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Why
Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen to Good People?
Why
does God allow bad things to happen to (relatively) good people? This is a subset of the classic problem of
evil. In general, why does a good
almighty God allow evil in His creation?
So below I will first give a brief overview of what C.S. Lewis called
“the problem of pain” before focusing on the key biblical case of a good man
who had many very bad things happen to him:
Job. Then we’ll examine the
problem of evil more generally, such as whether God can punish people through
their having health problems, before concluding.
So then, why does an all-knowing, all-powerful, and loving God freely permit evil to exist in His creation? Why does God give us free will when it can be so destructive? There are different ways to consider this problem. The book of Job is basically all about why God let Job suffer terribly during his trials despite he was a righteous man who was being tested for his faith. God's basic response when confronting him was that he didn't know enough to judge Him. We also can examine the issue of God's giving humanity free will. But why? Well, God is in the process of making beings like Himself (Matt. 5:48; Eph. 4:13) who willingly choose to be 100% righteous, but have 100% free will. God doesn't want to create a set of robots that automatically obey His law, His will, for they aren't like Him then, for they wouldn't have free will, and the ability to make fully conscious choices. Here God needs to test us, to see how loyal we'll be in advance of gaining eternal life. The greatness of the prize, being in God's Family and living forever happily in union with God, ultimately makes up for the suffering in this life. For what's (say) 70 years of pain relative to trillions of years of happiness in God's kingdom? Unfortunately, our emotions, which normally focus on what's right before us physically, rebel against this insight, but it's true nevertheless.
God has chosen to respect our free moral agency and to give us
the power to reject obeying Him even when we're called. ("Many
are called, but few are chosen.") God has such great power,
but He's chosen to limit it for His high purposes. Despite being a
major school of Christian theology, classical Calvinism's key error is
that men and women become wind-up toy soldiers who make
only predetermined choices about the ultimate outcome of their lives.
God chose freely to give man's will a freedom rather similar to His own,
although it is perverted by an evil human nature acquired since birth from the
continuing influence of Satan, his demons, and this world's civilization.
By gaining the Holy Spirit, conscientious, converted Christians slowly
have much of this negative influence removed or at least restricted. Much
like during the incarnation God chose to restrict His power (Matt. 24:36), God
has chosen to restrict His power in calling and converting people today.
But He still wants us to obey, but He wants us to freely choose to do so (Prov.
30:19-20): "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day,
that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose
life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying
his voice, and cleaving to him . . . " Hence, the other leading
school of Christian theology among Protestants, Arminianism, maintains there’s
a certain level of drama and uncertainty, even from God's viewpoint, concerning
how many will be ultimately responsive to His call.
In this context, let’s now consider Job’s trials and response to
them. After all, if we want to learn something about the problem of
evil, Job is the one book of the Bible dedicated to answering this
question. In Job 1:8; 2:3, God holds up Job as an admirably
righteous man, not as a terrible sinner deserving punishment. In
response, Satan accused Job of serving God only for material gain and good
health (Job 1:9-11; 2:4-5). God wished to prove
otherwise. Knowing Job’s character, God allowed a supremely awful
set of trials to strike him. For He knew Job wasn’t being tempted
beyond his strength (I Cor. 10:13), as hard as these trials were. By
God’s pointing out Job’s sterling example of righteousness to Satan, Job
admittedly had a bull’s eye painted on his back. God almost surely
knew what Satan’s reaction would be to His challenge. But
Job’s admirable response to the first round of trials that destroyed most of
his family and his material prosperity allowed God to virtually taunt Satan
about Job’s continued loyalty to Him (Job 2:3). Notice that God
could still say Job was righteous despite having such a set of truly awful
trials inflicted on him by Satan.
Now despite all this sore testing, Job did not curse
God. Satan had predicted this, but it never happened. Job
rejected his wife’s advice to do exactly this. Job initially
maintained a good attitude despite such severe pain (Job 1:22; 2:3, 10). Are
we doing as well as he did? Do we have a similar level of
self-control? Or are we complaining far more about much more trivial
trials than his were? I’ve known people even in the Church of God
who have cursed God or questioned God’s love and righteousness for trials far
less severe than those that Job endured. Do we react as Job’s wife
did to trials (Job 2:9)? What we get in this life really isn’t ours,
but is from God conditionally and temporarily, as Job confessed (Job
1:21). We are not our own. So we shouldn’t walk
around with some kind of entitlement mentality complaining about life’s
unfairness to us or others. In this same context, the Bible
commentator Matthew Henry says (p. 658, on Job 1), quoting Scripture in part:
“In all our comforts, God gave us our being, made us, and not we ourselves,
gave us our wealth; it was not our own ingenuity or industry that enriched us,
but God’s blessing on our cares and endeavours. He gave us power to
get wealth, not only made the creatures [farm animals] for us, but bestowed
upon us our share.”
