Why does God allow bad things to happen?

If there was a box of favourite questions to ask, this one is probably the one most often pulled out. God is omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent, (all powerful) so why does He not simply use His power to stop bad things happening, and create a paradise for us to live in?

Well actually, He did!

“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food”
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'' And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.''
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called
Woman, because she was taken out of Man.'' Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Genesis 2:8-25 (selected)

Just check this out. No need to plough or hunt for food. Surrounded by a verdant supermarket of good food ready for the picking. No problems with the climate, they were not cold even though naked. No need for irrigation, rivers ran through the garden. A perfect companion provided at the small cost of 1 rib. Paradise!

What happened? What went wrong?

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'' So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:26-27

God made us like Him. He has free will. So do we. He has dominion over the Universe, we have dominion over the Earth. He can reproduce, He made Adam in His own image, we can also reproduce ourselves. He can create, so can we. He is a moral loving being, so are we.

Which one of these capabilities would you like to give up? Ask anyone who lived in communist eastern Europe last century what it was like. You wanted a car? You could choose a Lada in white or red, but it had to be a Lada. Some choice! The shops had bread, great! Only problem there was only one kind of loaf to choose from. No choice at all! You needed a home. You were allocated a flat in a concrete block. No choice there either. Creative writing? Forget it. Unless it was approved by the party censors, it would never get into print! Art never saw the light of day unless it portrayed communist scenarios in a communist approved style! A drab dreary world where the human spirit was crushed, where the free will of the individual was subordinated to the state. Ok so you don’t want to give up your free will!

Perhaps you would like to give up your sexuality? I hear the monks and nuns are recruiting. No? Ok how about your creativity? No more singing, writing, painting, decorating, reading, TV, music, Internet, gardening, carpentry, games, sport, gastronomy, the list is almost endless!

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'' Genesis 2:16-17

God gave man free will, and here He gave him a choice to exercise that free will. Note that the choice was weighed heavily in Adam’s favour. He could have the fruit of every tree except one. Seems fair to me, especially as it was God who planted the trees.

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, `You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?'' Genesis 3:1

The best lies are a distortion of the truth. Satan knew this, so he reversed what God had actually said, to make it seem ridiculous and call it into question.

And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, `You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' '' Verse 2-3

Embellishment of the truth is a gateway to error. God didn’t say anything about not touching it. Now note how Satan questions the veracity of God’s statement…

And the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'' Verse 4-5

Adam and Eve were created perfect. They were not designed to die physically, but in order to be fit to live forever, they had to achieve moral perfection. This could only be achieved through perfect obedience to God. Obedience can only be authentic if exercised through the operation of free will. God gave them the opportunity to choose to do this. They made their choice, and the rest as they say is history.

And what a sad history it has been. Eventually Adam and Eve died as God said they would. Before that however they witnessed the murder of one son by the other. This act of jealous rage set the tone for the rest of history, which has been a sad litany of cruelty, murder and death on an increasingly grand scale. That is the legacy we have made for ourselves by our rejection of God and His way for our lives. We can hardly in all fairness blame God for decisions we have made! It is not as if He has not shown us a better way after all.


Yet there is still a choice to be made…

“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,... But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.'' Joshua 24:15

You can choose to serve and follow God through Jesus Christ, or you can choose to serve your own interests. Even if you are a kind loving and generous person, good though that is, you are still choosing to please yourself, and that is free will. Unless you are prepared to give up that freedom, you cannot expect God to override the freedom of others to act in a way that is bad as well as good. That doesn’t mean they will get away with it though. Like Adam and Eve, we are free to decide what we do, but we are not free to escape the consequences of our actions. The consequence of rejecting the offer of salvation that is in Jesus Christ is eternal separation from God. Would you like God to force you to accept Him? It would be in your best interest after all. The trouble is we can’t have our cake and eat it. We can’t have free will, and have God control our decisions and the decisions of others at the same time!

So instead of asking “why does God allow bad things to happen?” perhaps you should be asking “How can I co-operate with God to become a better person, and do my bit to make the world a better place?”