Why does God allow bad things to happen? People/Nature etc or God controlled?
By James72
@James72 (26790)
Australia
April 10, 2007 12:42am CST
This is an age old question and I am interested to know what others think. A woman is murdered, an elderly man is hit by a car, a child is abused and is maltreated and continues on to do the same to their own children.....
There are many, many positive events in life and unfortunately many negative ones also. I have come to the conclusion that maybe God doesn't control or watch over our lives as much as some may think. Maybe God has done his part in creating life and has then allowed life to think for itself. If you think about it, every event either negative or positive is a result of an action or an explainable force.
For example, if a man is struck by lightning, he just so happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and has been subjected to the forces of nature. Yet some will call this an act of God..... A person that is walking down the street and is hit and killed by a brick that falls from a multi-story construction site; once again, in the wrong place at the wrong time and multiple things have contributed to that person being there at that time; with each thing directly attributed to the action of another person in some way.
I hope I am making sense! I do believe in God; I just am of the opinion that humankind as a whole and natural attrition control cause and effect more than God does. God gave us free will yes? Maybe God has done his part and it is now up to us to learn from what has been provided to us so that we may hopefully do the right thing and earn the right to move on up!
Please let me know your thoughts.
4 people like this
12 responses
@edujccz (929)
• Philippines
11 Apr 07
Lately, i was answering a thread that talks about killings in this world, and why is it that God did not create us perfect. I answer him saying that , we are in a perfect world , but human expect God to control everything, God should not allow bad things to happen, then if that is what we want, i told him , do you think you know that you ever exist? Maybe my language is not understandable,
Okey I try again, I mean, we recognize that there is difference between black and white, we know there is joy and sorrow, if i will let you select between joy and sorrow, surely, you will select joy, because you wanted tobe always happy. but how can you recognize joy without sorrow, do you think the meaning of joy has meaning without the other.
Its like, if we are all created equal, without the world difference, plain equal, will you work for others? who would like to work in the middle of the sun to produce food, if i do,then we are not equal again, simple example as that.
For me, life is perfect for God make it perfect.
I will try to answer as close to your example, God controled everything, nothing bad to happen to anyone, nobody get sick, if we dont get sick we live long , how long i dont know, until you get tired of living, do you want million years to live, God control everything is good in you, ? Dont you ever came into your life what kind of life is it, do you know a robot that you can control, you are his master and you dont want anything to happen bad to your robot. I dont know if you are enough with my explanation.
What I know, if you trust God, everything will be good and in order.
2 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
11 Apr 07
I think I understand what you are saying! But I disagree somewhat with your final statement of everything being good and in order if you trust God. A trust in God will provide you with the strength and guidance to deal with the inadequacies of life because no matter what, these inadequacies will always exist. It is the balance of life. A trust in God will not make everything good and in order overall in my opinion as you only have immediate control over yourself. Thansk for responding.
@edujccz (929)
• Philippines
11 Apr 07
Inadequacies in life, yes your rigth, i remember again my daugther telling me, "Dad, I am always praying but God do not answer". That is the same point' God does not provide everything we like, and if He does, we go again to life that is perfect in how we percieved and want it to be. Equal to everyone, if He gave me, He should provide my neighbor as well , then everything equal. Then there there is no word as inadequacy to life. We are all abundant in everything we need , provided by God of everything, no worries how we call it.
But again, the inadequacy is present to feel the sweetness of life. That is why He said, my people is always complaining , and we are born to that. In the end, because of inadequacy , we loose our belief in God anymore, because we wanted Him a different God , a provider of everything.
What I said , with God , life will be good and in order... Understanding Him , we have no complaint.
I tell you, what i wrote is easier said than done. I too is a complaining person myself, I too is in doubt some times. But it is good to share and your topic was really good , so that others may too understand what this life is?
God bless you mylot friend.
1 person likes this
@kyuttytzeh (264)
• Philippines
11 Apr 07
SOmetimes,There are things that we cannot simply explain or simply imagine. God only knows how does it happen. The most satisfying love is to be loved inspite of being known.Dont we relax into a state of contentment when we no longer have to wear a mask, the function of which is to imply we are more precious that we really are sometimes? We can toss the mask and allow ourselves to be sees even when we are unlovable. When we experience being loved inspite of unlovableness, we have discovered what love is. When we can return that accepting love, we experience a most compelling reciprocity and that, incidentally, is the way jesus loves us. He knows our history and he knows the sin in that history. Yet because of the unconditional love he feels for us, when we confess our sins, he forgives us and receives us without condemnation.
2 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
11 Apr 07
One of the internal struggles I have is in relation to forgiveness of sins. Does this ultimately mean that no matter what stage of your life you are in or no matter what sin is committed then confession and repentance makes all good again? It is just unfortunate that human beings as a whole are too weak to maintain a level of sensibility at a constant pace. The goal surely is to avoid sin in the first place. Thanks for responding.