Why did God allow Job to be so tested by Satan? That
question really isn’t answered here. God’s fundamental response to
Job’s later questions comes near the end of this book, when God confronts Job
out of the whirlwind. And what was Jehovah’s reply? God
said that He has so much more knowledge and power than we do that we shouldn’t
be harshly questioning or criticizing Him. We should have faith that
He knows what He is doing. Jehovah’s Witnesses, in their Bible
dictionary, have a good point when they say: “He [Job] was also mistaken in
insisting on receiving an answer from God as to why he was suffering” (“Insight
in the Scriptures,” vol. 2, p. 83). Are we like Job, by insisting
that God should satisfy our curiosity before we will obey Him? But
who has the power here? Who makes the terms of the
contract? It’s our duty to believe and obey even if we aren’t fully
intellectually satisfied by the response, “I know more than you do; trust Me
for now.” Since He created us from nothing, and we know little by
comparison, God has the right to demand obedience before understanding, much
like a parent with a toddler. We should have faith then that God
knows what He is doing and that He has our best interests at heart, much like a
conscientious father does with his child.
Now while suffering through trials and tests like Job, we should
not think God has to tell us why we’re going through them now. We
should be faithful and obedient to God despite being ignorant about the causes
of our suffering and pain. Let’s use this example, based on an
incident Philip Yancey described in his book, “Disappointment with God” (p.
203). One time a swimmer swam far into a large
lake. Suddenly, a thick, freak fog moved in that evening. He
didn’t know where the shoreline was! For a half hour, he alternated
between half panicking, by splashing different directions back and forth, and
forcing himself to remain calm while floating to preserve his
energy. But then he heard someone speaking faintly but steadily near
the shore. Then he could he swim his way back to
safety. Like this lost swimmer, do our trials and tests in life make
us feel that we that we’re lost at sea? Do we doubt that God
cares? Do we wonder what the purpose of our tests and trials
are? Didn’t Job wonder the same? Anyone going through trials and
tests should consider reading Philip Yancey’s book, “Disappointment with
God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud.” The same goes
for anyone concerned about the problem of evil in general. This book
is generally written at a very simple, basic level. But its
emotional effect can be profound in helping us become more content while
suffering in this life. Much of it examines the Book of Job, which
is why it’s quoted in this context.
Consider now this fundamental point about Job’s
trials: Did Job himself know why he went through the trials he
did? Job knew nothing about Satan’s challenge to God in the first
two chapters of the book named for him. But God allows just mere
average readers to have that revealed to us. Yancey (pp. 163-64) compares these
two chapters of the Book of Job to the director of a play giving us a sneak
preview to a mystery play or “whodunit” detective story. He tells us
the plot, the main characters, their actions during the play, and why they did
what they did. So what’s the only real remaining
mystery?: “[H]ow will the main character respond? Will
Job trust God or deny him?” Then the curtain rises: Job
and all his friends know nothing about what happened in heaven, but we the
readers do. We know Job did nothing wrong to deserve what happened
to him.
Job 1:6-12 describes what Yancey calls “the wager” arises between
God and Satan. What was wager about?: “The Wager was, at
its heart, a stark reenactment of God’s original question in
creation: Will the humans choose for or against me?” (Yancey, p.
171). Satan claimed this man only serves God for what he gets
materially from God. Yancey (p. 172): “Is faith one more
product of environment and circumstance? The opening chapters of Job
expose Satan as the first great behaviorist: Job was conditioned to
love God, he implied. Take away the rewards, and watch his faith
crumble. The Wager put Satan’s theory to the test.” God
challenges Satan on this score by allowing him to harshly attack
Job. God thinks this man will still freely choose to obey Him
despite being left totally ignorant as to the causes of his awful
trials. Under the same circumstances, would we do better or worse
than Job himself did?
Job holds to God faithfully. God throws this fact in
Satan’s face. Satan retorts by claiming Job would deny God if Job
lost his health also. But as already mentioned above, Job doesn’t
choose to curse God and die. (See Job 1:21-2:10). Note
that neither God nor Satan says anything about Job being self-righteous, like
the Pharisees were centuries later. His personal problem in this
area only shows up later. Self-righteousness can’t be called
properly the “cause” of Job’s trial. God didn’t mention Job as being
in any way sinful, but said he was truly righteous. God wasn’t
deliberately allowing Satan to punish Job for any particular sin.
