How Can God Be Just, and Let Some Die And Others Live; Let Bad Things Happen
Written By Daniel Gamble
The other day I was approached by an individual with a very important question. It is not a question that is unique to this individual, but it is one which I am asked about quite often as a minister of the gospel. I will do my best in this post to answer the question(s) clearly and fully.
This question is as old as Religion itself. In fact most religions have been created in an attempt to answer the question of human suffering and the role or absence of God. The modern sentiment is somewhat different however than the sentiment of man throughout most of history. Throughout most of history, man has portrayed God as intimately involved and the author of everything that happens, both good and bad. If lightning struck, it was God. If there was an Earth quake, it was God. If someone got a disease, then it was God that gave it to them because of disobedience. We will break this down in a minute, but the truth is, man didn’t really have a problem with this reasoning until more recent, modern times.
Modernity says that because there is sorrow, tragedy, death, and inequities in the world, there is no way that God can exist and/or He cannot be just and all powerful. Because, if God loved man and is all powerful, why would he let bad things happen? In a car accident, why let the drunk driver live and the innocent child be killed? Why let an innocent child be molested or raped, warping them for life, and in some cases it ends with them being killed? Why allow such war and starvation? Why does the child or mother die of cancer while the murderer gets off Scott-free? Why does God heal one person, but let another die?
These are powerful questions, which many Christians (even ministers) run away from or offer cop-out answers to because they are too afraid to examine the issue in depth and critically. There is nothing wrong with asking “why?” Jesus Himself, asked “why” on the cross (Matthew 27: 46). I am not afraid of people questioning God. In fact I encourage it. I’m not afraid of it and neither is God because the truth is if you are honestly seeking, He will answer and you will find Him. You do not have what you need because you have not asked for it (James 4:2).
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8, KJV).
There is nothing wrong with asking. The key is, where do you go for your answer? Since Jesus is the way, the Truth, the Life (John 14:6), and He is the Word (Logos) incarnate (made flesh) (John 1), we must go to scripture for our answer and in order to understand the nature of God and His relationship with man.
DOES GOD CONTROL EVERYTHING?
It is true that in the Bible there are stories of God causing natural disasters like earthquakes and droughts, etc because of the disobedience of the people. The goal of such things was not just to punish but to wake people up to their backslid condition and to encourage repentance and a return back to God. However, the term natural disaster suggests something important. These things happen naturally on their own. We know what causes earthquakes and droughts, and tornadoes and hurricanes in ways the writers of the Bible did not. There are times that God manipulates nature for his purposes and goals (Genesis 6-6;Mark 4:39), but there are also times that these things happen just because they happen. However, God can also use the natural occurrences to draw people to Him and reveal His love (more on this in a moment).
There is another important distinction to note: When God causes trouble to come about, it is always because of sin. Remember there are times that things happen that God is not the author of (we’ll elaborate in a moment) but when He is behind it it is in order to get people to repent and turn from sin.
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Revelation 3:19, KJV- Emphasis added).
“I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men” (2 Samuel 7:14, KJV):
“Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity” (Job 31:3, KJV)?
So God only causes bad things to happen when he wants to turn people from their sins. Why then do bad things happen to good people (classified as a believer for the purposes of this post)? NEVER once do we see God causing trouble in the life of a BELIEVER. Some people believe that when bad things happen it is God trying to teach them something. This is just NOT true. God is never the author/cause of bad things which happen in the lives of believers/Christians. Think about it, if you are a parent, do you purposely cause harm or trouble to your child just because you want to teach them something? No, not if you are a good parent.
However, bad things do happen which you are not the author of and it is your job as a parent to make sure that your child makes it through these things OK, and that their character is shaped in a positive way despite the bad, episodic experience. When bad things happen to believers, this is what God does. The enemy (Satan, Flesh or the World) is the author or trouble, sorrow, pain, in the life of the believer (not God) but when faith is placed in God, He turns that bad around for our good, shaping our character in a positive way despite the bad, episodic experience.
“But as for you (his brothers), ye thought evil against me (Joseph); but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20, emphasis is mine).
The Hebrew word for “meant” is “chashab”and it means “to work” and “to fabricate.” This Old Testament Scripture is consistent with the New Testament Scripture:
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, KJV).
There are some scriptures in the KJV which, due to outdated language usages and/or grammatical choices, which seem to suggest the opposite of what I am saying here. One example is Psalms 11:5:
“The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth” (KJV).
False meaning has been applied to the word “trieth”, which in the Hebrew is “bachan” and it simply means, “to investigate.” It isn’t saying that God takes us through troubles but that he examines and inspects us to address any flaws that we may have, but he doesn’t bother doing this with the wicked, because they are not under his lordship and direction. The word, “bachan” can also mean “test.” There are references in scripture to God “testing” people’s faith, and there are references to people’s faith being “tested.” The difference is that there are things which test our faith that God is not the author of. But when he is the author of the test, it never comes in the form of calamity.
For example, God tested Abraham’s faith when He asked him to sacrifice Isaac. But Abraham’s faith was also tested when his brother Lot was captured by an invading army. The difference is that with the latter, God was not behind the test. The enemy was. God manipulated it for the good of Abraham, but He did not set the events in motion.
It is only in the case of God judging a NATION, that the righteous are sometimes caught up in the punishment of the wicked. In Ezekiel 21 we see that when an invading army conquers a nation (allowed by God because of the sin of the nation), the righteous suffer just like the wicked. This cannot be helped. This is why it is so important to have righteous leadership.
“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn” (Proverbs 29:2, KJV).
