Why does God allow bad things to happen to people and the world?
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God appointed the people as the governors over the care of the world, but nobody seeks His counsel as to how to care for that which He created Himself or how He would prefer that it be cared for. Otherwise, everything would be very good.
Perhaps it's the choices people make that cause bad things to happen. 
The flaw of free will is reality.
The flaw of free will is reality.
That’s the question that has kept many people away from Him, and has made every generation of theologians wrestle. It’s generally called “the problem of evil”.
The question begins with an assumption (or several) that “good” is objectively a human-defined concept and that we have the authority to judge God by our standards.
The reality is that God Himself is the definition of “good”. What He does is good.
Yes, the world is full of events that don’t appear “good” but rather the opposite, “bad”.
When we reframe our experiences in this world in terms of God’s definition, His timeline, and His perfect justice, the question becomes irrelevant.
I can only say , that as a person who has had some bad things happen to me , before I knew the Truth and after I knew it , that all the bad things that have happened to me have taught me things . A lot of the time , the bad things that happened were in fact my own fault . When they weren't my fault they were no less upsetting and ,they also taught me a lot , about myself and about other people . The most important thing about all those bad things is that , they have , each and every single one of them , made me want to b even closer to my God and to Jesus .
I have been close to death once or twice and I was not afraid to die . I didn't much want to but for only one reason , my husband . I did not want to leave him .
Think about what Jesus says ; Luke Ch 13 V 1-5 , Matthew Ch 10 V 28 and John Ch 5 V 14 .What is worse than death ? 2nd Peter Ch 2 V 9-17 and Jude Ch 1 V 10-13 .
Excerpt from The Best Belief thread:
God could not force people to return His love without abrogating their humanity. If God were to zap ungodly souls, it would be tantamount to forcing conversions at gunpoint, which would not be free and genuine. If God were to prevent people from behaving hatefully, then He would need to prevent them from thinking evilly, which would make human souls programmed automatons.
Thus, God designed reality so that experiencing His presence is less than compelling, so that even Jesus (God the Son) on the cross cried out “My God [the Father], why have you forsaken [taken God the Spirit from] me?” (Matt. 27:46, Psa. 51:11) This phenomenon is sometimes called “distanciation”, because we experience God as distant from us and “unknown” (Acts 17:23), even though He is close or immanent, “for in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Distanciation is not forsaken.
God’s normative means of conversion is persuasion rather than coercion (Matt. 12:39, 24:24, 1Cor. 1:22-23). This is seen very clearly in Jesus’ lament over the obstinacy of Jerusalem (Matt. 23:37). Two unusual theophanies included when God appeared to Moses (in a burning bush per Exo. 3:2-6), whom God wanted to establish the Jewish lineage for the Messiah (OT), and to Saul/Paul (as the resurrected Jesus in Acts 9:3-6), whom God chose to establish the NT church of Christ. Miracles are rare (not normative).
MFW only exists when there is the possibility of choosing between two qualitatively opposite moral options that we call good and evil. These options are opposites because of essentially different consequences for choosing them. Choosing good results in blessing, life and heaven; and choosing evil results in cursing, death and hell (Deut. 30:19). This is why hell as well as heaven exists. It is the just conse-quence for choosing evil rather than God. The Spirit of God is good: love, peace and joy (Gal. 5:22-23). Therefore, whoever rejects the Lord is spiritually separated from Him (Isa. 59:2) and thereby chooses the evil or satanic spirit of hatred, strife and misery and reaps the just consequence called “hell” in the afterlife (Gal. 6:7-9, Heb. 9:27-28). These options were presented by Moses to the Israelites (Deut. 30:19), and Jesus referred to this fundamental choice in terms of a fish or egg versus a snake or scorpion (Luke 11:11-13). Life… or Curse? (Gen. 3:24, Rev. 22:1-2)
God created theoretical evil or the possibility of rejecting Him as an option that actualizes MFW/free human personality. As such it is necessary and even good (Gen. 1:31). Of course, it was wrong for Satan (1John 3:8) and humanity (Rom. 5:12) to make evil actual by choosing to Sin or reject Faith in God’s Lordship. Sin: ignoring God/God’s Word. The result of choosing evil is suffering, which God allows in order to teach sinners their need for His salvation.