Job and his three friends then spent long hours debating and
thinking about the causes of his trials. But they knew nothing about
this scene in heaven, as described in the prologue to the book. At
the end of the book, God doesn’t explain any of this to Job
either. Ironically, we as average ordinary people reading this book
of the Bible can know more about why Job went through these trials than Job did
himself! Thus, most mysteriously, God lifted the curtain veiling
heaven more for us than He did for Job. After all, what was God’s
basic response to Job?: “You don’t know enough about the universe to
judge Me.” (See Job 42:1-6 for when Job admitted this to God, which
we’ll examine more below).
So now, here comes a key point taught by the Book of
Job: If we’re going through trials and tests, can we still obey God
while not knowing why we’re going through them? The answer is
obviously “yes.” Do we have to know the purpose of our sufferings
and disappointments in order to stay faithful to God? The answer is
obviously “no.” We should stay obedient and faithful to God despite
our ignorance of why we’re suffering may equal Job’s. True, we may
suffer for all sorts of self-inflicted reasons, such as making poor financial
decisions, marrying the wrong person by mistake, and eating the wrong foods and
drinks for years. It also may be God is working at correcting some
character flaw or sin in our lives. But even if we don’t know and
can’t know the causes of our suffering, we should still obey God anyway while
in our fog of ignorance anyway.
Like when Job wanted an “umpire” to judge between God and him, do
we ever try to turn the tables on God? Do we ever imagine being the
judge and jury and putting God in the dock as the accused
criminal? Do we ever judge God? Do we ever condemn
God? Do we know enough to be the judge of God? Are we righteous
enough to condemn God for (say) allowing suffering among the
faithful? There’s a deep folly in emotionally wanting this role
reversal, which allows humans to judge and condemn God. Of course,
we don’t have the power to implement the role reversal, which makes this all a
wild fantasy anyway. For as shown by the book of Job, humans can’t
judge or condemn God when we suffer because we don’t know enough to do so and
because God is so much greater and mightier than we are. Job
ultimately had to accept the utter sovereignty of God, just as we do, if we
wish to live forever.
Suppose our pets could judge us? What would we say in
reply? What would be our response to “Fido,” a puppy undergoing
house training, if he could complain about how we’re treating
him? Or suppose “Fluffy” the cat could condemn us for receiving a
shot of water from a squirt gun after she dug her claws deep into our
upholstered couch? Wouldn’t we point out how misguided and ignorant their
complaints are? But don’t we realize that the difference between God
and mankind greatly exceeds the difference between us and our pets?
Let’s examine Job’s errors in Job 23:2-16 in
particular. Do we make similar mistakes? Do we demand
that God would explain why we’re suffering during a trial? Do we cry
out, “Why me?”? Of course, since many people in the world or even
the church have worse trials than us, we could ask equally, “Why not
me?” Why do other people has Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis
instead of us? It’s presumptuous of us to demand answers; it
requires faith to wait until one day the answers may be given to
us. As the classical Bible commentator Matthew Henry
explained: “The reason why we quarrel with Providence is because we
do not understand it; and we must be content to be in dark about it, until the
mystery of God shall be finished.” This becomes the main point of
God’s direct reply to Job. Jehovah is so much greater and more glorious in
power and knowledge than us. We are in no position to judge Him
morally. Job was certain about his innocence. True, he
was not guilty of anything in particular when his sore trial hit
him. But during the debates with his so-called “friends,” it became
obvious he was judging and condemn God, including for letting the sinful and
wicked get away with it while not being punished.
Job’s brave words (see Job 40:1-15) eventually received a direct
response from God Himself. It’s always easier to think about or say
to others the strong things we’ll say to someone we have a dispute with before
softening or abandoning them during the actual confrontation,
right? Of course, Job had to admit his insignificance relative to
God’s. Job simply couldn’t take on this role that God has. And God’s
creative power shows why he has power over both Job and
Behemoth. Then, at the beginning of the last chapter of his
eponymous book (Job 42:1-6), admitted to God’s great power as the Creator,
which was the main point of the prior four chapters. Job also admits
he didn’t know enough to judge God. He acknowledged God’s great
power, knowledge, and glory. Likewise, are we willing to similar
admit sin and error if we’ve been guilty of judging God for allowing us or
others to suffer? Most interestingly, God was merciful to Job after
he repented despite he criticized Him, as the Bible commentator Matthew Henry
observed. God restored Job to his prior status.
God
isn’t subject to anyone’s will but His own. He doesn’t have to
explain the specifics about our trials in our own lives. God has a
great plan; it’s our job to figure out where we fit in it as we follow his
revealed word in the Bible as the Spirit helps us. God may have higher
priorities than increasing our personal happiness at this time when more
important goals need to be reached. Although most people are far
more familiar with “Frankenstein” as a movie and TV icon than with its text as
a novel, Mary Shelley’s work makes arguments relating to the problem of evil
that deserve some direct attention by Christians. In
particular, the novel considers the responsibilities of the creator (i.e., Dr.
