Why do bad things happen to good people?

Many non-Christians and agnostics reject God and Christianity by posing this seemingly unsolvable question...positioning God as mean, unforgiving, wrathful, and apparently devoid of love and compassion. You’ll hear statements like “I can’t believe in a God that is that cruel”. The question is actually easily answered and souls can be saved by answering it with confidence. However, before you can answer that question, you must first ask who is good and who sets the standard for what is good?

Popular culture and non-Christians would suggest that if you aren't a thief or you don't go around killing people...then you are basically good. And “IF” there is an afterlife, you'll probably get a free pass; a "Go directly to heaven" card.

That's a nice thought, but it's simply not biblical truth. If that’s what you believe…then who or what is the source of your truth? Who makes the decision of who to pass judgment on and who says you can go to heaven? Do YOU decide? Hardly! That would be like a convicted criminal making the decision regarding whether he can be let out of prison.

So, who makes the call? God does! It's God's heaven (or home) and He makes the rules. Ever hear the saying "My house, my rules!" In heaven, God sets the standard for who and what is good.

So, what is God's standard for who and what is good? The Ten Commandments are a good start. But read the words of Jesus Christ who adds in John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." If you don't love one another, then you have broken a command of God.

Jesus adds in Matthew 5:27-28 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." If you look at the opposite sex with lust in your eyes, you have already committed adultery, and broken a command of God.

Jesus says in Matthew 5:23-24 that "...if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. " This passage suggests that repairing relationships and resolving conflicts between family members and neighbors is GOOD, and even more important than offering gifts to God.

In other words,your good works, gifts, donations, and tithes are worth nothing if you hate or envy your neighbor or harbor resentment for another person. In this way, Jesus helps us define "Good" in God's eyes as getting along with and resolving differences with other people. If you are angry with someone else, or harbor resentment, or neglect to repair a broken relationship....you are not acting in accordance with God's will and favor.

So, do these things make you a “bad” person, or can you still be a basically “good” person?

Christians believe there is only one person who ever walked the earth that was PERFECT: Jesus Christ. The Pope, Gandhi, Buddha, Jesus’ Mother Mary, and Mother Teresa all have one thing in common…they were not perfect. Only Jesus Christ was perfect.

So, what does Jesus Christ say on this issue? Mark 10:17-18. "As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good--except God alone.’” So, if the only perfect human said that no one is good, what does that suggest about us?

The answer? None of us are good in God's eyes. Only through Jesus Christ are we made acceptable to God. Jesus Christ holds the key to our eternal salvation and eternal life with God in heaven.

OK, so back to the question. If God sets the standard for what is good. And by this standard none of us are good. Then, the question actually needs to be re-phrased: Why do bad things happen to bad people?

Answer: God's judgment on a selfish, Godless people, is just and true. When people don't live according to His holy and perfect standard, his judgment is holy, sovereign, and true. Just as good and responsible parents discipline unruly and defiant children, so God disciplines his children. And this is an act of love, not hate.

So, is God mean, unforgiving, wrathful and devoid of love and compassion? Certainly Not!

John 3:16.... “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” God loves you and me so much that even though we are completely hopeless and unworthy in our own right, he died for us, to save us, so he can be in intimate relationship with us. That is the biblical definition of love.

1 John 3:16...“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” God IS love and the source of all love.

So, what's a better question to ask? God, will you please forgive me of my sins, through your son Jesus Christ? Lord Jesus, I accept the sacrifice you made for me on the cross, and I believe that you are resurrected from the grave so that I can have a new life in you. Lord will you come into my life and work to make me holy, clean, and acceptable to God almighty? Lord, I give you my life! Amen!

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So are you posing the answer, that bad things happen, as a result of God disciplining us in every case of bad things?

And then, are you saying that God causes bad things to happen?

Or....are we just separated from God, victim to what Satan has to offer us, and then subject to his rules and outcomes. (ie bad things)?