God loves a cheerful giver (2Cor. 9:7), which means He desires people to cooperate with Him happily because of love and gratitude for His grace rather than to cower before Him because of fear of hell. Love must be evoked; it cannot be coerced. And again, when souls sin or do NOT choose to love God freely, it is perfectly just (loving and logical) for them to reap the appropriate consequence (Gal. 6:7-9) or hell.
Why would anyone choose to believe otherwise? Only God knows why people choose atheism. It is a mystery stated by Isaiah, which is cited by Jesus (in Matt. 13:14-15): “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused.” Apparently, this callous attitude demands God to nullify faith/MFW and thereby abrogate the essence of humanness by performing miracles in order to prove He exists (Matt. 12:39, 24:24, John 20:29 & 1Cor. 1:22).
In other words, atheists presume to know better than God; they want to usurp divine authority to determine what is best or good, but they may one day (at the eschaton per Rev. 20:15) wish they had admitted the possibility that God has ordained this mortal life on earth for the purpose of people proving to Him who is worthy of (qualified for) eternal life in heaven (cf. Rom. 2:5-8 & 2Cor. 13:5; heart/mind: hard or open?).
Are you asking us because you have no idea, or you just want our opinions?
If this is for learning purposes, it's one of the oldest questions put to Christians by atheists, and there's an endless list of answers and books discussing how to address this issue. If you're looking for a definitive answer, I don't think there is one, but there are many ways to answer it, depending on who's asking..
If this is for learning purposes, it's one of the oldest questions put to Christians by atheists, and there's an endless list of answers and books discussing how to address this issue. If you're looking for a definitive answer, I don't think there is one, but there are many ways to answer it, depending on who's asking..
Uh, I just gave a definitive answer per GW, because that question bothered me when I was a teenager in 1968,
so ever since then I have researched it per Scripture as post #7 shared.
You were a teenager in 1968?? So what are you now, like 300 years old?? 
OK im going to bed grandpa.. The LORD be with you!
OK im going to bed grandpa.. The LORD be with you!
You were a teenager in 1968?? So what are you now, like 300 years old??
OK im going to bed grandpa.. The LORD be with you!
Okay, dream about post #7
(a just and loving Lord :^)
Men and governments can, at most, directly influence people from the point of conception to the point of death. The influence of God's kingdom extends forever. In other words: man's government stops at the death of its subjects but God's government goes on forever. They are not in the same league.
Here are a couple of short articles from the blog archive at christianpioneer.com that bear on this question;
Beneficial Adversity
There was an image circulated via email a few days ago with four pictures. The first showed the men on Iwo Jima raising the US flag in WWII. It was titled, “Hard times make strong men”. The next image was of a man working on his car in the 1950s. It was titled, “Strong men make good times”. The third image was of people partying in the 1980s. It was titled, “Good times make weak men”. The last picture was of abandoned houses in Detroit that looked like a demilitarized zone. It was titled, “Weak men make hard times”.
I once worked with a man (a non-custodial parent) who said one of the saddest things I have ever heard, he said, “The laziest person I have ever seen is my son. He never gets up from a video game except to go to the refrigerator.” It is not uncommon for the older generation to comment on the flaws they see in the younger generation. However, this does not automatically mean that these observations are invalid.
By creating a social environment for our children of unending entertainment, subsidized indolence, unrestrained consumerism, offense at every slight (real or imagined), and the cultivation of a critical spirit to contend with that of a movie, restaurant or theater critic, we may have produced a generation of perpetual adolescents with weak character. This may have been done with good intentions, but the result indicates that it might be legitimately called child abuse.
A generation or two ago a wayward child could have been sent to the military where exposure to an adverse environment might have helped him develop the strength of character he was missing. Unfortunately, the military environment has been modified as to not inflict such character improving difficulty. In addition, the military no longer desires to accept those in need of correction.
The bible tells us that the Lord “chastens” those he loves.
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, wrestling against sin. And ye have quite forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. Hebrews 12:4-6
There is a saying that the best education in the world comes from the school of hard knocks, the problem is that the tuition is so high. For Christians, we have the option to surrender ourselves to the Lord’s leading in humility and sincerity so that we might avoid the more harsh chastening the Lord might use to get our attention such as getting laid off, finding ourselves in the midst of divorce, or struggling with addiction when we should have already been seeking his leading.