Frankenstein) for his creation (i.e., the monster). For example,
focusing on his desire for a mate, the monster complained to Frankenstein (p.
96): “I am thy creature, and I will be even mild and docile to my
natural lord and king if thou wilt also perform thy part, the which thou owest
me. . . . Remember that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam,
but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no
misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably
excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a
fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be
virtuous.” Shortly thereafter Frankenstein admitted (p. 98), “For
the first time, also, I felt what the duties of a creator towards his creature
were, and that I ought to render him happy before I complained of his
wickedness.” Much later in the novel, after the monster had taken
repeated acts of vengeance against him, Dr. Frankenstein explained the higher
priority behind why he didn’t make his creature happier (p. 226): “During
these last days I have been occupied in examining my past conduct; nor do it
find it blamable. In a fit of enthusiastic madness I created a
rational creature and was bound towards him to assure, as far as was in my
power, his happiness and well-being. This was my duty, but there was
another still paramount to that. My duties towards the beings of my
own species had greater claims to my attention because they included a greater
proportion of happiness of misery. Urged by this view, I refused,
and did right in refusing, to create a companion for the first
creature.” Of course, Dr. Frankenstein here confessed the
pride-driven folly in playing God by creating the ugly monster that rebelled
against him and killed those closest to him when he didn’t obey its wishes. Victor
Frankenstein’s scientific hubris ultimately destroyed him. In his
case, he foolishly created a creature for no good or specific ultimate purpose,
but merely as a means to demonstrate his knowledge and mental abilities. Furthermore,
Victor Frankenstein not only had a bad motive for creation and a bad purpose
for his creature (i.e., basically none, for he abandoned him initially), his
level of knowledge only marginally exceeded his creature’s. After
all, he didn’t know the purpose of life either. Hence, the law of
unanticipated consequences kicked in, and ruined him. By contrast,
the actual omniscient and loving Creator, when designing a physical universe of
any kind, did know to the nth degree all the variables involved, and could
choose its attributes and characteristics exactly as would be best for His
purposes (as they emanate from His essence and identity) that also would serve
the ultimate self-interest of the creatures He would make for it.
Now let’s examine more closely the error in Mary Shelly’s
sympathetic presentation of the monster’s complaint against his creator, that
happiness necessarily leads to obeying the Creator. But to have a
state of steady, earned (i.e., not drug induced) happiness, including a lack of
alienation, requires the conscious intelligence in question to believe the
truth and to follow the laws of its surrounding real world that indeed would
produce for it happiness. Indeed, good character creates happiness
rather than happiness creating good character (i.e., the habits of obedience to
God’s law). In order to have happiness forever reliably, we have to
have self-imposed discipline and the faith to obey God’s law as what’s good for
us. To explore and go off to find our own way morally in life means
we’ll learn the hard way by experience instead of avoiding pain by obeying
revelation from God about what’s good for us. The Eternal warned
Israel that material prosperity (i.e., one source of happiness that the Creator
can give us) often leads to people not obeying their Creator (Deut. 8:11-14,
17): “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping
His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today,
lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell
in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your
gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is
lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God . . . then you say in your heart,
‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this
wealth.” Furthermore, even to know God’s law doesn’t mean people
will obey it, as Israel’s history under the old covenant demonstrates
(Deuteronomy 5:29; Jeremiah 31:31-34). People need to have the Holy
Spirit given to them in order to transform their evil human nature into
something that will instead produce happiness for themselves and others after
they have God’s law written on their hearts (Hebrews 8:7-11). The
monster assumed having a mate would make him permanently happy, a folly that
still afflicts so many unmarried people who think marching down the aisle is
enough to remove all pains in life and to transform their evil human
nature. After all, how many people have mates, but are still
miserable, or are miserable precisely because they do have
mates? Perhaps, after a year or two of dealing with each other’s
selfishness, bad tempers, heated arguments, etc., the monster would have
thought Dr. Frankenstein cursed him instead of blessing him by giving him a
bride. Or, perhaps when they would have first met, the lady monster
would have looked at him, said, “Ew!,” and rejected him! Where would
he have been then? Instead, to have a happy relationship in marriage
isn’t an automatic process, but it takes a lot of work, careful consideration,
and self-sacrifice. The fundamental error in Shelly’s reasoning is
to sympathize with the monster’s implicit reasoning that lasting happiness can
be obtained without self-discipline and self-sacrifice, merely as an arbitrarily
bestowed gift given regardless of the actions of the creature, that would
require no special efforts on the creature’s part to obtain through dedicating
itself to transform its very nature into something that can have
happiness.
