Why do bad things happen to good people?

Answer 1

Excerpt from "Judaism for Everyone" by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

The question to pose is not, “Please, God, explain to us why bad things happen and how it fits into Your overall plan for creation,” but rather: “Master of the Universe, how could You allow this to happen? Was it not You who taught us in Your magnificent Torah that life is sacred and must be preserved at all costs? Where is that life now? Was it not You who promised that the good deserve goodness and not pain. Where is your promise now? By everything that is sacred to You, I demand that this cease.” Far from being an affront to divine authority, these words are part of the human mandate. Remaining passive in the face of human suffering is a sin against both man and the Creator.
The Garden of Eden, the perfect world that God created, had no suffering, thereby demonstrating that perfection is tied to a decided lack of suffering. Let us cease the throught that suffering is beneficent. To eternally challenge suffering is the only legitimate theological response.
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Answer 2

I think in some situations, bad things happen because people let them happen. Sometimes we might see a problem but choose not to do something about it, in the hopes that the problem will just go away or get better on it's own. For example, one might argue that things like natural disasters happen more often because we don't take care of the planet we live on. Or maybe we notice somebody we know is acting differently than usual, and instead of asking them about it we might just shrug it off thinking "they're just having a bad day" or "they're going through ________ right now" or whatever.

Answer 3

It depends on how one wishes to view things. We go thru trials in this life that are sifted through God's hands, and allowed so that we can grow ever closer to Him. As humans, we are not able to see the whole picture as only God can. Because of that, some things appear to be bad, but in the scheme of His plan, all things are for our betterment and His glory. Given that fact, how can anything really be bad?

An example? 23 years ago, as a teenager, my promiscuous life ended up with my being pregnant. I had to live at a sisters house, so neighbors wouldn't know, my Christian aunts were not told, actually, they were Catholic, but anyway, I digress. After the pain of this isolation, the birth, and then giving her up for adoption, one would never find the good in it. However, a wonderful couple raised her to be a beautiful woman. How do I know? I met her last year, for the first time, and she was here meeting her sisters last month.

Bad or good? It's all in the eye of the beholder.

God Bless.

Answer 4

Why do good things happen to bad people?

Answer 5

Eccl 9:11 ends with time and unforeseen occurrence befall them all. NWT In other words, being in the wrong place at the wrong time in the case of accidents.

Usually, if a (good) person leads their life by the bible, they are less likely to have bad things happen in their lives, but the verse above can still happen even to the most cautious person.

Answer 6

There is no such thing as a "good' person. So that's impossible; bad things DON'T happen to good people.
But sometimes God lets us go through trials to make us stronger. Just like working out, it doesn't always feel good, but it works out for the better.

Answer 7

Bad things happen to good people for the same reason good things happen to bad people. It is a part of nature. It rains on the just and the unjust alike. There are no favorites in nature of things.

Answer 8

Its life. Its not a matter of whether your a good person or not. Bad things happen to everyone.

Answer 9

It's like a test for the good people to show how good they are and how can they handle these bad things and get over them...

Answer 10

Bad things happening gives us hurdles to learn to jump, hills to learn to climb. It makes us stronger, better people. It also keeps us having a keen appreciation for the good things that happen. If all we had were good, we would take it for granted and not appreciate it. If we didn't have ugly, we couldn't appreciate beauty. If we didn't have cold winter, we couldn't appreciate warm spring. Etc, etc., etc.