"God has a reason for everything"?

Question

I asked this question yesterday, but I did not get many responses. I thought it was a pretty interesting question, so I will ask it again:

“God has a reason for everything.” This is a phrase that we hear a lot from Christians.

A few months ago, in the City I live in, three small children died when the home they were living in burned down. On the news, you could see the mother of the children outside fighting to get past the firemen so that she could get in to save her babies. The firemen had to keep her back because they knew that if she went in she would die too. The autopsy report showed that the children died from burns.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not think that any God did this. But if you are going to say that “God does everything for a reason” in any situation, you are automatically saying that God did that to those children and their mother. So tell me what reason could he possibly have for that? Try not to use any clichés like “God works in mysterious ways.” So, maybe some things do just happen by chance… If so, I wonder how God decides when he will intervene and when he will leave things to chance. I mean, he seems to help a lot of people with their finances, landing a job, history exams, etc. What about burning children?

Answer 1

All I can tell you is that God did not cause this to happen. At the same time, He did not prevent it. Why? I don't know. One thing I do know is that prayer will move God to intervene in every type of situation that exists. I also know that millions and millions of people exist who don't pray. And for those who do pray, we don't always get what we pray for--but I believe God does hear and answer every prayer, although we don't always get the answer we want. God knows everything, and for those who believe in and trust Him, He will work all things for our good.
As for these poor children, I don't know. Was their mother a praying Christian? Was she a non-believer who has never uttered a prayer? Only God knows why this happened. One thing I can say for sure--those children are in heaven with Him now, and they will never suffer again.

Answer 2

I remember a passage in a book that I believe was titled, "why bad things happen to good people." In there was an analogy between God and the parents of a girl who wanted to learn how to ice-skate.
The analogy involved the parent's choice. They could hold the child by the arms so that the skates barely touched the ice and ensure that the child does not fall and hurt themself. Or, they could hold the child by the hand, knowing full well that the child may fall, but helping the girl learn how to skate on her own.
The girl may fall, but it's not to say that the parents "pushed" her. It wasn't that God started the fire and killed the girls, merely that he knows that if you never fall, you'll never learn to get back up.
I know it seems like a simple analogy for such a tragedy, but I still think it applies.
Besides, those who believe in god also believe that those children are in a better place -- so the "fall" (using the ice-skating analogy) would be to those around the children, not the children themselves.
And if you don't believe in God and heaven, then the children's deaths were merely natural order and no use in getting your panties in a bunch.

EDIT: Realize that my answer was simplified. If you are serious about pursuing the issue, check out the book.

Answer 3

After the creation there was a covenant of works, where man turned against God. Believing and embracing the devil and rejecting God. Why God did not destory all of mankind is amazing to me?! Why he suffers us each and every day and shows his patience blows my mind?!

Man suffering is directly linked to their rejection of God and the death and decay which followed. Each time I think about the horrors on this earth - it's a reminder that the devil is a liar!

However there is a greater horror on the horizon, which makes any pain in this world look like a party. That is the place called hell, where all those without the mark of the lamb will be cast forever and ever. Wise up! God is not the problem, it's our sin! Seek ye the Lord while He can be found, call on Him while He is near, let the wicked repent and turn unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

Answer 4

Can't blame everything on God. God doesn't control the world. He has faith in us and wants us to do our best to follow him. It's our choice what we do with our lives.

As for the burning children, that is just a freak accident and has nothing to do with God's wrath or mysterious ways. They're in a better place now. The world sucks and people are cruel. When you think about it, those children have been spared from the cruelity and pettiness of the world and are now in heaven with him. I do feel sorry for the mother though. No mother should have to bury her children.

Answer 5

I know this, Bad things happen to people everywhere. It is terrible what happened to this mother and her children. You are right God did not make this happen, but he is the only one that can make something good come of this tragedy. God works on faith not on prejudging what you think he does and doesn't do. We are created with free will so this means tragedies like these will continue because we humans are all flawed and make mistakes.

My brother committed suicide when he was 18. At that time nobody could see what good would come of it. I felt like someone stabbed me in my own heart. I felt betrayed and alone. However, I started thinking about what good could come of this. I started a suicide prevention ministry and to this day we have saved over 1300 boys and girls from the grips of suicide. You never know what good can come out of a tragedy.
Maybe this mother left the stove on, or she left her kids at home alone when they shouldn't of been. Maybe this is a lesson that she can teach to other mothers so we can all learn from her mistakes...you never know.

Before we blame God, we need to look at ourselves first and look at what Good can come from it.

Answer 6

Of course God exists. Sometime things happens and we do not know the answer, but he does. I believe we have to come to this wold for a reason. Probably it was time for the children to go up in heaven. There are so many things going on in this wold, drugs, rapists, war famine, etc. We are becoming animals instead of humans. We see poor people in the streets and what happens, kids go and kicked them. The families are getting dissolved, so much hatred. Until we learn to LOVE no matter what, then we will have PEACE on earth. We have to transform our own minds, then you will see the power of GOD.

Answer 7

God made us in his image and likeness, so that means, he must've been pretty human. Besides the supernatural powers, I guess he had human emotions. If he just made 1 person to keep him company, he probably knew that that person would eventually want someone else to keep them company, or something like that. It's just so confusing. I don't think we will ever know the answers while we are living. But, it's a great thing to wonder about. It's pretty fun looking for answers. Sorry, I probably didn't help.

Answer 8

The horrible circumstances you describe are not pleasant, and difficult for humans to wrap their minds around while we acknowledge that old cliche, "God is in control."

It is logical to conclude that if God is in control, then he must have a plan. Unless we know what His plans are for us, we might blame Him for the hardships we all go through. But rarely does a person know what God has planned for him.

Isaiah 55:8
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

Answer 9

in order to understand the horrors of life on earth you have to consider the possibility of reincarnation and karma. Karma says that you experience the results of all of your actions. And people do some horrific things. So if someone who does horrific things to other people, that person would need to experience that terrible thing themself to really understand why it is wrong. Another way of understanding these things is houses burn and the people inside them burn. For one thing because houses are buillt as cheaply as possible for as much profit as possible. All houses could be built with fire retardant materials and sprinklers in every room. That would be in an intelligent society that valued life and humanity more than greed and avarice.

Answer 10

God will allow things to happen, from time to time, that does not make any sense to us. We do not know the mind of God, so no one can honestly answer this question.

If you have a question, get the answer from the Source, not from a group of people that may not know. The best thing for you to do, is pray, to Him, yourself. Ask Him your question, and ask Him to show you the answer.