Satan is almost finished using Christians to advance the plan of global collectivism he has been advancing for centuries. As a result, Christians should expect to face increasing hostility and persecution. In addition to finally getting Christians to curtail their love affair with the world, we might find that increasing hostility improves our character by seeking after and clinging to Jesus. This might result in a more clear testimony as Peter tells those about to undergo persecution;
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 1 Peter 3:15
Why the Flood?
One of the first bible stories children learn is about the Ark with the animals. One can understand the animal emphasis for children as the extermination of all human life on the planet except for eight people seems particularly grim. We can learn a little more about God if we take a closer look at the circumstance that resulted in such a significant act.
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. - Genesis 6:5
After Adam and Eve were tempted into sin and became disconnected from God, God cursed the earth. This meant that getting food would be difficult. One might take it as proven by history that the natural state of man disconnected from God is selfishness sometimes so profound that it can range from self-harm to the death of millions. One might see in the difficulty God gave to man in getting food not so much a punishment, but an obstacle so that people would be forced to help each other. One might think of it as a curb to our natural selfishness.
Apparently God’s first attempt to limit our natural selfishness proved insufficient. If one considers the changes after the flood, one might gauge the degree of difficulty increase. A shorter lifespan, susceptibility to disease, winter, drought, and other vicissitudes of weather. One might consider that the permission to eat meat was a concession to how much more difficult it would be to find food, particularly in winter. As a result, with survival on the line, people would be occasionally motivated to subordinate enough of our natural selfishness to help each other and even occasionally to have an interest in God.
God is often portrayed in familial terms as a father. It can help to understand that the biological and environmental pain we feel is a necessary curb on our natural selfishness. Our ancestors without this curb failed completely to resist our tendency towards self-destruction. The Roman book Satryicon is a story of the lives of people with too much time and money. It is a picture not only of decedent Rome but of all periods in history where people who have prosperity devolve into a state like those of people before the flood.
The idea of evolution is perhaps most important to Satan to promote as it cripples belief in God. However, that collectivized mankind can produce a utopia is perhaps second in importance to him. The appeal of Marxism (everyone can have everything all the time) resonates so strongly with our selfish nature that we are willing to accept almost anything. God created families while Satan created collectives. Satan has used collectives since the Industrial revolution to mitigate many of the difficulties God introduced after the flood. As a result, today many are returning to the state of humanity before the flood where every imagination of their heart is only evil continuously.
The book of Revelation describes a time on earth called the tribulation. During this time at least half of the people on earth will be killed. While not as lethal as the flood on a percentage basis, it will still be epic. An important lesson to learn from the flood is;
Isa 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Beneficial Adversity
There was an image circulated via email a few days ago with four pictures. The first showed the men on Iwo Jima raising the US flag in WWII. It was titled, “Hard times make strong men”. The next image was of a man working on his car in the 1950s. It was titled, “Strong men make good times”. The third image was of people partying in the 1980s. It was titled, “Good times make weak men”. The last picture was of abandoned houses in Detroit that looked like a demilitarized zone. It was titled, “Weak men make hard times”.
I once worked with a man (a non-custodial parent) who said one of the saddest things I have ever heard, he said, “The laziest person I have ever seen is my son. He never gets up from a video game except to go to the refrigerator.” It is not uncommon for the older generation to comment on the flaws they see in the younger generation. However, this does not automatically mean that these observations are invalid.
By creating a social environment for our children of unending entertainment, subsidized indolence, unrestrained consumerism, offense at every slight (real or imagined), and the cultivation of a critical spirit to contend with that of a movie, restaurant or theater critic, we may have produced a generation of perpetual adolescents with weak character. This may have been done with good intentions, but the result indicates that it might be legitimately called child abuse.
A generation or two ago a wayward child could have been sent to the military where exposure to an adverse environment might have helped him develop the strength of character he was missing. Unfortunately, the military environment has been modified as to not inflict such character improving difficulty. In addition, the military no longer desires to accept those in need of correction.
The bible tells us that the Lord “chastens” those he loves.