1 person likes this
@academic2 (7000)
• Uganda
10 Apr 07
I agree with you entirely, it is not clear to me whether a stroke of bad luck is necessarily God sent! Its devil sent I believe, but again the enigma here is that why does God just stand by and allow it to happen if he is as loving as we know him to be? I asked those qustions when I got a disabling road accident 14 years ago, they still remain unresolved questions on my mind, why did God allow it to happen if He is this all loving God we know him to be?
2 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
10 Apr 07
I am sorry to hear of your accident..... I guess the question is what you have maybe gained from the event rather than what you have lost. Only you can answer this. And did God cause this accident? Did the devil? Or were you just unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time and the victim of a painful set of events? Thanks for responding.
1 person likes this
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
10 Apr 07
I think G-d is watching but from afar. He promised not to destroy all of us all at once ever again after the flood. So I think He is keeping Hi distance. I also think that we all have a destiny.Most things are written. We have free will and mixed with destiny, there will be good and bad things to come.This doesn't mean that G-d is sitting on His hands not helping when he can.But even with G-d looking after every thing, there is still evil in the world.
2 people like this
@jsae29 (1120)
• Philippines
11 Apr 07
God created badluck for us to enjoy good luck.
Feel pain to value pleasure; allow us to have failure for us to experience the sweet sensation of success. Everything happen for a reason....we just have open our mind, heart and soul to know them.
1 person likes this
@xcellen (204)
• Indonesia
10 Apr 07
hmm this only come from my mind, so I may be wrong but I think God create us human, is to test us, put us on trial, to become a better human, like confusius say: a gem could not be polished without a friction, therefor we have so many problem in life, and now a question, why doesnt God just create us human to better from the start, well i dont know the answer either but maybe there is something big that God has planned, a big logical plan that our brain cant afford to think of.
Some people search for happiness in this world, but in the same time, almost all religion tells us that the true happiness would be in the afterlife, so what may look pain or suffering to us now maybe a trial God gave to the related person to become better.
2 people like this
@jmp824 (741)
• Philippines
11 Apr 07
These things happen or was destined to happen to remind us all that we are all God's creation and that no power will overpower His will.
A lot of times we forgot of who and what we are. We forget about God and all His teachings. These circumstances serves as reminders. Even if you are believer, theres always test that will come to you. But if you just call on His name and trust in Him, everything will be just be alright and everything will just pass.
1 person likes this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
11 Apr 07
"It is God's will". Many a believer has expressed this on relation to events and actions that occur. But can unwavering faith eliminate self responsibility or the ability to question in a sense as well? Stating this rather than addressing issues surrounding certain events or actions may not be a self educating process in terms of achieving true enlightenment. Thanks for responding.
@vanities (11395)
• Davao, Philippines
11 Apr 07
after the vanishing act in the garden of eden adam and eve were given the free will on what to do with their lives outside paradise..its likewise in people or us..its our consequences that makes us suffer when we do a lot of things in contrary to good and what is right..we msut not blame God for any mishaps/problems or whatever that we have encountered here coz i believe God loves us and does not want us to be harm in any way but the stubborn head we had plus the free will makes us what we are..
• India
11 Apr 07
We may say that is the result of work done by us in our preior birth
@domesticengineer (576)
• Philippines
11 Apr 07
This is just my opinion. Everything that happens here on earth has reasons. Sometimes when we ask something from God we could only see the small picture while God looks at it in a wider view. Aside from these, God gave us freedom to live, freedom to choose how to live it and freedom to have our own decision in life. Sometimes, we just go to the wrong direction and thus giving us sorrow and burdens in life. I am living now with God as my only guide to the right way. I trust Him for everything.
1 person likes this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
11 Apr 07
I can understand how one can trust in God for guidance; however true enlightenment will only be achieved through trust in oneself also. We as human beings will always make wrong decisions; it is how we deal with these mistakes that will define us. Thanks for responding.
@YazEid (1139)
• Philippines
11 Apr 07
According to my religion - with respect to all other religions- ; we people are created to worship Allah ( God ) , this is the only reason for being created , after this when we all die according to our worship we will be judged , those who were good through their lives and worshiped allah without doing bad things will go to heaven , others will go to hell ...
why abd things exist ?! coz if we all were the same , all were good , all were loving our life would be aimless and it will be boring without a motivation or dream to do .. human in nature like to do bad things , think in it with inurself ... ( forbidden fruit is sweet ) ..
maybe my idea is not so clear, but i think that i have showed may main points
@minki_malink (83)
• New Zealand
11 Apr 07
I always think that God has left us to our own devices, although I don't know for sure. It just seems to make sense for the whole "murder/rape" themes. I think he does help when you pray, but I think overall we're left to make the best of our time on earth.
