Jesus is Answer

There are certain questions that everyone, especially those of us who consider ourselves Christians, will come face to face with at some point or another. Sometimes we ask those questions ourselves, and sometimes, the questions are asked by a non-believer. One of those questions is one I hear often asked by atheists who are trying to prove that God cannot exist: "why does a good God allow bad things to happen?"

This question can be challenging to answer. Too many times, Christians shrug their shoulders and slouch down in their seats, maybe hesitantly saying something about God being in control, or sinfulness, or anything else to get the focus onto someone or something else. Thankfully, there is an answer to this question that is rooted in the Bible.

It Starts With Creation

In the beginning, God created. That first sentence in the Bible is so familiar that many Christians often overlook the power of it. God created everything. That includes you and me. This means that as Creator, He has been personally involved with this world from the very beginning.

So, you may be asking, what does this have to do with the question? Well, it goes something like this: God did not create imperfectly. He does not desire the suffering, death, and evil of this world. But because we all live in a fallen, sinful world, and because we "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), we all must live with the consequences. "For the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23a).

The Short Answer

In short, the answer to this question is simple: because every person who ever lived in this world (with the exception of Jesus) has sinned, they must live with the consequences of their choices, which means death and suffering.

However, God does not desire that we be left like this forever, so He gave us another choice. He loves his creation, so he sent His son (we know Him as Jesus Christ), "and being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient [to His Father] to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:8)

Jesus is the Bridge

Jesus was the most perfect man this world has ever seen. And because of that, He became the bridge between God and us. "...With His wounds [His death] we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)

So, because Jesus was perfect and never sinned, when He died, He paid the price as a sacrifice, and by doing so, allowed us the opportunity to live with God for eternity. The choice is this: we can either choose to continue to live in our sin and be of this world, or we can choose to accept and believe that Jesus took our place when He died, allowing us to live with God forever, in a place so much better than we could ever imagine.

A Better Question

In conclusion, the question should not be "Why does a good God allow bad things to happen," but it instead should be, "why do we choose to continue living in and of this world, therefore continuing to contribute to the evil and suffering that we can see all around us?"

I will end this with one more thought to consider, a line from the song God of this City: "greater things have yet to come, and greater things have still to be done."