More on God and Bad Things

I just wrote an article entitled "Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen?", and it's as if God tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Ahem ... May I say a word or two about that?"

I told someone that answering "Why does God ___?" is a very difficult proposition. It's difficult because He's God and does whatever He pleases for whatever reasons He pleases and sometimes (most of the time) He doesn't tell us what they are. It's difficult because He's God and we're not. It's difficult because very few things occur for just one reason. So I have little doubt that my singular answer to the question was slim and insufficient. No ... no doubt at all. I just came across this passage in John:

As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him" (John 9:1-3).

You see, the disciples had no doubt who caused this "bad thing". (Is there any doubt that a child born blind is a "bad thing"?) They knew God did it. They assumed a reason for God doing it -- someone sinned. Maybe he was born blind as a punishment for his parents' sin, or maybe he was born blind ... what ... as a preemptive punishment because he would sin? Nonetheless, they knew God did it and they assumed they knew why. They just wanted specifics.

Jesus countered their presumption. "Neither." He told them they were all wrong. He told them that there was an entirely different reason for this horrible thing to have occurred. The reason was "that the works of God might be displayed in him."

Now, there has been discussion in various places offering varying reasons for why God allows bad things to happen. I said it is the starting place of the gospel -- "bad news". Others have pointed out that without the "bad" we can't know the "good". The disciples opted for "judgment" -- that bad things happen as punishment for sin. All of these are valid. Jesus offers another one (and no one can disagree with His option): So that God's glory can be displayed. Jesus proceeded to heal this man. And while the man paid another price later (He was kicked out of the synagogue.), he found new faith. He stood his ground with the Pharisees (John 9:24-34) even when his parents would not (John 9:18-23). He became a disciple of Christ (John 9:35-38). But he was the one who uttered those famous words, "One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see" (John 9:25). He pointed out that no one had ever seen a person born blind being given his sight. He was a "glory-bearer", a living, breathing testimony, an irrefutable sign.

I suspect we are all "glory-bearers" to some extent. I suspect that we all have tales of troubles from which we were redeemed. Those of us who worship Christ were all blind and now see. And I'm sure that's not the whole of our story.

I suspect that God has many reasons for allowing bad things to happen.