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, wrestling against sin. And ye have quite forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. Hebrews 12:4-6
There is a saying that the best education in the world comes from the school of hard knocks, the problem is that the tuition is so high. For Christians, we have the option to surrender ourselves to the Lord’s leading in humility and sincerity so that we might avoid the more harsh chastening the Lord might use to get our attention such as getting laid off, finding ourselves in the midst of divorce, or struggling with addiction when we should have already been seeking his leading.
Satan is almost finished using Christians to advance the plan of global collectivism he has been advancing for centuries. As a result, Christians should expect to face increasing hostility and persecution. In addition to finally getting Christians to curtail their love affair with the world, we might find that increasing hostility improves our character by seeking after and clinging to Jesus. This might result in a more clear testimony as Peter tells those about to undergo persecution;
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 1 Peter 3:15
Why the Flood?
One of the first bible stories children learn is about the Ark with the animals. One can understand the animal emphasis for children as the extermination of all human life on the planet except for eight people seems particularly grim. We can learn a little more about God if we take a closer look at the circumstance that resulted in such a significant act.
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. - Genesis 6:5
After Adam and Eve were tempted into sin and became disconnected from God, God cursed the earth. This meant that getting food would be difficult. One might take it as proven by history that the natural state of man disconnected from God is selfishness sometimes so profound that it can range from self-harm to the death of millions. One might see in the difficulty God gave to man in getting food not so much a punishment, but an obstacle so that people would be forced to help each other. One might think of it as a curb to our natural selfishness.
Apparently God’s first attempt to limit our natural selfishness proved insufficient. If one considers the changes after the flood, one might gauge the degree of difficulty increase. A shorter lifespan, susceptibility to disease, winter, drought, and other vicissitudes of weather. One might consider that the permission to eat meat was a concession to how much more difficult it would be to find food, particularly in winter. As a result, with survival on the line, people would be occasionally motivated to subordinate enough of our natural selfishness to help each other and even occasionally to have an interest in God.
God is often portrayed in familial terms as a father. It can help to understand that the biological and environmental pain we feel is a necessary curb on our natural selfishness. Our ancestors without this curb failed completely to resist our tendency towards self-destruction. The Roman book Satryicon is a story of the lives of people with too much time and money. It is a picture not only of decedent Rome but of all periods in history where people who have prosperity devolve into a state like those of people before the flood.
The idea of evolution is perhaps most important to Satan to promote as it cripples belief in God. However, that collectivized mankind can produce a utopia is perhaps second in importance to him. The appeal of Marxism (everyone can have everything all the time) resonates so strongly with our selfish nature that we are willing to accept almost anything. God created families while Satan created collectives. Satan has used collectives since the Industrial revolution to mitigate many of the difficulties God introduced after the flood. As a result, today many are returning to the state of humanity before the flood where every imagination of their heart is only evil continuously.
The book of Revelation describes a time on earth called the tribulation. During this time at least half of the people on earth will be killed. While not as lethal as the flood on a percentage basis, it will still be epic. An important lesson to learn from the flood is;
Isa 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Why do we always blame God for Bad things that happen to us and the world
God gave humans control over this earth ====the only way to get God involved in our affairs here now is to invite God through Prayer to get involved in our lives and the affairs of this world -----God is not going to just appear suddenly and take over what he gave over to Mankind ---
Mankind has taken God out of this world completely all on their own ---no praying to God in the Governments ---Schools ---homes and our lives --- unbelievers and this world don't think they need God in their lives or this world as their domain ----
God gave us free will to choose most bad things that happen to us is do our own bad decisions that we make ourselves -----
Also Satan is the god of this world and Satan's Job is to keep us away from God and His word and he has permission by God to do that so we can have that free choice ----
Both God and Satan can put thoughts into our mind -----so instead of listening to Good thoughts we choose to entertain out bad thoughts and make bad decisions ---
We have a Sin Nature to sin ---and Satan is allow to Temp us to do bad things -----but we have that choice to decline to do what we are being Temped to do ----
All sin has Consequences --- with bad results --- Folks
God will Test us -----and the tests we endure is for our Good not to harm us -----God's Testing helps us grow our Character in a positive way to be stronger in situations that comes against us -----
We should understand that most bad things that happen to us personally and in the world is not because of God or Satan it is because we are making Bad decisions all on our own -----
Driving a car Drunk --is a bad choice
Going to bed with another person when your married is a bad choice
neither God nor Satan made you do these things ----it was your bad choosing -----
Wars bring Money to arms and weapon dealers -----and bring power and puffed up Egos to those who win them -----Power ---Money --Greed cause wars ----
No one is praying for God to intervene in any area of this world or their unbelieving Lives -----
But here is the thing for unbelievers -----Sin blocks their prayers so God can't hear their cries ---
Isaiah 59
59 Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,nor his ear too dull to hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
because since sin entered the world, the world is a fallen place & will stay that way til the end. read the book of Ecclesiastes & appropriate Proverbs verses. if people handle bad events properly, they'll get thru them easier. think about this: having a Jesus like attitude when a problem arrives is a wonderful challenge & to mention, in the future, when you look back at those days, your memory will be a joyful memory. Jesus has commanded us to live joyful, responsibly & wise. & speaking of all this, i just found out our refrigerator isn't working properly!!!!!! possibly, $100's of food wasted!!!!!!!
