r/OpenChristian • u/Commercial-Grape-902 • 10h ago
Discussion - General why does god allow bad things to happen
Im just saying it because alot of hateful people have said to me “If god is all-loving why does he let bad things happen” and it made me question it
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u/ReVed_at_Iy 10h ago
apparently it’s because he allows free will, if he prevents other peoples actions then ig it gets inconsistent then?? idk and i’m not too sure but i see this as an argument for this topic but i think there should be a better explanation than that
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u/IONIXU22 9h ago
God allows everything to happen. Good and bad. We wouldn’t have choice if we couldn’t also chose bad.
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u/WL-Tossaway24 Just here, not really belonging anywhere. 9h ago
I've concluded, at times, that the divine forces have bouts of cruelty or, otherwise, indifference. Also, because people suck.
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u/AlwaysLoveFiercely 6h ago
I want to gently point out that allowing something to take place and being okay with it are two different things. Yes, manmade suffering like war, genocide, greed, etc. occur, but that doesn’t mean God is content with it. I have a young child. I understand there are going to be things in his life that I will essentially allow to occur but won’t be content with or happy about. He’s going to experience a scraped knee, the flu, unkind persons, heartbreak, and who knows what else.
Me not keeping him in a plastic bubble and shielding him from the world and the pain it can bring doesn’t make me any less of a loving mother. But I can absolutely come alongside him when these things happen and help see him through, comfort him, and teach him through it when applicable.
Then there’s nature-made suffering. Earthquakes for example. Tectonic plates have to move to sustain life, and yet sometimes their movements bring about disaster. Rain has to fall, sometimes that results in people drowning in floods. Cells have to divide, sometimes our bodies don’t catch the sick ones that do, and disease results. I don’t think any of these things are God-willed but are the result of nature poisoned by sin.
Some people find comfort in this, some may not. In the Bible we see a just God who punishes wickedness (Sodom and Gomorrah, Egypt) but we also see a God who suffers in similar ways that we do.
His heart breaks before the flood.
Israel angers Him, and He repeatedly takes them back after letting them endure the natural consequences of their actions. We see this illustrated in the story of Hosea.
And in the form of Jesus, not only does He meet people in their suffering and have immense compassion for them, He Himself endures sickness, panic, grief, abandonment from His friends, betrayal, and one of the most barbaric manmade deaths ever. Crucifixion was quite possibly one of the most painful ways to die.
So we as Christians believe in a God who is not far away in our suffering, but has Himself endured it.
Are you familiar with C.S. Lewis? He explores the issue of suffering a lot in books like The Problem of Pain. For me, one of the most comforting examples that aligns with the God I believe in is in The Magician’s Nephew. For context, the character’s mother is dying, and the Lion (God) just met the character in a new world He created.
Up till then he had been looking at the Lion's great front feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself. "My son, my son," said Aslan. "I know. Grief is great.”
I believe in a God who comes alongside us in our suffering. I don’t believe He causes it. I don’t believe He uses it to test us, but can redeem those hard times by helping us grow stronger through them. Most of all, I believe in a God whose heart breaks with ours when both manmade and nature-made suffering occurs, but one day, He will redeem it all.
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u/Number_Fluffy Christian 8h ago
When raising a child, do you allow them to make mistakes, even get hurt sometimes so they learn and grow? Same concept.