But now, can we humans admit the folly in playing God when we
judge God? So if we’re like Job, and experiencing severe trial(s), we must
avoid the temptation to judge or condemn God. First, we don’t know
enough to do so. How we react to our suffering may be a necessary
part of God’s plan to build holy righteous character in us, if we react to our
trials correctly. Second, since God is so much more powerful and
glorious than we are, we are utterly incapable of reversing the roles
anyway. It’s a wild fantasy to imagine ourselves judging and
condemning God. It’s best to give it up out of utter
realism. It may be a hard truth to accept this when we, loved ones,
or masses of people in the world we don’t know personally, but hear about in
the news, suffer. But Matthew Henry was right to
observe: “Let us leave it to God to govern the world, and make it
our care, in the strength of his grace, to govern ourselves and our own hearts
well.”
Can we be like Joseph, and see good ultimately coming out of our
trials and tests, at least for others, whether in this life or the
next? After all, much like Job, Joseph was severely
tested. Joseph’s trial lasted for many years, since his brothers
sold him into slavery in Egypt out of jealousy and envy. He even got
falsely accused and imprisoned after resisting the sexual advances of
Potiphar’s wife. After hearing his brothers’ concerns that he
would take vengeance on them after Jacob died and their asking for his
forgiveness, Joseph replied: “Don’t be afraid. Am I in
the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for
God to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many
lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you
and your children” (Genesis 50:19-20).
Most importantly as the reason for why evil came to exist, God
allowed His creatures free will, or free moral agency. The angels
received this freedom also, not just men and women. Since God’s
creatures doubt that He has their own best interests in heart, He decided to
prove it to them by letting them suffer from their own hard experience when
they disobey His law. He wanted to prove that He wasn’t keeping
something good from us when He issues negative commands. It’s said
that fools only learn from experience. Likewise, since neither
Lucifer nor Eve would take God’s word for it that disobeying Him would be bad
for them, He let them choose badly. Why didn’t He “zap” either of
them instantly? Well, this issue was going to keep coming up, with
His creatures through endless billions of years having questions about whether
God’s ways really were best for them. So God decided to prove to
them by their own empirical experience: Their pain, most ironically, would
prove He and His ways could be trusted. And to prove it more, He
decided to suffer in pain Himself, by dying so awfully painfully on the cross
for His creatures. So if we creatures had had faith in God to begin
with, most or all of this pain and evil could have been avoided. But
both Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:12-19) and (later) Eve (Genesis 3:6)
had other ideas.
One crucial truth here, although it’s uncomfortable for typical
modern men to accept, is God’s utter sovereignty when he cares to exercise it
against any particular individuals. We human beings aren’t in a position
to answer back or to propose other alternative outcomes if God chooses to
intervene directly in our lives. God has the full view of what’s best for
His master plan for the human race; we don’t. As Isaiah explained with a
colorful analogy, “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—an earthenware
vessel among the vessels of earth! Wil the clay say to the potter, ‘What
are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no
hands.’?” (Isaiah 45:9; cf. Romans 9:20-21). So if God wishes to
harden pharaoh’s heart in order to increase the level of glory and recognition
that He would receive from the recalcitrant pagan Egyptians, we aren’t in a
good position to deny or criticize Him about exercising that prerogative.
Hence, God told pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate
my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole
earth” (Romans 9:16). Hence, Paul concluded, “So then He has mercy on
whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” Hence, notice the cases
in which Jehovah hardened pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 4:21, 7:3, 14:4, 14:17; 9:12;
11:10), but pharaoh also hardened his own heart on his own also (Exodus
8:32). However, this doesn’t ultimately mean that pharaoh can’t be saved
after the second resurrection (Ezekiel 37:1-14): The king of Egypt’s
salvation wasn’t at stake in this situation.
Now, suppose we’re deeply disturbed by the problem of evil, such
as by a loved one’s death or because of some terrible disaster or war striking
thousands or millions of people somewhere else in the world, past or
present. It’s still illogical to reject God’s existence on that basis
after we’ve proven Him to exist on another basis, such intelligence design’s
arguments for the universe’s complexity shows it had a Creator. For a
fundamental truth of the human condition is that we're presently alive, but
know we're going to die. So then, what are we going to do about it, if
anything? Is there any way to live forever? Or should we just admit
that when our caskets are lowered into the ground, that's it?
Christianity says there is a way to live forever, but it involves
accepting certain truths by faith, which can't be fully proven by human
reason. It also requires making a formal commitment that requires the
believer to change his or her life from the path of sin to the path of
obedience (i.e., to confess sins and to repent). Regardless of what we
may think of God's allowing of evil and suffering, if this is the only way out
of mankind's "existential dilemma," as I like to call it, I'll accept
it personally, in order to live forever.
