Free Will – Why do Bad things happen to Good people?
Example: Didn’t Job receive evil from God?
Firstly, a typical ‘atheistic’ logic was hurled at Job when he ‘lost everything’:
“Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9)
Job’s Astonishingly Wise Reply:
“But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept evil (adversity)?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10)
Question 1
Isn’t God responsible for the evil done to Job as even Job seems to hint that in Job 2:10?
Reply 1
Job is not blaming God nor is he claiming that ‘God is responsible’ for the ‘evil’ faced by him in Job 2:10 —-> signified by the phrase “in all this Job did NOT sin with his lips”.
His wife’s ‘interpretation of evil’ (Job 2:9) is a typical prevalent one where ‘they assume that God CAUSED or DID that evil (to Job in this case)’.
Job is wise and thus did NOT succumb to his wife’s ‘own fallacious logic’.
When Job replied that we shall “accept evil” as well from God, what did he mean?
a) Job meant that God “allows” evil (Job 2:6) agreeing to (1 Corinthians 10:13)
“So the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he (Job) is in your power (Satan), only spare his life.” (Job 2:6)
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
b) Thus Job ‘accepts’ the evil done to him ‘wrongly’ by Satan (Job 4:7 as Satan decided to “DO” that evil to Job, NOT God):
“Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.” (Job 2:7)
c) Satan even tried to “tempt God” to do that “evil” to Job earlier too, but God did NOT do:
“The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.” Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. “However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.” (Job 2:3 – 5)
d) Why did God “allow” the Evil to Job?
His Foreknowledge that Job will come out victorious and God Will bless him greatly for it for ‘enduring the evil’:
“The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold” (Job 42:10)
“Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” (James 1:12)
“For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.” (1 Peter 2:20)
“For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.” (1 Peter 3:17)
“Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 2:3)
“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,” (2 Timothy 2:24)
e) The only human opinion that matters in this case ‘regarding the evil done to him’ despite ‘Job being faithful’ (a unique case) is that of Job himself and this is what ‘Job says’:
“‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
“Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” (Job 42:3)
“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;
Therefore I retract,
And I repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5 – 6)
“Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.” (Job 1:22)
f) How about women and children being killed or by “evil” done to them?
That’s a different case altogether. Please consider these ‘different cases’ as follows for edification:
*If it’s the ‘same’ case as Job, they will give you an answer one day on Judgment Day (as Job’s reply testifies too) —> with regards to whether the ‘evil done to them should be allowed or not’ under the “condition” that ‘they had been faithful’ (no other human opinions, such as those belonging to you and I matters, as in the case of Job too).
** If it is a different case from that of Job (e.g. the condition of ‘being faithful to God’ is not there, example: people serving ‘their own gods’ and not the LORD), ‘their own gods’ whom ‘they serve’ did ‘those evil’ to them (So, God is NOT responsible for it as ‘a man reap what he sows’ Galatians 6:7 even with regards to the ‘wrong gods whom they serve whether knowingly or unknowingly, one is responsible ultimately for their own actions’ — as the verse below clearly states, ‘such will think that they are serving the true God’) :
“You are doing the works of your father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they answered. “Our only Father is God Himself.” – Lord Jesus Christ (John 8:41)
“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.” – Lord Jesus Christ (John 8:44)
*** Then there’s the case of Judgment where such evil is allowed due to “their own sins” or evils done first (though it may not be written in Scripture but will be revealed on Judgment Day) as these verses clearly state too (the ‘Principle’ never changes):
“”Behold, I will bring evil upon you, and will utterly sweep you away, and will cut off from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel;” (1 Kings 21:21)
God is Perfectly logical as He only “allows” evil in such cases as long as the persons remain unrepentant (His Foreknowledge) and stops the Judgment if one repents (in ‘Principle’ again):
“”Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but I will bring the evil upon his house in his son’s days.”” (1 Kings 21:29)
****Judgment is requested by the blood of the babies (or women and children) who died “first” in such acts toward the ‘babies & women’ died among the ‘perpetrators of evil’ (God “allows” such ‘equal’ Judgment to be carried out accordingly; To His Foreknowledge, He must have allowed it since these ‘evil babies’ of those who practice such ‘first’ [please note the word ‘FIRST – added for emphasis’ in verses below] & these ‘babies’ may do the same one day toward others too; Proof? Their ancestors who have been ‘babies earlier’ have been ‘doing these same evil acts of slaying the babies & women of their enemies FIRST before all these as well’):
““Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did (FIRST) to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. ‘Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”(1 Samuel 15:2 – 3)
“O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who repays you
with what you have done to us (FIRST)!
Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rock!” (Psalm 137:8 – 9)
“How horrible it will be for the wicked! Disaster will strike them. What they have done will be done to them.” (Isaiah 3:11)
Question 2
If that’s the case, why not God stop all the evil by Judging them likewise?
Reply 2
God “allows” free will to be exercised (Ecclesiastes 3:1 – 10) but is certain to Judge eventually the rest of the cases, yes (Ecclesiastes 3:17).
God “allows evil” in “His Judgments” as the verses below refer to ‘this case only’ (context) when “He exercises it personally” (It’s “evil” upon them with regards to “Judgment” according to their ‘level of cruelty which they have done upon others or each other too’) as the verses below reveals in ‘Principle’ perfectly:
““But evil will come on you
Which you will not know how to charm away;
And disaster will fall on you
For which you cannot atone;
And destruction about which you do not know
Will come on you suddenly.” (Isaiah 47:11)
“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? (Amos 3:6)
Amos 3:6 refers to the “evil which God does” with regards to “equivalent Judgment” in cruelty allowed —> signified by the phrase “trumpet be blown in a city” & “people being afraid” indicating “Judgment upon evil”.
If Amos 3:6 refers to God ‘allowing needless evil’ done by creation (a different case), not ‘all’ the people would be ‘afraid’ simply because the “righteous remain bold” (disqualifying this verse to imply that case altogether by not ignoring the context of the ‘other words’ found within this ‘same’ verse too):
“The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, But the righteous are bold as a lion.” (Proverbs 28:1)
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” (Proverbs 23:4)
“The LORD is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6)
“”And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” (Revelation 12:11)
Here’s a deep hidden wisdom regarding this (simple really if understood):
God “only allows” direct “evil Judgment” (referring to this case only) through calamities or ‘direct Judgments’ as discussed earlier too if and only if ‘there was NO righteous person left among them’ as ‘it is written’ in verse below (and God does NOT change from this ‘Principle’ either):
“Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the LORD departed, and Abraham returned to his place.” (Genesis 18:32 – 33)
““The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart; And devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from evil,” (Isaiah 57:1)
Abraham understood that and did ‘not’ bargain further to the LORD for sparing Sodom.
Likewise in the New Testament, the verse below clearly points to this ‘same principle’ that God will not allow by His own Judgment an evil that destroys the ‘righteous together with it’ (God’s Principles in Judgment reveal these and God does NOT change):
“And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. ‘ALLOW both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’ – Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 13:28 – 30)
God doesn’t kill any of the righteous with “His Judgment sentences”. The ‘righteous are only killed via unfair causes due to another creation’s free will including man or the spiritual wickedness’. Examples:
“They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth.” (Amos 5:10)
“The wicked spies upon the righteous And seeks to kill him.” (Psalm 37:32)
“he wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth.” (Psalm 37:12)
Question 3
How about the evil done by creation needlessly such as rape, murder etc. toward the ‘relatively’ innocent victims?
This is a different case from the earlier ones aforementioned.
Firstly, no verse exists where God kills the righteous by His Own Will contradicting Matthew 13:28 – 30 and even Job 2:6 where ‘the righteous’ life is to be spared’. However, that doesn’t mean that the righteous are not killed because God “allowed” creation to exercise its will and will judge for the parts where they did wrong toward the righteous be it from men or ‘the gods’.
Likewise these ‘same men’ and ‘so called gods’ who exercised ‘evil or caused their influence’ to make ‘men sin purposely’ (such as in these cases) will be Judged accordingly as ‘it is written’ too in these verses:
“so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” – Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 23:35)
“And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” (Revelation 16:5 – 7)
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, suppressing the truth by unrighteousness,” (Romans 1:18)
“{A Psalm of Asaph.} God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.” (Psalm 82:1 – 2)
“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” (Psalm 82:6 – 7)
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
Conclusion:
No Mistakes by God and No excuses by any creation in His Judgments too:
“For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19 – 20)
Finally,
Why do some hate God?
Because God’s ascribes “their evil” to “their own self” (‘their own choice to commit it’) and they are looking to ‘blame God’ instead for it as “it is written” (a simple true logic):
“The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil.” – Lord Jesus Christ (John 7:7)
Please note the word “its works” in verse above meaning “evil” is by “its own works” (creation doing it & influencing each other only as God Predestined it by creating evil such even promising a Deliverance “despite” all these evil because He is Alone is Good, 1 Corinthians 15:25 – 28, Colossians 1:20, 1 John 4:14, Romans 8:20 – 21)
A common fallacy is to mix these cases up ending up in wrong theology ‘blaming God for some evil in some way’ (wrong) contradicting any these verses James 1:13 & Job 1:22 as mentioned in earlier posts. Peace
