Why does God let bad things happen to us even thought we believe in him?

Question

Y does God let bad things happen to us and the people we love,
Y does it happen, if we believe in him, wot more does he want?

Answer 1

Why should he coddle you, He gives you free will and intelligence, he expects you to use them for every situation, not to cry all the time saying "its not fair" without the trials that you will face, how do you expect to become a better person?
Gods not there to be your fluffy cushion. he expects YOU to take care of yourself.

Answer 2

We set our own fates and destines they are not set in stone and it is not fair to blame something or someone else for the misery we have brought upon our own civilization.

god or no god, whether you believe or not the one fact that still remains consistant between believers and non is FREE WILL.

Because of free will we set our own destinies. Only problem with truly mastering and controling your own destiny is that it always crosses paths over and over with other people's fates and destinies they are forging so often our own get strangled or stuffed back because of someone with a larger hold on thier destiny. One way of ensuring it is Money today or Celebrity status. If you have those two then you often can control your destiny more than have it controlled by the flow of other people that cross yours.

Hope that makes sense. All our lives inter mingle and so hence our fates do to. Predictions are not set in stone, the are all possible futures not definitive. With free will we can change as a whole. Whether we do or not before we destroy ourselves time will tell. According to the Mayan calender and many other cultures and famous prophesies, the world as we know it ends Dec 2012.

I say that is only probable if we stay on the course of action we are doing now. We need to stop warring and start feeding the starving people of not just the African nation, but ALL nations. If we used all the money that was put into killing each other instead into food to kids mouths we could wipe out hunger easily.

Yes I agree in having a standing army and defending your nation of course, but i do not agree in starting or waging war unless attacked and provoked. Afghanistan I supported, Iraq I did not but I WILL ALWAYS support our soldiers no matter what the government does because they are all just like you and I.

So i really say it is our own free will and doing that has made the world the way it is, not god or lack of one. IF there is one I am sure god would be very saddened at what we have become overall. IF there is not one or any, then we will never know more than likely. It is just too easy to blame religion for the worlds problems when the worlds problems are the results of governments and their policies.

Answer 3

Here are some theories.

1. Big-Plan Theodicy: All suffering of innocent beings is part of a big plan and had to happen. The whole plan, however, somehow, is completely good. A "perfect" plan that involves suffering, is where the uncertainty reels in here.

2. Punishment Theodicy: When we see innocent people suffer terribly, the reason for this is that they have actually sinned. Their suffering is a punishment for their sins. This solution can be well combined with the idea of Original Sin, that is, all human beings (including children) are sinners since they are descendants of Adam and Eve. Many believe this.

3. Suffering-Builds Character Theodicy: The basic idea is that suffering of innocents will help them to become stronger. All evil offers us the possibility to learn from it and grow into a better human being. This theodicy is sometimes called "Soul-making theodicy." Of course, this idea falls apart when one takes into consideration how environmental effects have turned people into serial killers, or coma victims. Or just killed them right out. Nothing much left to build once that happens.

4. Limits-of-Human-Knowledge Theodicy: A classic. The basic idea is that we simply are too dumb to understand why God lets innocents suffer. God has his reasons but we humans cannot understand. Yet we still judge others and try to impose our beliefs upon them, or condemn them to Hell.

5. Contrast Theodicy: This solution asserts that we need evil in the universe to know that there is good. if there were no evil and everything were good, we could not tell that it is good. Unfortunately, this doesn't account for evil's neccessity. For good to exist, why must it be acknowledged? Why can't it just be? We might get too bored? *cough*

6. Devil Theodicy: Innocent beings suffer because the devil likes to let innocents suffer. Even though God created the devil. And he has control over the devil. So God likes to let innocents suffer? Think about it.

7. Test Theodicy: The basic idea is that this earthly life is just a test. God has thrown us into this world full of evil and pointless suffering in order to find out what kind of beings we are. As if he can't figure out this information beforehand. Without the pointless suffering, this test is not complete. If we pass the test, we are going to heaven; if we fail, some more sinister place will wait for us, like God's eternal concentration camp called Hell.

Answer 4

Once Adam and Eve were ousted from the Garden of Eden they left us open to all things. One of those was free will, I God gave us free will then He can't be going around protecting people, etc. all the time. The ousting of Adam and Eve was equal to the opening of Pandora's Box. All the evils of the world were laid before us. This is a theological argument that has lasted for centuries, Some how or other this is all part of God's Great Plan. God never guaranteed us perfection in this world. What does God want? He wants us to be true to His commandments. If God was to interfer with our lives then our free will goes out the window. I don't know if I am making any sense, but this is a complex subject and one that transcends all religions or beliefs.