So then, what did Jesus Himself say about people who were killed
by events beyond their own control? Consider what Jesus told people to
do, regardless of what happened to others for whatever reason, in order to save
themselves (Luke 13:1-5): "There were some present at the very
time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate [the Roman governor of
Judea] had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, 'Do
you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans,
because they suffered thus? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you
will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam
fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the
others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you
will all likewise perish." As Jesus explained, everyone is going to
die, whether or not for reasons under their own control. We all have to
repent to gain eternal life. That's because we're all sinners (Romans
3:23), and sin brings upon us all death (Romans 6:23), which Jesus' sacrifice
cancels if we accept it by faith.
But notice this leads to a key principle: Nobody is truly
"innocent" or "good" separate from God. God always
has the option of imposing the death penalty on us at any time, but normally He
doesn't, since His mercy triumphs over His justice, thanks to Christ's
sacrifice. Furthermore, since He can resurrect the dead, He can give them
their lives back. This helps to explain why He would (say) have
Sodom destroyed when not even ten righteous people could be found living
there (see Genesis 18:22-33; 19:24-25). These people were living such a
sinful and personally harmful way of life that it was better for them to be put
to death rather than still living that way. Hence, it's hard to look upon
the people in Sodom and Gomorrah, the people drowned in the great flood
(Genesis 6:11-13) that Noah lived through, and the Canaanites that God
had killed by Joshua's army as "righteous" or
"innocent," due to their crimes of violence, idolatry, etc.
When He resurrects them at the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:5, 12-13), the
thousand years of the earth being ruled by Jesus, they will receive a chance to
be saved then (Romans 11:25-26;
37:11-14).
Now it appears that the sins of prior generations can cause health
problems for future generations (cf. Exodus 20:5). But since that
isn't always the case, we shouldn't be dogmatic about it in any one particular
case. This issue is part of the general problem of evil: "Why
does a good almighty, all-knowing God allow evil to exist?" That is,
we know that sometimes God will punish the wicked or sinful in this life and reward
the righteous. But on the other hand, even the (relatively) more
righteous have to learn from trials and tests (James 1:2-4), and so develop
holy righteous character (Romans 5:3-4; Heb. 12:5-6, 11; II Cor. 4:16-17),
which is the one thing that you can take with you past the grave. Even
rather mysteriously Jesus, although He was God in the flesh, was perfected by
the sufferings He went through in the physical life He had on earth (Heb.
2:10). So whether our problems result from God's punishment or just
character-developing trials isn't always obvious, such as shown by the
trials of Job and how his three friends messed up in analyzing the causes of
his plight. (They often mechanically tended to think that if you have
trials in this life it must have been because you had sinned yourself, that
it had to be that God was punishing you). If God does punish us
directly, it is for our good (Hebrews 12:6, 10): “For whom the Lord loves
he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. . . . For they [our
fathers] truly for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for
our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.” Furthermore, God
can allow us to suffer by the natural outcome of our own actions, and
doesn't have to specially intervene to "zap" us. For example,
if we get drunk and suffer a hangover, or we smoke for decades and get
lung cancer, God didn't have to directly cause us to become
sick. Rather, the natural order He has set up as Creator has its own
built-in causes and effects, which we as humans have to learn to work within,
and thus avoid its penalties and negative consequences.
Now, in the case of the man born blind that Jesus healed, He
specifically denied the interpretation that his particular plight was caused by
his sins or his parents' sins (John 10:2-3): "And His disciples
asked Him, saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should
be born blind?' Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man
sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed
in him." That is, Jesus was going to heal this particular man during
his ministry on earth, so he was born blind decades before this planned
miraculous event so Jesus could prove to others by a public witness by one
more miracle that He was the Messiah, the Savior sent by the Father into the
world. (It should be noted that the Pharisees interpreted this man's
plight as a result of sin also, like Jesus' own disciples had--verse 34).
Yet, on the other hand, it's certainly possible people will be punished
for the sins of their ancestors, including even by bad health. Consider
in this light part of the explanation of the Second Commandment:
"You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a
jealous God [that is, One who demands exclusive devotion, and rejects divided
loyalties--EVS], visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the
third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me" (Exodus
20:5). It could well be that the sins of a prior generation are visited
upon a later one through (say) birth defects or other diseases. This
isn't as unfair as a committed liberal secular humanist may believe it to
be. After all, the children and grandchildren of people often will
mechanically follow in the religious and other footsteps of their parents and
grandparents even when the family religious and moral tradition is wrong,
such as by worshiping false gods by using idols. Unquestionably following
a family tradition can be very unwise, which can be one way the sins of a prior
generation are visited upon a later generation. After all, when it comes
to one's own ultimate spiritual destiny, that's up to each one of us
individually after we're called, for "the son will not bear the punishment
for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear punishment for the son's
iniquity" (Ezekiel 18:20).
