The Freedom of Love

Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen?

The world is a dark place. We can take one look at the news and see millions of people dead in natural disasters, hundreds gunned down or bombed. Women raped. Babies cut from mother's stomachs. Murdering, lying and torture that causes utter despair. The aching feelings of loneliness, anger and hatred that plagues this world.

Many have asked themselves the question: why does God let bad things happen when he can so easily stop them? How can a God who claims to love me allow pain and misery to strike me down?

To understand why God allows sin to poison the world we need to understand who He is. And we need to understand who Satan is. Let's take a look at God's character from a few Bible verses.

Genesis 1:1 says "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

The Bible teaches that God is our Creator and the Creator of everything we see and touch.

John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world: He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

It is evident here that God loves the world and His creations, us. God desperately seeks every single soul that has ever lived. He gave His only son's life for us.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."

The Bible says God is our comforter, and he comforts those who are in strife. Any who ask for His strength will receive it. Those who suffer greatly will receive His blessings if they seek them.

1 John 4:8 states "If you do not know God, you will not know he is a God of love."

The Bible also says you can't know that He is a God of love without first seeking Him. How can you know what an apple tastes like without first eating it?

The Bible also says in Hebrews 13:8 that He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. It promises that His love will never change. God is the purest form of love and He promises that He will never change that.

1 John 1:5 says "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in Him, there is no darkness at all."

James 1:13-14 says "Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire."

But if there is no darkness in God the creator, then where did the darkness we know and hate come from? If he doesn't tempt us, then who does?

Isaiah 28:21 also says "The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim,
he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon—
to do his work, his strange work,
and perform his task, his alien task."

Here it makes reference to the end of time when he promises to vanquish evil away forever and how strange, alien and unnatural it is for God to destroy. It shows how inconceivable the idea of punishment is to Him.

Ezekiel 33:11 shows us a glimpse more of God's heart. It says, "Say to them: 'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'

So, who then who punishes us with this torment if God is love and kindness?

The story of the fall of Lucifer is one widely known. It follows the story of Lucifer, an angel who started a rebellion in heaven and was cast out and became Satan, the scourge of the earth.