Apologetics

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WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN?


“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever,” the psalmist confidently declares (45:6). If so, why does he permit bad things to occur? This is a question that troubles many persons. For instance, a Jewish couple were visiting my wife and I. Since he was a declared atheist, I inquired if he would mind if I offered prayer before we ate the evening meal. He assured me that it would not offend him.
In this regard, he observed that while his wife and children believed, he could not reconcile God’s existence with the holocaust. In greater detail, if God were good, he would not want persons to suffer. If he were sovereign, he would not allow it. Consequently, he would not be either good, sovereign, or simply not exist. However, when I had said grace, he responded with a hearty amen, as if the natural thing to do.
I am also reminded of a person who complained, “I could create a better world than this.” Not actually, but there is much room for improvement. In response, God did create a better world. So that evil consists of good that has gone wrong.
The Genesis narrative details this concerning the transgression of Adam and Eve. In chaos theory, it is said that small deviations in original conditions can give rise to disproportionate results. Moreover, their offense was not of trivial nature.
Were humans not created in God’s image, their defection would presumably be of much less consequence. But given the option of choice, they chose wrongly. Not only did this have adverse effects on them, but the circumstances in which they found themselves. So that we, in a manner of speaking, live between paradise lost and regained.
While not to be overlooked, the serpent makes an adversarial appearance in the narrative. Accordingly, Paul reminds his readers: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:11-12). The idiom allows for the fact that while social and political factors may be involved, there is a spiritual conflict of cosmic proportions.
Now I served in the military during World War II, and can attest to the fact that bad things took place. Not simply as relates to the conflict itself, but its effects on the persons impacted by the events that transpire. This being the case, it does not seem strange to me that there would be more serious results from our engagement with the spiritual forces of evil, depicted as entrenched in the heavenly realms.
Also worthy of note, the psalmist adds: “a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.” “His scepter, the symbol of his authority, is to embody justice. The king is reminded that his anointing and exaltation are predicated on his ‘loving’ righteousness and his ‘hating’ wickedness (Craig Broyles, Psalms, p. 206). So that one need not be concerned with the severity of God’s response, but its righteous character.
This, too, is in keeping with humans being created in God’s image and for his glory. Were we programmed to thoughtlessly follow his leading, much less would be at stake. As it is, we can opt between the ways of the righteous and wicked, and benefit or suffer from the consequences.
“The passion narrative next invites our attention,” I reasoned on another occasion. “As a result, we consider how suffering furthers God’s redemptive purpose. The voices of the martyrs appear as a logical extension. In particular, we recall the martyr’s stalwart faith and confident witness” (Pain as a Means of Grace, p. vii).
It also seems plausible that the capacity for rejoicing is commensurate with that of suffering. This being the case, only God may excel humans in both regards. Such are we reminded when reflecting on Jesus crucifixion. In terms of the lyric refrain, “Mercy there was great and grace was free, there my burdened soul found liberty” (William Reed Newall, At Calvary). Indeed!

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