We have to admit that illness can be caused by spiritual
sin. For example, Jesus healed a paralyzed man by the pool of Bethesda
who had been there 38 years. Notice that He warned him, a little
while after healing him: "Behold, you have become well; do not sin
anymore, so that nothing worse may befall you" (v. 14). It's a scary
thought to think that one's spiritual sins could inflict a physical
health penalty worse being paralyzed for 38 years! Similarly, notice
how Jesus closely related being miraculously healed from bad
health and having spiritual sins forgiven in Luke 5:18-24. He spiritually
forgave this man, and also healed him physically, both as an outcome of his
faith. Jesus' own suffering was prophesied by Isaiah to bring
both spiritual and physical healing (Isaiah 53:5). But since
this isn't always the case, we should be wary of being
judgmental. It's not obvious that one average Christian's greater or
lesser level of sins have anything to do with their levels of prosperity or
good health in this life. After all, we know the wicked will sometimes
prosper in this life also, at least for a time (Ps. 37:35-36). The
Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has his pluses and minuses in character, but I
wouldn't want to think his great fortune is proof that he's so much more
righteous than everyone else in America! Hence, we should normally
avoid mentioning to a loved one who's sick about their personal sins or mistakes
in taking care of their physical health (like not getting enough exercise, not
eating right, smoking, etc.) when they are laying sick in a hospital bed.
Admittedly, the whole problem of evil greatly frustrates many
believers and unbelievers, and bad health as a sign of sins is merely a subset
of that problem. God sometimes does punish people, directly or
indirectly, for their sins by inflicting diseases on them (see Deut.
28:58-60). Now much of the problem of evil concerns self-inflicted
misery, such as due to our own choices: If we complain that God didn't
stop us from suffering a hangover after getting drunk, is that really God's
fault? Contradicting what God commands in His holy word
(Proverbs 20:1; 23:30-35), a man recovering from being drunk the night before
was the one chose to get drunk to begin with. It wasn't like
God thrust that decision on him!
God also will let the wicked prosper in this life for a time as
well, along side the righteous (notice Matt. 5:45), perhaps out of a sense of
mercy and giving them a chance to repent. (We have to avoid the spiritual
trap of thinking that if we do something sinful or questionable, and no
immediate punishment comes, it's OK in God's sight . . . the punishment could
well come years later, or in the afterlife. The delay, the time element
between taking action and any possible punishment, doesn't mean
God approves of our actions). This level of selectivity by
God will trouble people. It may seem unfair that the wicked prosper
and the (relatively more) righteous have trials. But God also knows
what's best for us individually and what's best for His master plan for dealing
with the whole human race down through all history, in which we individually
and our problems fit one way or another. This obviously requires
faith and the acceptance of God's mysterious ways. God's response to Job
basically came down to saying, "You don't know enough to judge
me." So then, does our perplexity concerning the problem of evil
tempt us to become guilty of judging God, not merely our sick and/or
sinful neighbors? We as Christians have to resist this impulse.
Now God asserts that He has the right to take the life of people
who sin by violating His law (Romans 6:23): "For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord." He also reveals, through Paul, that (Romans 3:23) "all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." True,
as Romans 6:23 shows, He offers eternal life to people through accepting
Jesus' sacrifice and by His Son's resurrection (Romans 5:8-9): "But
God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." So then God
provides a solution to the problem that we all die, which requires us humans to
humble ourselves before Him, by obeying Him and having faith in Him.
Should Christians think that God will bless them such that they
won’t have any trials? Obviously not, for the Bible says Christians will
have trials (I Peter 4:12): "Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing
happened unto you." Peter even then goes on to so boldly say:
"But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that,
when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding
joy." Now, it's very hard to have that perspective on our
trials while experiencing them. Consider this verse in James 1:2:
"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations
[i.e., trials]." Because we feel pain during the trial itself, we
can't have joy then, such as (say) over the death of a family member. But
it's the product of the trial in improving and strengthening our characters
that we should rejoice over, which James does note here some in the next two
verses: "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works
patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect
and entire, wanting nothing." Similarly, Paul wrote (Romans
5:3-5): "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:
knowing that tribulation works patience; and patience, experience, and
experience, hope: And hope makes not ashamed; because the love is God is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto
us." It's a distinctly unpleasant truth. But consider the
old simplistic maxim of body builders in this context: "No
pain, no gain." Or then, more colorfully, the atheistic German
philosopher Nietzsche once said something like, "What doesn't kill me
makes me stronger." I admit fully, when we have harsh trials, such
counsel sounds superficial emotionally, even calloused. But we have to
look at the fundamental purpose of life as being an experience that is supposed
to build holy righteous character within us (or others) so long as we react
correctly and spiritually to whatever trials are sent our way. And holy
righteous character is the one thing that we can take from this life; we
weren't put here on earth to always be happy.