Watch out, you should respect your elders. I was also a teenage back in 1968 and I still feel fairly young.You were a teenager in 1968?? So what are you now, like 300 years old??
OK im going to bed grandpa.. The LORD be with you!
As for why bad things happen to good people, please define "good" and "bad". God created this world as it was "good", or "functioned exactly as God wished". Understanding this question is one of the issues that cause a lot of trouble for both believers and nonbelievers. In my understanding, God created the world to teach us while we are in our physical life lessons that we can only learn while physical. That some of the lessons are difficult, or "bad" is not God's judgement but a human one based on a limited understanding of what is for our own good. I can remember being upset with how hard some teachers were in school, only to be grateful for the way they made me struggle when I grew more mature. How true might that be with regards to the lessons God seeks to teach us.
Hello Rephidim, first off, since I see that you're a new member here, welcome to CChat
As far as your question goes, what we often consider to be either "good" or "bad" for us is, indeed, a matter of perspective (as @Dino has already pointed out above).
We "think" that we know, but our loving, heavenly Abba actually knows, which is why Christians trust Him and surrender the reins of our present day & eternal lives to Him (yes?), believing that He alone knows what is ~truly~ best for us (even when it doesn't "feel" like it is in the moment sometimes).
Here are a few quotes that speak to this.
Romans 8
28 We know that God causes ~all~ things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Philippians 1
6 I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 12
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
And here are a few more thoughts from other Christians about this topic.
"I've learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages" ~Pastor Charles Spurgeon
"Instead of a river, God often gives us a brook, which may be running today and dried up tomorrow. Why? To teach us not to rest in our blessings, but in the Blesser Himself" ~Pastor Arthur W. Pink
"Our vision is so limited that we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering.... The love of God did not protect His own Son.... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything that it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process." ~Missionary Elisabeth Elliot
God bless you!!
~Deuteronomy
Isaiah 55
8 “My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
There is a principle that God follows because He is God. The principle is that He gave man free will. Evil is simply the result of man's wicked nature. Lord Jesus described as like a tree. The fruit determines what kind of tree.
God knows that trimming the fruit off a tree does not change the tree. If it's a lemon tree, biting into the fruit proves exactly what it is. If it's an apple tree, it will taste nothing like a lemon.
God's answer is the Cross. Through the death and resurrection of Christ, we can have a new nature that does not produce sin. We are still able to sin because we still have the flesh. The unbeliever sins without trying and still imagines that he is basically good. The believer was convicted of being a sinner, repented and accepted Christ as saviour. He no longer sins without his conscience convicting him. Someone who claims to be a Christian yet continues to sin without conviction is a phony.
God knows that trimming the fruit off a tree does not change the tree. If it's a lemon tree, biting into the fruit proves exactly what it is. If it's an apple tree, it will taste nothing like a lemon.
God's answer is the Cross. Through the death and resurrection of Christ, we can have a new nature that does not produce sin. We are still able to sin because we still have the flesh. The unbeliever sins without trying and still imagines that he is basically good. The believer was convicted of being a sinner, repented and accepted Christ as saviour. He no longer sins without his conscience convicting him. Someone who claims to be a Christian yet continues to sin without conviction is a phony.
To bring about change, to reconnect, then again what you would call bad might be for the good. Consider the story of Joseph in the old testament. Or the story of Jesus himself.
God has a purpose for all that is seen.