Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen?
Reasons Why Pain and Suffering Exist in the World
Jan 13, 2009
Pain and suffering affect everyone on earth. The reality of pain and suffering remains the most persistent argument against the existence, or at least fairness, of a Supreme Being. Yet before one seeks to evaluate God's role (or non-role) in the world, it's important to distinguish the two basic types of suffering in the world.
Confronting the Question of God and Evil
On the one hand, there is human-driven tragedy - acts of wrongdoing or negligence that result in pain and suffering. Examples of this range from drunk driving to genocide. Even some skeptics and critics of religion concede the logic of a Supreme Being allowing people to endure the consequences of their own actions. Indeed, some even acknowledge that consequences, by their nature, are not always limited to just those committing the acts of sin or negligence. But what about the other kind of tragedy?
It's one thing to "excuse" God for the tragedy caused by drunk drivers. In a monotheistic context, after all, the drunk driver will give an account to God for his sin. But what about tragedy caused by what insurance companies refer to often as "acts of God." What about tornadoes? What about hurricanes? What about earthquakes?
Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen?
What reason can an all-loving, all-powerful God provide for allowing Hurricane Katrina to wipe out New Orleans or a tsumani to ravage Asia and kill over 225,000 people? If God is all-powerful, could such a God not stop these events? And if God were all-loving, would such a God not want to stop them?
When it comes to tragedy (no matter the scale), it is easy to let emotions drive the issue. Carried along by a current of grief, anger, or confusion, it becomes both simple and compelling to lay the blame at God's feet for natural disasters and other accidents not caused by human beings.
The answer to why God allows anything can only be fully answered by God or by one who knows the mind of God. Outside of such knowledge, one can only speculate or try to glean hints and insights through prayer and from faith-based literature (such as, in the Christian context, the Bible).
The Bible on Pain and Suffering
The Apostle Paul addressed the issue of pain in his letter to the church at Rome. Not coincidentally, the church in Rome was facing persecution -- something that would only get worse in the years following Paul's famous epistle to Rome.
Paul attributed evil to sinners being "carnally minded" and "living in the flesh" (Romans 8:5-8) and natural disasters as being part of the consequences of the Fall of Man. Driving this point home, Paul wrote: "For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now" (Romans 8:22).
With this explanation, Paul points back to the curse that God put on the earth after the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eve. According to the Bible, the earth is cursed. Humanity must work hard (literally by the "sweat of our brow") -- just to survive. And the cursed earth "groans and labors" as a woman in childbirth.
Hope in the Midst of Suffering
Paul understood, however, that people need hope. Many in the church at Rome were experiencing dire hardship, which included "famine" and "nakedness" and "peril" (Romans 8:35). Yet Paul declares that no amount of suffering or hardship can separate a human being from the love of Christ (Romans 8:39) and that the "sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).
According to the Bible, a person is on this earth for only a brief time. During that brief time, human beings live in a fallen, cursed earth -- surrounded by pain, suffering, and death. That, however, is not the final destination, nor is it the whole story.
There will be some reading this article who do not fully believe in the Bible or have doubts about God. That is understandable. However, if one is to evaluate the biblical God for the presence of pain and suffering in the world, it's important to take the entire biblical explanation into account.
If one accepts the biblical explanation for pain and suffering, one can then take comfort in the fact that God is sovereign, that pain and suffering are temporal, and that (in the end) perfect justice will be established.