We have to dismiss from our minds the so-called "health and
wealth gospel" that some Christians teach. Just because we obey and
have faith in God doesn't mean He'll take away all our trials and tests,
whether in health or financially. Paul was a very faithful man of God
after being struck down on the road to Damascus. But God let Paul
have a thorn in his flesh, perhaps a health trial related to poor eyesight,
despite his faithful obedience (see II Cor. 12:7-9). Paul also suffered
from appalling trails while preaching the Gospel, which he mentioned in detail
(II Cor. 11:23-27). Many of the most faithful prophets of God, such as
John the Baptist, met awful ends. Think of the listing in Hebrews 11 of
the men and women of faith, and the trials so many of them had (see especially
verses 35-39). They shouldn't have doubted that they were serving God
truly in the path of life they were in, even if they would have sinned from
time to time, like Abraham, Moses, and David did. And, of
course, Jesus had both perfect faith and perfect obedience, but still suffered
many tests and trials before dying on the cross to redeem us from
sin. (That leads to the observation that God died to free us from
the evils that resulted from His giving us the free will to choose or
not choose).
As C.S. Lewis argued in "Mere Christianity," our moral
sense is derived indirectly from God even when we aren't believers in the
Bible, as part of our created human nature. (See his "Abolition of
Man" for more related material on this general subject). We can't
condemn others' actions, including God's, without believing in moral
absolutes. But almost all atheists and agnostics deny moral
absolutes. So how can an atheist condemn God if he believes in moral
relativism? How is God wrong for allowing evil to exist if
the skeptic doesn't believe evil exists anyway? If an
agnostic doesn't believe that murder or racism or adultery is immoral in
all places at all times, how can he condemn God for allowing them to
happen? Paradoxically, our perception that evil exists is proof that God
implanted a natural moral law (Romans 2:12-15) in our minds that we
perceive right and wrong when watching what other people do. Otherwise,
we'd all be like autistics, whose mental defects prevent them from
perceiving the actions of people as morally right or wrong.
We should also realize that evil is only a temporary intruder in
God's creation. It isn't permanent, as Rev. 21:4: "And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the
former things are passed away." God promises that there will be a
restoration of all things after Jesus returns and sets up His kingdom, which
will fix all the world's present problems (see Acts 3:19-21). So we need
to have deep patience to wait on God to expel evil from the world. For
presently the whole creation groans in pain, but it will be delivered from it
(Romans 8:18-22).
One crucial truth here, although it’s uncomfortable for typical
modern men to accept, is God’s utter sovereignty when he cares to exercise it
against any particular individuals. We human beings aren’t in a position
to answer back or to propose other alternative outcomes if God chooses to
intervene directly in our lives. God has the full view of what’s best for
His master plan for the human race; we don’t. As Isaiah explained with a
colorful analogy, “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—an earthenware
vessel among the vessels of earth! Wil the clay say to the potter, ‘What
are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no
hands.’?” (Isaiah 45:9; cf. Romans 9:20-21). So if God wishes to
harden pharaoh’s heart in order to increase the level of glory and recognition
that He would receive from the recalcitrant pagan Egyptians, we aren’t in a
good position to deny or criticize Him about exercising that prerogative.
Hence, God told pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate
my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole
earth” (Romans 9:16). Hence, Paul concluded, “So then He has mercy on
whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” Hence, notice the cases
in which Jehovah hardened pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 4:21, 7:3, 14:4, 14:17; 9:12;
11:10), but pharaoh also hardened his own heart on his own also (Exodus
8:32). However, this doesn’t ultimately mean that pharaoh can’t be saved
after the second resurrection (Ezekiel 37:1-14): The king of Egypt’s
salvation wasn’t at stake in this situation.
So above a number of solutions to the problem of evil have been
given fairly briefly. They explain, at
least in part, why bad things happen to good people. We should look carefully at the case of Job if we feel like him
during our tests and trials in life. We
should have faith in God that He knows what He is doing by giving us free will
and in His plan to build holy righteous character within us if we cooperate
with Him instead of resisting Him.
Obviously, this is an enormous subject that an entire book could be
written about, and has been written about, such as C.S. Lewis’ book, “The
Problem of Pain.” Let’s have faith that God knows what He is doing.
Eric V. Snow
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