The bottom line is that science and technology are incredible tools for exploring what it means to be human—and for helping other humans, if used properly. But science and technology cannot change anyone’s heart. And they’ll never give meaning or hope or peace to your life.
JOURNAL TWO
WHY DO BAD
THINGS HAPPEN?
Q: Why does God allow bad things to happen to people he says he loves?
A: This is one of the most difficult questions every person asks sometime in his or her life. And what you believe about the answer is really important. Why? Because if you decide that God allows bad things to happen because he’s weak and can’t stop them or because he doesn’t care about us after all, then you won’t really want to believe in God. You’ll come to think that he doesn’t exist—except as a character in Bible stories.
Part of why evil exists is because God allows all of us the freedom to make choices—to do good things or bad things. When you choose to do good things, the world is a much better place. When you choose to do bad things, you hurt others—and yourself in the long run.
Other people are also making good and bad choices. That’s why you’ll hear all sorts of bad things happening in the news. (There are lots of good things happening too, but those events hardly ever make the news.)
Q: Do bad things or the news of bad things mean that God doesn’t care?
A: Since the beginning of the history of writing, hundreds of books have tried to answer this difficult question.
Perhaps the best and most famous book on the subject is found in the Bible—the book of Job. Job loved God, and he was also rich. Then one day, through no fault of his own, he lost his possessions, his children, and his health. No wonder he asked why God allowed suffering.
His friends mistakenly told Job it was because of things he’d done wrong. But Job, through asking questions, learned important things.
He learned that, while suffering might be a consequence of wrong choices, bad things do happen to good people, just as sometimes good things happen to bad people. You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can control how you choose to deal with what happens.
Job learned that God was always close to him, even when God might seem far away. This matters a great deal, because we need to believe in God for who he is, not what we want him to be. Some people think of God as a Santa or a genie who gives them what they want. But God is really the awesome Creator of the universe who sees the beginning and end of all things. He isn’t limited by seeing only this time. And that’s why God won’t always explain everything to us. There are mysteries we’ll never understand while we’re on Earth.
What’s the greatest thing Job learned? That even when everything was taken away, he could still trust God. Why? Because God is all we have and need. That truth is both sad and hopeful. It’s sad, because someday death will take each of us away from our possessions and our health and our loved ones. But sad as death is, we have an incredible hope. We know that life on Earth, with all its pain, is not our final destination.
No matter what happens around you, you can trust God. Nothing can separate you from his love.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sigmund Brouwer and his wife, recording artist Cindy Morgan, and their daughters split living between Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, and Nashville, Tennessee. He has written several series of juvenile fiction and eight novels. Sigmund loves sports and plays golf and hockey. He also enjoys visiting schools to talk about books. He welcomes visitors to his Web site at www.coolreading.com.
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