Answer 5

People always say that God won't put more on you than you can handle, and after the past few months i'm finally starting to believe that...unfortunately while youre in the thick of feeling like crap you don't know why God has abandoned you and why he's even letting this pain into your life if youre such a strong believer. Theres only one simple answer....He has to. God lets pain into your life to teach your heart. He lets you hurt because its important for you to hurt so you can grow...and whether you believe it or not right now, God is with you at every step, and you'll look back and realize that as much as your hurting right now, you needed to go through this.

Answer 6

Well - first I should tell you that I don't believe that God is a "him" - It's not a big Daddy in the sky who we ask for this or that. It also doesn't judge us or punish us. I USED to think of God that way - and most of my prayers consisted of screaming at the sky and asking "Why did you f*#% up my car?" or "What in the world are you thinking? You let my sister's husband cheat on her? What the hell is that about God?"

As soon as I realized and accepted that God is a Power (the Power of LOVE) - and that we live in a perfect Universe - I stopped wondering why God let bad things happen.

My faith is that everything is as it should be at all times. It's a HUGE faith - but simple. We don't always get to know why things happen - but we can choose to have faith that they were SUPPOSED to happen.

I don't think God WANTS anything from you. You can use God (Love) and let it work through you to make it through your tough times as well as you can.

From your question - it sounds as if you may be hurting because somebody you love had "a bad thing happen to them" - and that's very understandable.

My minister (who is really smart) says "We don't have to like the situation - but it's important to like ourselves IN the situation." Looking back - I didn't like myself much when I was shouting at the sky. ; >)

In regard to your loved one and the hurting - be the good, sweet soul that you are and do all that you can through LOVE.

Namaste!!

Answer 7

You know why he lets us go through bad things?!
First of all bad things aren't bad - its only the way you think of them. For example "OUCH the bee stung mee" - God wants you to have expirience and for you to know to stay away from bees. If you lose a family member, its for a reason, they're going to a better place and you'll see them later. If you or a close friend whatever breaks all limbs, maybe its because God wants him/her to make a speech about it to the rest of the world or to appreciate what you had before it's gone. THere's NEVER EVERR a full disadvantage of ANYTHING.
You get fired - room for a better job
You move - new people new faces, new expiriences
You break and arm - room for a stronger arm
You lose a race - room for more training
You dont make the team - time to try a different better team
You burn yourself - expirience and knowledge {dont touch}
Your lost your dog - she'll/he'll be going to a better place
Your digitial camera broke - room for a better camera
All in all, god has the world under control. You may not think so because of various reasons such as global warmings and war and what not but they're all well happening for a reason.
Maybe god wants us to be more aware of our pollution so he fired up global warmings. EVERYTHING happens for a reason. But hey, when you think about it.. there can't be that much bad. Your life is only what you make it.

Answer 8

To keep the only true faithfuls.

If just believing in God leads to a totally happy life, many opportunists would claim they believe in him. But God tests those people who believe in him to strip the mask of every double faced person!

Answer 9

Yes that happens to me alot. Its part of life!!!!! Its perfectly normal. Just as season's change from hot to cold, from bad to good. So is our life. We are constantly riding the positives and negatives on a roller coaster. Some people have it alot worse than others and some people have all the beautiful luck in the world. Thats just part life AND death.

Answer 10

THE GIFT OF CHOICE

why GOD let bad things happen to us?
why GOD let good things happen to us?

why GOD don`t try to protect me from all this?
why GOD do try to protect me from all this?

why GOD don`t try to save me?
why GOD do try to save me?
IT DEPEND AT WHAT YOU WANT TO LOOK AT.

a basketball in my hands is worth about $15.00
in the hands of Mark McGuire it`s worth $ 19 millions

a tennis racket is useless in my hands but Venus Williams is a champion winning.

a rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal but in MOSES`s hands will part the mighty sea

a sling shot in my hand is a kid toy but in David`s hands is a mighty weapon.

two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish sandwiches but in GOD`s hands will feed thousand.

IT DEPEND WHO`S HANDS IT`S IN.

regardless the religion, anybody has the choice as to be a pessimistic or an optimist with the way you see things. and depending on how, that`s how you see GOD.
and me! i just think that we are under construction while on earth . so, have fun while trying to make a life the best you can and just believe in good things to happen and they will.

Answer 11

Let me tell you how I see this.
God never promised me a rose garden.
He never made a promise to kiss all my boo boos.
I did not seek God to hide behind his back.
I sought God because in the end, I want him to allow me to enter into heaven. I choose him without strings attached. I choose him because of his goodness and not what was in it for me. But He Chose me first.
Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people. Is it fair? no. But life is not about checks and balances with regards to fairness. I take my bruises as part of the price one pays to live on earth. I'll take my place in heaven as my reward for placing Jesus first in my life. And no, I do not live a pristine Christian life. I screw up from time to time and more than likely I'll die on the down side of an event. But my last breath will be for God.