What about an event like the Egyptian bondage? God sent them to Egypt knowing they would be enslaved. He even warn Abraham about what would happen to his descendants (Genesis 15:13). The truth is, God used the evil intentions of Joseph’s brothers to accomplish good. God saved the children of Abraham from famine. A wicked Pharaoh enslaved the Jews, not God. His foreknowledge of an event does not equal design. At the root of these things and all of history is free moral agency, which we get into in just a bit.
So, as you can see, God is not ever the author of bad things which happen to the righteous/believer/Christians. He is, at times, responsible for the bad things which happen to the wicked/unbeliever. And then there are times when things just happen. To add further clarification on the matter and to elaborate on the issue of death, let’s go back to the beginning.
THE BEGINNING
Death has always been a part of creation. I know I will offend some people with this statement, but I believe that the Earth is older than 6000 years old. I believe that Dinosaurs lived 65 million years ago. This is not in conflict with scripture at all. I believe that man is only been on the earth around 6000 years, but that the earth was here much longer. One just only look at the bones of prehistoric animals to realize that death was here as long as life. Everything that is materially created must have a natural end that it will definitely suffer from unless there is some kind of supernatural intervention.
This is what we have in the case of man. Man was not created as a supernatural, eternal being. Adam and Eve would have aged (the process of cells deteriorating and eventually dying) just like the rest of us. The secret to their eternal life, was the “Tree of Life.” From examining the scriptures we can ascertain that the Tree of Life was a “fountain of youth” whose fruit was for medicinal purposes and would have reversed the effects of aging, rejuvenating the cells of the body to keep the person young. In the future kingdom of God to come, we see a return of the Tree of life and its purpose:
“In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2, KJV).
This was a supernatural gift, given by God to man, upon condition of man’s obedience. By keeping the commandments of God, man had right to the tree of life, and thus would live forever. The same is true in the future kingdom as well.
“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14, KJV).
Without veering off into another topic, let’s briefly examine the “fall” of Adam and Eve. The only commandment that we are aware of that God gave Adam and Eve was not to eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17, KJV).
I will examine the fall in greater detail at a future point, but it is clear from scripture that without knowledge there can be no sin.
“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17, KJV).
When we have knowledge of wrong, it is our propensity to commit that wrong. Paul even says that the strength of sin is the Law (1 Corinthians 15:56). When we are told not to do something because it is wrong, it is the truth, but it also creates a desire in us to do that wrong thing (Romans 7).
Like I said, we will examine this in a later post, but when Adam and Eve sinned, God removed them from the tree of life as punishment and because of this they began to and eventually died.
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:22-24, KJV).
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23, KJV- Emphasis added).
With the curse also comes diseases, and sicknesses, wars and other causes of premature death outside of aging. These things are a result of the curse from Adam’s sin and not the fault of God.
Another problem is the free moral agency of man (the ability to decide between moral rights and wrongs). With knowledge of wrong, man can choose to do that which is morally wrong. Sometimes innocents are victims of someone else’ choices.
The drunk driver chose to drink and get behind the wheel. The child killed in the wreck is the victim of the drunk’s choice. Likewise, the victim of abuse suffers because of someone’s free moral agency. To always intervene would be to nullify this gift of choice. In order to ensure your freedom, the freedom of others who would abuse it, must also be protected.
GOD’S INTERVENTION
At greater issue here, which is at the root of the original question, is why does God intervene in some situations and not others? By what standard does he judge who is worthy of help and who is not? We know he doesn’t always nullify someone’s free moral choice, but it is obvious that at times He does.
This is not an easy question to answer, and there is not a one size fits all answer. What role does prayer play? What factors deem it appropriate to intervene?
First let’s look at prayer:
Earlier we saw that we have not because we ask not. But what does it mean if we ask and still don’t recieve what we asked for?
“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss...” (James 4:3, KJV).
The truth is, God knows everything, not just about the present but about the future. He knows what will bring about what is best for us. So if we ask for something that goes against that “best” for us, then God will not answer us in the way we want and may not intervene in a situation. God will intervene only when the intervention will produce a better end result than will come about from a lack of intervention. We may not always understand how something can be for our good, but:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9, KJV).
We must also realize that God does not just consider how something affects us, but he also examines and considers how it will affect others around us. In the case of Lazarus, He knew letting him die, would present an opportunity to raise him from the dead which would cause many to believe in Him, who otherwise would not have believed (John 12).
God’s mercy is present in the death of the righteous and he protects them from the evil to come:
“Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come.”(Isaiah 57:1, NLT)
For the believer and the young child, to be absent from the body (to die) is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).
There is really no way to fully answer why God does what He does. Sometimes he is the architect and other times things just happen. Some times he intervenes, but other times he doesn’t.
I will end this discussion will one more salient point. In the Bible we have story after story of God’s intervention in the lives of men and women. It reveals to us the nature and personality of God. If a story didn’t serve that purpose then it didn’t make it into scripture. Take the story of David. We only have a record of a few events in his life. There was obviously a whole lot more that happen to him and he did that is not recorded. Why wouldn’t it be recorded? Most likely, because they were not events in which God intervened.
In the Bible, there are only 3,237 people mentioned. 3237 out of the billions of people who have lived on this earth, millions at that time. All of those people lived lives of testing, trials, sicknesses, successes. We only have a few records of a few people of a few circumstances in which God intervened. Still fewer is the number of believers. I think it would suffice to say that MOST of the time God does not intervene in most circumstances in the lives of men. He does when it serves His greater purposes, but other times He just lets things play out.
Habakkuk prophesies about coming trials and judgments to a nation and people. Of the righteous he says:
“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4, KJV).
The rain (storms and trouble) falls on the just and unjust alike:
“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45, KJV).
But through it all, we must have faith! It may not make sense but just have faith and God will always accomplish what is best for you!