Whether you are a babe in Christ, a pastor in the church, or an atheist, you’ve probably heard or have asked the question, “Why does God allow bad things to happen?” Typically, when I’ve heard this question the inquisitor is referring to good people given that any adversities experienced among bad people are perceived to be well deserved or also known as “karma”.
I will admit, if I were an atheist, I would ask the same question and many more. It’s easy to question something you don’t understand. In fact, most questions stem from misunderstanding. A few weeks ago, I was on Tik Tok and came across a Christian video. In the comment section someone who wasn’t necessarily an atheist but wasn’t a christian either, asked, “If God is all-knowing why did he allow sin in this world? It’s almost as if He wants sin.” The person then proceeded to reference the common quote given by those on a mission to prove God’s in-existence: “If God is willing to prevent evil but not able to, then He is not all-powerful. If God is able to prevent evil but not willing to, then He is not all-good. If God is both able to prevent evil and willing to, then why does evil exist? And if God is neither able nor willing, why call Him God?” By the time I read the comment other people had already started replying. One said that God will one day end all evil. Another said that God hates sin and Satan brought sin into this world, and because we as humans have free will, God does not put an end to all sin. Both were true, but to a person that doesn’t understand God, these facts would only intensify their confusion. The only thing these replies really did in this situation was cause the person to repeat what they already said, which was: “If God is all-powerful and all-knowing, why did He allow sin in the first place?”
So I responded to the original comment and gave an analogy. I said, the principal of a school has the power to assign uniforms in the school, but in most public schools, they don’t and instead they coordinate a dress code. Despite having a dress code, everyday there will be somebody at that school (the ratio depending on the population of the school) that will break the dress code and will be sent to the front office to either change or be reprimanded. So someone could easily say, “Well surely the principal knew somebody was going to break the dress code eventually. Why didn’t he just assign uniforms in the first place to avoid such repetitive defiance?” Consider the dress code to be the Bible. The Bible consists of specific dos and don’ts on how to live similar to how a dress code consists of specific dos and don’ts on how to dress. I concluded my comment with the question, “How many schools have you attended with uniforms? How many schools have you attended with a principal?” The commenter later responded to me and said, “Hmm, that’s a good point. Thank you.” My point was, most people who answer that question will not have attended a school that assigned uniforms, but every school they attended had a principal. So unless you’re going to go back and ask each principal why they don’t assign uniforms instead of reprimanding students for breaking the dress code, you can’t ask why God doesn’t end all evil instead of punishing for sinning.
The difference is, nobody wants to wear uniforms. They want to have somewhat of free reign and wear what they want. So no one is going to complain to the principal about not having uniforms. However, people also don’t want to be held accountable for their actions, causing them to blame God for the sins that people, including themselves, commit because technically He can end it. But so can the principal. The principal can end dress code violations by assigning uniforms. Will there still be someone who breaks it, most likely. But the ratio will be much smaller than the ratio of dress code violations. If there are 2,000 students at a school, at least 50 students will break the dress code in one way or another each day. 50 might even be an understatement. If uniforms were assigned, that number would begin to decrease each day, rapidly if there were major consequences for those who broke it. The number of complaints however, would sky rocket. So now the principal went from too lenient to too strict, when really the students are who caused the new enforcement.
God does give us free reign, but that doesn’t mean He wants sin. Just like the principal doesn’t want anybody to break the dress code. God is all-knowing and all-powerful, but that doesn’t mean He does what we want when we want it. John 16:33 says, “In the world you shall have trouble.” God could technically make it so that you don’t have trouble, Him being the all-powerful being that He is. But that would mean the Bible is a lie, which is something that literally cannot happen. John 16:33 also says, “But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Meaning that nothing we go through in this life will be unbearable because Jesus, God in flesh, has overcome the world. So you can ask God, “Why me?” But you have to also ask yourself what have you done, or not done, to please God? What have you recently asked of God? Not every tribulation is a punishment. If you’ve recently asked God for strength, He doesn’t just magically give you strength. Instead, he puts you in a position to become stronger. If you ask God for resilience He doesn’t automatically give you resilience, but He’ll put you in a situation where you have to be resilient. These situations will not be ideal, and rarely will they be comfortable, but there’s a lesson involved. People will willingly acknowledge the lessons they’ve learned from betrayal, heartbreak, and failure, but dismiss the lessons they’ve learned from God and instead will blame God. Sometimes it’s oblivion, sometimes it’s just pure denial.
The question seems only relevant when bad things are happening to good people, when in reality bad things happen to all people. Jesus said no one is good except God alone (Mark 10:18). The devil will try to make you think God inflicts hardship on the righteous and prospers the wicked. What society defines as prosperous is not the same as what God defines as prosperous. Society defines prosperity as money, fame, and wealth. And until you realize that spiritual health is better than material wealth, you’ll always think that the one driving a Honda is less blessed than the one driving a Lamborghini.
The principal does not take it to the extreme of expelling you for breaking the dress code, and God does not take it to the extreme of wiping your world clean because you’re sinning. Instead, because He is so good, He takes your faults and turns them into an opportunity to strengthen you. Without weakness there is no strength, and if “bad things” didn’t happen, you wouldn’t have a testimony to share God’s greatness when He gets you through it.
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