Why Bad Things Happen to Good People
By M.E. Brines
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 by M.E. Brines
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Contents
Why Bad Things Happen to Good People
Why an omnipotent and just God would permit war, suffering and oppression
This book quotes from the Bible extensively. If you doubt its relevance you should begin by reading The Bible - Dead Letter or Message from Your Creator.
All quotes are from the King James version. It is the translation most commonly accepted. Feel free to verify my interpretations against your preferred translation.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
This is the most important spiritual question. Most people who grew up in Christian homes but who have fallen away from the faith, point to this question not being answered satisfactorily as the primary reason for their loss of faith. Every atheist I’ve ever asked why they don’t believe in God, always brings up this issue – why would a loving God permit <insert your favorite atrocity here.>
The importance of this question is demonstrated by it being the subject of the entire book of Job, the oldest book in the Bible. That people today still don’t pay attention to the answer is also demonstrated by the fact that the same arguments made in the book by Job’s “friends” are also made today by people who would rather listen to their hurt feelings than the Word of God.
I recommend reading Job for yourself in whichever Bible translation you prefer. But in the interest of time, I’ll give you the Cliffs Note version here.
Job 1:1-12
(1) There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
(2) And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
(3) His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
(4) And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
(5) And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
(6) Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
(7) And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
(8) And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
(9) Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
(10) Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
(11) But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
(12) And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
Job was a good man, a wealthy man, who became the subject of a wager between God and Satan. Satan expects Job to blame God when bad things happen to him. God says, “You’re on!” and permits Satan to take Job’s wealth, his family, and finally his health, leaving him sick and destitute.
But Job refuses to blame God for his misfortune. So Satan ups the ante and brings out his heavy hitter – Job’s wife.
Job 2:9-10
(9) Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die.
(10) But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
Then, hearing of his sufferings, some of Job’s friends arrive to “comfort” him. They spend the next 35 chapters telling Job everything must be his fault – that God must be punishing him for some spiritual failing, some sin on Job’s part. This belief is still widespread among Christians today.
Most Christians today believe God protects his obedient and faithful followers from all harm. Some would go so far as to teach that obedience to God (or to the people running the church, anyway) leads to inevitable success and wealth. This is also known as the prosperity gospel. “Name it and claim it!”
It therefore logically follows that all those suffering from poverty and pain are either disobedient sinners or else are being tested, as if all poverty and pain result exclusively from the decisions of God. This is utter garbage. (Although I’d prefer to use a more flushable word.)
How do we know it’s wrong? First, we can see from Job that God is not testing Job. He already knew what Job would do.
And God was not punishing Job. The Bible clearly states (in God’s own words) “there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil.”
The harm came to Job not as a test, and not as a punishment, but in the form of a skirmish in the cosmic struggle between God and Satan. Job got caught in the crossfire of a supernatural war.
Now, an atheist would probably reply, that God must be one sick SOB to not only allow Satan to do what he did but to actually point out Job as a target and invite Satan to do his worst.
But in June of 1944 General Eisenhower sent tens of thousands of young men, mostly draftees against their will, to wade ashore against a heavily fortified beach in Normandy where six thousand of them died in a single day - yet nobody every describes Ike as a heartless monster. They don’t look at those young men as innocent victims, but as heroes in an epic crusade between Good and Evil. Yet when God throws Job and his family into the front line of an even greater war, he’s an unjust cosmic tyrant. Our viewpoint is skewed.
In Job chapters 38-41 God has his say, putting Job’s faithless friends in their place.
Job 38:1-7
(1) Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
(2) Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
(3) Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
(4) Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
(5) Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
(6) Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
(7) When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
God goes on in the same vein for four more chapters – mortals are in no position to be telling an omnipotent, omniscient God anything. We, and the world, exist for God’s purposes and he is not answerable to us. If he was an inhumane tyrant and exploited us for his own sadistic pleasure, that would be his right as Creator. But fortunately, God doesn’t operate like that.
The story of Job has a Happily Ever After. In the end Satan is proven wrong, and God gives Job a new family and even more wealth than he had before. The Book of Job was written to discuss how a righteous God allows suffering. He allows suffering not because he doesn’t exist, or because he is punishing sinners. He allows it for his own purposes. Who are we to argue with our omnipotent and omniscient Creator?
But from the way many Christians operate they’ve completely missed the conclusion and agree with Job’s friends. Thirty-five hundred years later many people still believe God doles out blessings and smitings daily, rewarding the just and punishing evildoers on a regular and consistent basis. But there’s just one small problem with this idea of Christian Karma.
For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
And the New Testament agrees:
Romans 3:9-23
(9) What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
(10) As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
(11) There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
(12) They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
(13) Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
(14) Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
(15) Their feet are swift to shed blood:
(16) Destruction and misery are in their ways:
(17) And the way of peace have they not known:
(18) There is no fear of God before their eyes.
(19) Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
(20) Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
(21) But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
(22) Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
(23) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
If God punishes sinners and rewards the righteous, then we are all doomed. And God does punish sin. But Judgment Day comes at the end of the world, not bi-weekly.
Hebrews 9:27-28
(27) And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
(28) So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.