Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen to Good People?

Posted on Friday, October 27, 2006 in Other
This is a question that we have often struggled with in ministry at YWAM. When we are on outreach either in Australia or internationally we often have this question come up.

I remember sitting at a park with my kids not too long ago talking to a local man who had sat down on the bench next to us. His wife and daughter had died in a car crash and just before he left to continue his walk he asked me that question. He didn't actually expect an answer from me, and I wouldn't have had time to answer it even if I had a satisfactory answer, but it certainly is a question to make us think.

The problem that I have with the answer that I have is that it sounds pretty weak without an understanding of the nature and character of God.
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The short answer is that God has given everyone on Earth a free will to make their own choices, either good or bad. Because God does not want to be the "divine puppeteer", He does not interfere with our choices. He desires for us to choose to follow Him of our own free will, not because He forces us, or programs us to do so.

That also continues to an understanding that with the fall of Man in the Garden of Eden the Earth also "fell". Because of that choice the world is no longer how God originally made it because our actions have an impact of the world around us (Genesis 3:17 - 19). This could explain the natural disasters that we now experience.

Ben Gray over at Open Switch has a podcast that answers this question quite well. Ben lives in the Atlanta area where he is a Minister to Students. You can check out his podcast at Open Switch: Ask a Minister #13: Innocent Deaths. The podcast is only about 10-minutes long and well worth listening to.

Tags: Outreach, God

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Ben Gray on Friday, December 8, 2006
Thanks for the plug ;).
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