Why does God allow bad things to happen (like earthquakes and hurricanes)?
Why does God allow bad things to happen (like earthquakes and Haiti)?
This is a good question to ask…if God is good, how can He let bad things happen? The answer is simple and it’s one that I’m not sure you’re going to like.
Let’s go back to the beginning, when God was creating the world. God created a garden. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Its name was Eden. He created a man and a woman and allowed them to live there. God gave them everything they needed and everything they wanted: “See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food” (Genesis 1:29-30). God gave them these things, expecting them to work, but the work was easy: “The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it” (Genesis 2:15). God provided man with Paradise, and man ruins it. God did not intend for us to live in a world with disaster and struggle. God wanted us to live in peace. This was the purpose of the Garden of Eden. But man sinned, and with that sin, Paradise was no more.
Why do bad things happen, you ask? That’s right. It’s because you and I and everyone else (minus Jesus and Mary) who has ever lived and who ever will live have sinned. Every time we sin we allow a little bit more evil to enter the world. This is why small, “private” sins, like thoughts you think, still affect those around us. This is what we mean by Mystical Body. It’s like, for instance, if you were to cut your finger. Your finger would directly feel the pain, right? But it would affect the rest of your body, too, since it’s spending more energy than normal on healing that one finger. Granted, for a small cut, this may not have too huge of an impact on the rest of your body, but it is doubtless that it spends some energy healing it, since it doesn’t stay cut forever. Now, let’s say that this wound becomes infected. Let’s say that this infection begins to spread. This small, seemingly insignificant wound is hurting the rest of the body now. It is direct and it is dangerous.
It’s the same thing with sin. One seemingly insignificant sin spreads evil around. It is felt greatest nearest those who are close to the sin, but it ends up impacting everyone, always. People we’ve never met yet are impacted by our sins. We are impacted by the sins of those who have lived before us (i.e. Adam and Eve’s sin). It’s a terrible cycle. The only person who can destroy that cycle is named Jesus.
In 2006 I spent my spring break in Biloxi, Mississippi, helping people whose lives had been changed because of Hurricane Katrina. Their homes were destroyed. Their lives uprooted. Their friends were gone. But their faith remained. I, and everyone with me, could not help but ask myself how God could allow something like this to happen. The people we met there were not bad people. In fact, they seemed to be very good people. They didn’t deserve this. I can’t tell you why this terrible thing happened to these people, but I can say that this was not from God. I know that God is good. I know that God is love. I have come to understand that God only desires good for us, and that bad things (a.k.a. evil things) are not from God. God brings much good out of bad situations. I know that He worked numbers on my heart while I was there. I know that He changed many people for the better by using this terrible situation. But God never causes an untimely death. God never destroys entire cities, countries or families. Car accidents, cancer, natural disaster, war…these things are not caused by God. He allows them, because He allows free will. But He does not create them.
God is good…always.
This is a good question to ask…if God is good, how can He let bad things happen? The answer is simple and it’s one that I’m not sure you’re going to like.
Let’s go back to the beginning, when God was creating the world. God created a garden. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Its name was Eden. He created a man and a woman and allowed them to live there. God gave them everything they needed and everything they wanted: “See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food” (Genesis 1:29-30). God gave them these things, expecting them to work, but the work was easy: “The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it” (Genesis 2:15). God provided man with Paradise, and man ruins it. God did not intend for us to live in a world with disaster and struggle. God wanted us to live in peace. This was the purpose of the Garden of Eden. But man sinned, and with that sin, Paradise was no more.
Why do bad things happen, you ask? That’s right. It’s because you and I and everyone else (minus Jesus and Mary) who has ever lived and who ever will live have sinned. Every time we sin we allow a little bit more evil to enter the world. This is why small, “private” sins, like thoughts you think, still affect those around us. This is what we mean by Mystical Body. It’s like, for instance, if you were to cut your finger. Your finger would directly feel the pain, right? But it would affect the rest of your body, too, since it’s spending more energy than normal on healing that one finger. Granted, for a small cut, this may not have too huge of an impact on the rest of your body, but it is doubtless that it spends some energy healing it, since it doesn’t stay cut forever. Now, let’s say that this wound becomes infected. Let’s say that this infection begins to spread. This small, seemingly insignificant wound is hurting the rest of the body now. It is direct and it is dangerous.
It’s the same thing with sin. One seemingly insignificant sin spreads evil around. It is felt greatest nearest those who are close to the sin, but it ends up impacting everyone, always. People we’ve never met yet are impacted by our sins. We are impacted by the sins of those who have lived before us (i.e. Adam and Eve’s sin). It’s a terrible cycle. The only person who can destroy that cycle is named Jesus.
In 2006 I spent my spring break in Biloxi, Mississippi, helping people whose lives had been changed because of Hurricane Katrina. Their homes were destroyed. Their lives uprooted. Their friends were gone. But their faith remained. I, and everyone with me, could not help but ask myself how God could allow something like this to happen. The people we met there were not bad people. In fact, they seemed to be very good people. They didn’t deserve this. I can’t tell you why this terrible thing happened to these people, but I can say that this was not from God. I know that God is good. I know that God is love. I have come to understand that God only desires good for us, and that bad things (a.k.a. evil things) are not from God. God brings much good out of bad situations. I know that He worked numbers on my heart while I was there. I know that He changed many people for the better by using this terrible situation. But God never causes an untimely death. God never destroys entire cities, countries or families. Car accidents, cancer, natural disaster, war…these things are not caused by God. He allows them, because He allows free will. But He does not create them.
God is good…always.
posted by Richard Deanda at 6:41 PM
