all-powerful. Which is it?

Question

The other option is to blame those thing on Satan. But, doesn't doing that make Satan a god, an Anti-God?

Answer 1

Are you indicting Him and demanding an apology? Or making sincere inquiry?
If the former, then YOU are one of those bad things He is allowing to happen.

Answer 2

For one thing, this is coming from an open-minded basic atheist. But here I go.

From a religious viewpoint:
God does not interfere in every little thing that happens. God uses people to do his bidding to help others in a large and general way, but does not control them like puppets. Human beings have freewill, they have the freedom to choose. It is not God's direct fault if a human being chooses to use his or her freewill to kill another being or to do harm in some other way.

From a non-religious viewpoint:
I don't believe in God in general, it's human's fault - we have choices, we have intelligence and we have the opposable thumb. We are said to be top of the food chain and the most intelligent species on earth. Bad things happen as chain reactions to peoples choices and other such things.

All in all, religiously or not - it really has nothing to do with god. He does not sit down and decide that some John or Jane Doe should be smited that day. And if we go without god, it is again not as if it happens all on it's own, there is always some basis to everything that happens, either known or unknown.

Answer 3

I have pondered this question myself, especially after something bad has occurred to a good person and what I have come up with is that God is all powerful, but he does not intrude on everyday life...he created man with the ability to make choices and decisions and in his wisdom he allows us to do so. We all make bad decisions at times and they often affect others, who don't deserve to be harmed or die, but that is why we have a free will, and we always need to remember that everyday, everything we do has a cause and effect, God has chosen not to step -in and change the outcome. This belief is the only way I can continue through life, and still believe in God's wisdom. I hope this helps, it has helped me in some recent and traumatic situations. Maybe it will all be clear in the end! And maybe not!

Answer 4

Read Aquinas and Augustine on this one, it might surprise you. God's omnipotence is related to his nature, not to his will. By this is meant that God requires nothing other than himself to sustain his own existence. This is the meaning of God's omnipotence in terms of classical Christian theology-- it does not mean that God can do whatever God wants. For example, God cannot make himself evil or create a reality that is equivalent in its nature to himself. So, yes, to answer your question, there are limits to what God can do, limitations that are imposed by his nature. Theologians have tried to find a way around this, as some believed that admitting such a limit threatens God's sovereignty. This is what engenders a theological movement called voluntarism, which separates God's nature from God's will, thus empowering God to act against his own nature. However, the end result of this, is that God becomes capricious and untrustworthy. You are identifying a very important theological distinction.

Answer 5

God is a God of judment. It not that He just allows things to happen. He makes a judgement based on what people are saying under their breath in regards to right and wrong. If you are speaking and living the right things, then God will judge favorably, but if you are speaking evil, then evil will come upon you. Read the story in 2 Chron 18 about a evil king named Ahab. Ahab wanted to go up and fight against a city to take it. But God sent a prophet to warn him that if he went up he would die. However, Ahab gathered 400 false prophets who would speak lies to him saying that he would win the battle. Ahab went up to the battle in a disguise. The bible says a man shot a arrow at random and hit Ahab and he died. Since Ahab loved to listen to lies, God judged him that he would die by a lie. It the same anywhere you go in this world.

Answer 6

God allows bad things to happen
It's like a test you may pass or fail
if he didn't allow bad things to happen what would be the deference between life and heaven??

Answer 7

Well of course GOD allows things to happen to us! On purpose or not, he still does. He even gave the devil PERMISSION to tempt Jesus on the mountaintop or hilltop or whatever. Remember?

'Side from that some/most people are lukewarm(I'd prefer you find what it means yourself to learn) and because of that, he will make your life practically a living hell until you are back on your knees worshiping him and asking to make it stop and etc. He does this to make you stronger and more closer to him. To make this one sentence short: A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected w/o TRIALS.

Answer 8

He allows bad things to happen because we have free will! There's a purpose for bad stuff happening. There is a lesson in everything.

Answer 9

You can not blame God your own stupid actions that lead to you getting a disease, crippled or something that results in death.
To blame God interferes with your right to make bad choices.

Answer 10

Its life you moron. life has consequences.and God is all powerful, jeeze how stupid or dimwitted can you be. i swear i had it up to here with you people saying all these bad and negative things about God. do God and Jesus and every single religious person and i a favor and shut the hell up. we dont want to hear what you have to say.

Answer 11

God allows bad things to happen for those who believe in God deeply and truely, and for those who don't deeply believe in their religion, they choose the second one. Nobody knows for sure which is true, and therefore your question is not thoroughly answerable.