Why Do Bad Things Happen (to Me)?

Terrible things happen constantly: war, crime, natural disasters, disease, starvation, accidents. Life is often full of pain, suffering, and grief. Why does God permit these things to happen? Is He powerless to stop it? Does He not care enough to do anything about it? Or does He not exist at all? If we expect easy, sound-bite answers to these questions, we are fooling ourselves. But there are answers. We begin with God’s self-restraint.

Free Will. I have a lot of fillings in my teeth, the result of too many cavities in my youth. Is God to blame for those, or is the real culprit my younger self’s poor dental hygiene? I was once the victim of a theft. Is God responsible, or does the fault lie with the thief?

If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that human beings are the primary cause of suffering in this life. Most of the evils you can name—violence, gossip, adultery, slander, drug abuse, theft, and even cavities—are caused by a human being hurting himself or others through words, deeds, or simple neglect. The human race’s pain is largely self-inflicted. But doesn’t God permit all of this? Of course He does. He has to.

Christianity teaches that God loves us more than we can possibly comprehend. However, His love is not a one-way street. He wants us to love Him back. He wants to have a loving relationship with us. The “greatest commandment” is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37-38) [1] However, love cannot be commanded, bought, sold, or required. It must be freely given.

What is this “love” that God wants from us? The Greek word is agapaô, which refers to “the kind of love shown even when the one loved has no merit for that love. It is love that must be chosen and willed”; [2] “giving love that seeks the highest good for the other”; [3] love that is deliberate and self-sacrificing. [4] It is “the antithesis of selfishness.” [5] In other words, agapaô is neither a feeling nor an emotion, but a deliberate choice. When you read the English word “love” in the New Testament, most of the time the original Greek is agapaô or a form of it. [6]

If this is what God wants from us, then He must give us a real choice. Machines cannot love in this way, nor can animals. We can. But introducing choice into the world means that some of us will choose unwisely. We can follow Him and try to obey Him, or we can reject Him and do as we please. When we reject Him, we embrace, to a greater or lesser degree, the evils that He despises—what Paul refers to as the deeds of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21). [7] As a result of our poor choices, people get physically and emotionally hurt. As sad as that situation is, He must live with it. . . .

Beyond Blind Faith is available on Amazon.com.

[1] See also Mark 12:28-30.

[2]The Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary, at Romans 12:14-21).

[3]Ibid. (at Ephesians 5:28)

[4]Ibid. (at 1 Peter 2:17)

[5]New Unger’s Bible Dictionary.

[6] The following New Testament verses use the Greek term, agapaô, or a form of it, such as agape: Matthew 5:43-44, 5:46, 6:24, 19:19, 22:37, 22:39, 24:12; Mark 10:21, 12:30-31, 12:33; Luke 6:27, 6:32, 6:35, 7:5, 7:42, 7:47, 10:27, 11:42-43, 16:13; John 3:35, 5:42, 8:42, 10:17, 13:34-35, 14:15, 14:21, 14:23-24, 14:31, 15:9-10, 15:12-13, 15:17, 17:26, 21:15-16; Romans 5:5, 5:8, 8:28, 8:35, 8:39, 12:9, 13:8-10, 14:15, 15:30; 1 Corinthians 2:9, 4:21, 8:1, 8:3, 13:1-4, 13:8, 13:13, 14:1, 16:14, 16:24; 2 Corinthians 2:4, 2:8, 5:14, 6:6, 8:7-8, 8:24, 9:7, 11:11, 12:15, 13:11, 13:14; Galatians 5:6, 5:13-14, 5:22; Ephesians 1:4, 1:15, 2:4, 3:17, 3:19, 4:2, 4:15-16, 5:2, 5:25, 5:28, 5:33, 6:23, 6:35; Philippians 1:9, 1:16, 2:1-2; Colossians 1:4, 1:8, 2:2, 3:14, 3:19; 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 3:6, 3:12, 4:9, 5:8, 5:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:3, 2:10, 3:5; 1 Timothy 1:5, 1:14, 2:15, 4:12, 6:11; 2 Timothy 1:7, 1:13, 2:22, 3:10; Titus 2:2; Philemon 1:5, 1:7; Hebrews 6:10, 10:24, 12:6; James 1:12, 2:5, 2:8; 1 Peter 1:8, 1:22, 2:17, 3:10, 4:8, 5:14; 2 Peter 1:7; 1 John 2:5, 2:10, 2:15, 3:1, 3:10-11, 3:14, 3:16-18, 3:23, 4:7-12, 4:16-21, 5:1-3; 2 John 1:1, 1:3, 1:5-6; 3 John 1:6; Jude 1:2, 1:12, 1:21; Revelation 1:5, 2:4, 2:19, 12:11.

In contrast, the following New Testament verses use the term phileô (referring to brotherly love), or a form of it: Matthew 6:5, 10:37, 23:6; Luke 20:46; John 5:20, 11:3, 12:25, 15:19, 16:27, 21:15-17; Romans 12:10; 1 Corinthians 16:22; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; 1 Timothy 3:3, 6:10; Titus 2:4, 3:4, 3:15; Hebrews 13:1, 13:5; 1 Peter 1:22; 3 John 1:9; Revelation 3:19, 22:15. (There is some duplication in these lists, because a few verses contain both agapaô and phileô: John 21:15-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; 1 Peter 1:22.)

[7] Following Christ cultivates the fruit of the Spirit, per Galatians 5:22-23.