WHY
DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN?
A Theodicy Brief
John
M. Andrewartha, Ph.D., Counselor and Instructor in Religion
Wayland Baptist University—San Antonio, September 20, 2001
Why do we have to suffer and die before our proverbial three score and ten? Why do the good die young? Why does God allow bad things to happen? Does He not know? Does He not care? Does He not have the power to prevent them? Is God responsible for evil and tragedy? These are the eternal questions we all ask when death and tragedy strike. Are there any answers?
In one sense, no, there are no complete, totally satisfying answers that we can give. In another sense, however, there are partial answers that provide us with some pieces of the puzzle; enough, perhaps, to give us the broad outlines and furnish us with hope and courage to go on, believing that one day, when we see our Lord Jesus face to face, and we “know as also we are known,” we will understand it all.
God does know—He is All-knowing. God does have the power—He is Omnipotent and Sovereign. God does care—He is a loving Father. God is not responsible for the evil that exists.
Some tragedies occur because of man’s misuse of the freedom of choice that God gave us when he created us in his image—a freedom that was necessary if we were to be able to choose to do right, to love and obey God. Love must be free; it cannot be forced. He wants us to freely love him as he freely loves us. Without the freedom to do wrong, doing right would have no moral value. We would simply be robots programmed to act according to instructions. God did not want robots; He wanted children because he is a Father. He knew that all of us would choose wrong some of the time, and some of us would choose wrong all of the time. He made provision for our wrong choices before He created the world.
Other tragedies occur because of the relentless, impersonal, impartial operation of Natural Law by which God ordained this universe to operate. When we violate the laws of nature, the consequences are inevitable. Break the Law of Gravity, and we fall down. Without this regularity, there would be no reliability to our world. We could not count on spring to follow winter, or harvest to follow planting.
Some tragedies occur because this is not a perfect world. God created it perfect in the beginning, but sin and rebellion in the person of Satan entered, and the world fell under judgment. At the proper time He will bring this imperfect world to an end and replace it with a “new heaven and a new earth,” perfect as He wills them to be. God will banish Satan, sin, and suffering from this world, and the whole Creation will be redeemed; but until then, disease and natural disasters will bring pain, suffering, and even death.
Where is God in all this? Where is God when we are hurting? He is here, with us, sharing our grief and pain, giving us strength and comfort, helping us to profit from our experiences and learn lessons in adversity that we can never learn in prosperity, working all things together for good for those who love him (Rom. 8:28). He loved us enough to come down to earth, empty Himself of His heavenly form and attributes, and take upon Himself the form of a servant, clothing Himself with human flesh, and experiencing suffering, pain, rejection, and death on our behalf as our example and substitutionary sacrifice.
In the meantime, He takes us one by one out of this world and into Eternity with Him, wiping away all tears from our eyes, and giving to us the rewards of the deeds we have done in the flesh.
