Have you ever been charged with a question like this?
It’s a toughy, ain’t it?
With all the evil garbage you we about on the news every single night, it’s a legit question to wonder and ask.
Quite frankly, when I hear a question like it, I even sometimes think to myself;
“Yeah, I’m with ya. WTF… Why is there so much evil and suffering? … If, indeed, you’ve got hold of the reins up there, DO SOMETHING about it!”
Why wouldn’t an all powerful, all loving God just swoop in and stop the evil before it starts?
Why and how could he allow a twisted, worthless, pile of crap, demented human walk into a school full of beautiful and innocent little children and just start shooting away?
…
I absolutely boil everytime I hear another report of a school shooting.
Probably because I have 4 school age kids of my own.
And the fact that it’s reality… that MY kids are just as much at risk of that terror as anyone’s… I hate it.
Little kids, little innocent kids, MY kids just sitting there, doing as they’re told, only to get mowed down by some evil person that, quite simply, could have done the entire world a favor by just ending it for themselves, alone, in their basement instead of having to take a whole bunch of innocent kids with them.
It just makes no sense and never will.
Which gets us back to the main question…
Why, God?
Do you not have the ability to step in? If you’re all powerful, then, DO IT. Stop that crap before it ever happens.
Which puts us in a similar spot to a man in the Bible named Job, who essentially had the exact same question for God.
He, more or less, accused God of being asleep at the wheel and questioned whether he even knew what he was doing or even cared.
Ever read that book? Comparatively, it’s a pretty good one. The book of Job is sort of an invite to ask questions like this, and even to be mad about unjust suffering.
But, also, the book serves as an invite to trust his ways rather than try to figure out reasons why.
God responds to Job’s questions/accusations the same way I imagine he would/does/is to ours…
How?
With this:
“Have you ever in your days commanded the morning light?”
“Where does light live, or where does darkness reside?”
“Can you lead out a constellation in its season?”
… (Gulp)
Well that sucks, doesn’t it? God just Mic dropped on Job.
It’s one of those indirect responses that cannot be countered.
What is there to say besides, “Yeah. You’re right. I guess you did literally set it all up. Including me… And no, I’ve never commanded light and wouldn’t know where to start.”
It shuts me up, for sure.
Maybe that was his goal.
However, it doesn’t really help explain anything.
It doesn’t help me to understand, or to be in any way ok or content with bad stuff happening to good people.
So, what now?
I just need to force myself to be ok with terrible things happening even though I feel like the creator of all of it has the power to stop it but just chooses not to?
…
Welp, there is a FANTASTIC book called “Letters From a Skeptic”, which is a collection of letters between a father and son.
The son, a believer, theologian, and apologetic invites his unbelieving Father to dialogue with him about why each of them believes (or doesn’t believe) the things they do.
It really is an awesome book. You should get it.
Anyways, since I myself am neither a theologian or a skilled apologetic, I’ll let the son from the book take it away…
His Dad presented this exact question;
“If God Created This World, And Cares About It, Why So Much Suffering?”
His son had this to say:
- “First off, these are fair questions. And know that God is not threatened by our anger or doubts.”
- “If God is going to give free will to his creatures, he has to allow for the possibility of them misusing that freedom, even if this means hurting others.”
- “What is freedom to love or not love unless it is freedom to enrich or harm as well? God structured things this way because the alternative would be to have a race of robots who cannot genuinely love – but that’s hardly worth creating, is it?
- “So why doesn’t God intervene every time someone is going to misuse his freedom and hurt another person? The answer, I believe, is found in the nature of freedom itself. A freedom which was prevented from being exercised whenever it was going to be misused simply wouldn’t be freedom.”
- “If I give my daughter $5 to spend as she pleased but then I stepped in everytime she was going to spend this money unwisely (according to my judgement), is it really her money at all? Wouldn’t that make it my money which I am indirectly spending through her, as I see fit?”
I’m not sure how you read or take in these responses…
They certainly don’t take away or even ease any pain you or anyone else may be experiencing or have experienced, BUT, I’ve never heard any sort of response that made more sense.
In order for us to experience the joys of love there has to be freedom.
And the opposite of freedom is, as he mentions, robotics. Which, I imagine would mean having no feeling or emotion at all.
No pain but also no joy.
No sorrow or sadness but also no happiness or bliss.
Just… nothing.
And if there’s no emotion and no feeling, at all, what is the point? I don’t want to experience pain any more than anyone else but I do like the feeling of happiness.
And I’m pretty sure God enjoys seeing his creatures experience happiness too.
But the only way for happiness to give that good feeling is to feel very far removed from something it is not. Which is sadness and pain.
So, it’s either robot or no happiness, ever.
I’m not sure what other way he could have set it up. And I dislike the feeling of pain as much as anyone else.
But I sure do like the feeling of happiness also built into this system we’re in.
…
Welp, I don’t know if this helps anyone put any sort of a bow or box around the question of why God lets bad things happen but hopefully this fella’s reply to his Dad at least helps you, as it did me, be able to digest the question a little bit easier than before.
If not, and this read was a huge waste of your time, well, I don’t know what to tell ya, bucko.
If you’ve got a more enlightened POV on the topic, I’m all ears.
C-ya
