Q: Why do bad things happen to good people?

If God is benevolent, why does He allow bad things to happen to good people? why are innocents seemingly cut down in their prime? What allows God to determine that something should live, while something else dies?
Oftentimes, people observe the suffering of people all across the world in multiple situations, and determine that if God were real, then he would not allow for hardship to affect us so profoundly.

This philosophical question has been the basis of many arguments between Christians and their adversaries throughout the years. The question itself attempts to question God's love for humankind, while also suggesting that His omnipotence is invalid.

The first point that should be taken into consideration is that we do not live in a perfect world. The Bible clearly states that the world was made perfect, but due to the events in Genesis, a curse was pronounced upon the earth and its inhabitants. When God was finished with his creation, he saw that everything was good. Before the fall of man, it could be inferred that the earth was actually a paradise, devoid of strife and hardship. Ever since the original sin however, God has been in damage control mode. Due to man's disobedience, God has had to personally intervene in the lives of many, in order to keep them alive.

Another point of note is that mankind disobeys God's commandments on a daily basis. This may seem harsh, but God gives us commandments that we easily overlook and disregard, myself included. I don't always do what I am supposed to do properly. I've told lies. I've been envious, and because of this, God has had to withhold His mercy from me in some situations, and let me fall hard. me and every other human being continue to disobey God whether we realize it or not. This is part of the curse, and makes it difficult for God to give us a perfect life. God has to uphold his nature of being righteous. He cannot be expected to reward the ungodly and the unrighteous, and when people start being chastised for their disobedience, they are quick to reject that it's God attempting to show them discipline for their own benefit. Much like our fathers and mothers punished us for our disobedience in our days of youth, God attempts to steer us away from hardship on a daily basis, by setting certain events in motion. It is prudent for each person to watch these cues, and spare themselves unnecessary hardship.

Its also noteworthy that most hardship anybody is put through is purposeful. Friedrich Nietzsche, despite his rejection of God, was on to something when stating that "that which does not kill us only makes us stronger." Many normal people today can recognize when their struggles turned out being beneficial for them in the end. Sometimes, when people disregard God's warning signs, they are made to endure these kinds of situations to prove the point to them more clearly. It's important to seek God in hardship, because He can give you a clear answer as to why you endured it, and possibly point out the warning signs that He gave you before being put in that situation. Going through tough experiences will give people a stronger and more firm foundation, if they do not blame God for their hardship and become bitter towards Him.

People often cite the Book of Job as being a situation in which God choose to make Job endure extreme levels of hardship, seemingly on a whim. People don't also recognize that Job's position is the same one that every person is in today. We are accused by our accuser, Satan. He asks ask God allow him to find ways to shake individuals, and question themselves. God is not the source of pain and suffering, but He will often utilize it to get important points across to those who will listen. Job was just and righteous, and trusted in God, but he was made to suffer insurmountable levels of hardship. Even Job eventually became bitter at God and questioned His motives, until God gave him an answer. God essentially tells Job that he cannot know why he, or others endure great struggles based on his own understanding alone. God has specific purpose he wishes to fulfill in each of our lives. After God allowed all of Job's fortune to be taken from him, He returned it to Job in double, and Job's faith became even more strong.

People often talk about innocents, like Job who seemingly was perfect. They speak of children in third world countries, who are made to suffer starvation, disease, oftentimes without adults because they have left them, and relegate their suffering to God simply not caring(these same people are quick to dismiss that abortions of innocent babies and  families being systematically destroyed cause the exact same things). They often don't realize that there is real evil in the world. Not every human being follows what is right. Oftentimes, those who reside in higher positions of power find themselves in these moral dilemmas. Some people are greedy, and seek only to increase their own worth, disregarding what repercussions it might have on everybody else. The majority of cultures throughout history tell the story of man struggling against society, and those who control it. Most positions of power breed corruption, which causes damage to countries, peoples, and individuals.

Its also easy to overlook that God has made the most loving kind of provision for anybody who will accept it. When God was manifested in the flesh as Yeshua, or Jesus, He laid down His own life so that we would be able to inherit all of His blessings. Those who believe on the Son have life, while those who don't do not have life. You may not be freed of hardship because God constantly puts us in situations that allow us to mature fully. But you can have the assured promise of God that you will be freed of the curse of pain and suffering, when you trust in Jesus as your personal savior.

Science in the Bible

There is a tendency to relegate the Bible to being nothing more than a collection of myths and folklore with religious undertones. Especially in the arena of mass media, the practice is to place the cookie cutters of the Bible being "Religion" while taking the Humanistic view is seen as "Science." To the uninformed observer, it is easy to believe that these assumptions are more or less the case.

However, many Bible verses written over 3000 years ago contain startlingly accurate insight into various scientific fields that did not exist until recent times. The truth of the matter is that the Bible houses various scientific statements that have been verified by our most recent advances in understanding.

Take for example, this verse.

Job 26:7 — He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, [and] hangeth the earth upon nothing.

Any present day satellite photograph of our Earth depicts the language of this verse very vividly. The implications become even more extreme when considering them from an astrophysics point of view, where scientists find that the nature of gravity is that it's action is not visible, as various astral bodies seem to be suspended in open space without any visible explanation, and yet they obey certain protocols that keep them in an intricate order, preventing them from "falling" and instead "hanging" within a certain balance.

This raises the interesting question of how the ancient Hebrew scholars could know something like this. The majority of ancient beliefs of the Earth range from being raised up by giant animals like tortoises, or even by the demigod Atlas. Only recently in our history have we been able to understand the spherical nature of the Earth, as well as come to recognize the gravitational forces that hold it in place. Did the Hebrews have their own satellites? Or perhaps they saw it as they flew into the atmosphere from a distant world? 

Perhaps the Biblical account is actually inspired by the infinite knowledge of God, who stated this now accepted scientific fact thousands of years before we could see for ourselves.  


Another verse that seems to suggest knowledge of particle physics is found in the New Testament: 


Hbr 11:3 — Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

What this verse basically says is that the things we visually perceive consist of elements that are too small to see. This is basically how particle physics is explained; as every object we observe on a daily basis is made of subatomic particles that essentially form the sum of its parts. The knowledge of particle physics would probably not yield much to the people living during the 1st century AD, as they had no means to properly manipulate, or observe them, and that practice was not perfected until the 19th century, and yet a level of knowledge strong enough to describe its present day level of understanding exists in the Bible.