Problem of Evil. Christians, can you give me your best explanation for why bad stuff happens to good people?

Question

Kevin: You say adversity builds character, but God can build your character without adversity since he's omnipotent.

Still Loving nascar: Couldn't God have created you with a nature such that you know good without having to know evil? He's omnipotent.

If God is omnipotent, he can give you free will AND disallow bad stuff.

Answer 1

You.

Answer 2

I look back on some of my past suffering...abandoned/orphaned kid, abused, lost a baby, agonies of the third degree and before I could learn to forgive I could only see the past pain. Through the Lord I have been able to see the great times, I was not acknowledging, intermingled in those bad times. The Lord has given me a different temperament when the bad happens now...I also, because of my desire for Jesus, make so many better, healthy choices so I do not add to my suffering as I did before. Because of Gods love and healing I see how the chain of events in life brought me to the place I am now.... Even hurricane Katrina...a horrible disaster, brought my sister to me and we got to know each other...even the worst experiences can bring a deepness to your life and give you a strength and character you could not have had before. I have known people to lose their mind over very slight harm... someone cutting in line for instance...and have known people to keep it together, have hope, have peace while going through chemo. A lot of suffering is how you experience the situation. Good stuff happens too. Without the rain would you appreciate the sun? without the cold would you appreciated the warmth? God bless.

Answer 3

I'm not really a Christian but we've just finished a whole thing about good and evil in RE!

Some Christians believe that suffering serves some purpose - Plagues of Egypt in the Bible helped God's people to freedom.
The Book of Job proves that God sometimes tests His people.
Suffering can make people stronger.
Good can come out of suffering, e.g. if a friend dies of cancer, a person might give money to a cancer charity.
Some Christians say that humanity was deliberately created to be 'imperfect', and that life is a quest for perfection. (Irenean Theodicy).
Some say that God is not to blame for evil, and that evil only occurs as a result of humans misusing the gift of free will. (Augustinian Theodicy).
Evil means that we have the option to make choices.

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

Bad things can happen to good people when people misuse their agency. Those who make poor choices hurt themselves and sometimes other people, even good people. Crime and divorce, for instance, are often the result of poor choices.

But poor choices don’t cause all suffering. Difficult circumstances like disease, accidents, starvation, or natural disasters are a part of mortal life. Difficulty rains “on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45).

The most important thing is to trust God and obey His will. Suffering in this life will eventually come to an end, and God’s perfect mercy, justice, and judgment will resolve all the “why’s” we wonder about now. The Lord loves us and sees the eternal view, so we can trust Him to guide our lives. He promises that our trials and difficulties can work for our good if we’re trying to live the right way (see D&C 90:24; D&C 122:7). He promises us peace that transcends the evil of the world (John 16:33). Psalms 34:19 says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.”

Answer 5

God causes the rain to fall on the just and unjust. If the just were exempt from evil and its effects, they would attribute their charmed lives, salvation, and everything else to themselves and their pride would puff up. We are to be humble because we live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

Bad things happen to sharpen us as well. Not all difficult things have just a negative affect. Adversity builds character.

Answer 6

You perhaps feel the same as Asaph. Notice what he said in, Psalm 73:3-5,"For I became envious of the boasters,
[When] I would see the very peace of wicked people.  For they have no deathly pangs; And their paunch is fat.
They are not even in the trouble of mortal man, And they are not plagued the same as other men".
For one thing we know it's not God's fault why good people suffer. Job 34:10,"Therefore, YOU men of heart, listen to me.
Far be it from the [true] God to act wickedly, And the Almighty to act unjustly!"
The Bible clearly states: “The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19) So Satan the Devil is the cause of suffering.
Everyone suffers because of our own sinful inclinations. Romans 5:12 says,"That is why, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned"

Answer 7

If we had an easy button, there would be no reason for God to have created us. He gave us free choice so that we could love Him freely. Why ask christians why there is evil? Why not ask the greedy, lustful, disgusting, slutty dressed, foul mouthed, murdurous, thefting, adulturous, decieved and decieving world out there?
Why ask me why bad stuff happens to good people? Do we control everything? No, God does. Ask Him. It's not like we have anymore of a connection to God than you can get. I care for the world, but I'll not let it get me down by absorbing all the crap that mankind loves to put people through.

Answer 8

Keep this in mind. GOD is not the only force here amongst man. Also remember that if it were not for the difficult things how would one be albe to experience and measure the joy of good times. GOD gives us the grace to get through the hard times.

Answer 9

People are not good. We are all full of sin. The world is full of sin. Even those who have given their hearts to Christ....still are effected by sin in this world. That will never go away until Christ comes for his Church(will people who believe in him be taken from the earth, or we die, which ever is first). And then the world will be even more full of sin, because the saints will not be on the earth, within whom the Holy Spirit lives.

So the answer to the question is......The devil is roaming the earth seeking whom he may devourer.

Answer 10

When something horrible happens , some ppl tend to look up and blame god , instead of their own actions and shortcomings.As long as we are on earth bad things are gonna happen to EVERYONE!!!.Some of them happens , just to strech ourselves and grow emotionally...dont tell me that you get wise with only good stuff happening?lets say u had a car accident and u felt it is highly unfair to you ...but while you are in the hospital u meet this awesome nurse , which is now your wife...stuff happens for a reason when u look at them from other perspective than being the victim.Even if you suddenly die , then be happy u miss some suffering on earth.

Answer 11

I am Judas, I am Nero, I am Cain, I am Hitler, I am Fleischmann, I am Anneliese, I am Lucifer in the flesh. The demons once possessed by Lucifer himself. The question is how can God try to protect so many when dealing with the purest evil.