why bad things happen to God’s people: q&a [updated]
Q: Can YOU explain in layman’s term: Why God permit bad things to happen to good people?
A: Thanks for the question. First, let’s answer the last part of this question: who are these so-called ‘good people?’ If I remembered correctly in my undergrad course, Introduction to the Bible, there’s none good but God! In scripture, Mark 10:17-18, “And when He was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked Him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.”
He [Jesus] was not denying His deity, but forcing the man to recognize His divine identity, that He had come from God and that He and God were one.
We touched on this in a previous question that was asked: and the answer was, He [God] is sovereign over His creation, and nothing happens without His permission. So, why do accidents, death and other bad things happen here on planet earth? The first reason is seen throughout the Book of Genesis – and that’s the fall of the human race, thus causing God to curse the earth and human life on it. Therefore, Death and suffering entered the world as a direct result of sin. Now we see much suffering and tragedy befalling the human race, such as [mass] shootings, muggings, robberies, bushfires, Coronavirus, volcanos, typhons, earthquakes, cyclones, hurricanes, and even death, itself.
Scripture is clear, in that, God in His sovereignty, lets these things happen and in a certain sense ordains that they come to pass as part of the present situation that is under judgment. Take the story told in the Bible in Luke 13:4 of the eighteen people who were killed when a temple collapsed. The disciples asked how this could be. Jesus’ response was almost severe. He said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Point being, none of us know the day nor the hour in which some tragic could befall us; He’s saying, just make sure you’ve made peace with God, concerning where you’re going after death.
Conclusion: As long as wickedness reigns, God will allow these various tragedies to take place in a fallen world. But we Christians have read the back of the Book [Bible]. One day wickedness will have run its course, and then it will be done away with; and those, whose names are written in the Lambs Book of Life, will receive a spanking brand new body, never to die again, and we will know sin no more, because God will make everything new.
Hope this helps. And thanks for the question.
Dr. Mike