Why Bad Things Happen?

Why does God let bad things happen?"

This is a topic that has left most of us confused or at least questioning our Christian beliefs in some way. I know my human brain can not fully comprehend it entirely, but here is a Christian answer.

In the beginning the system that God had put in place did not include pain and suffering. It was only when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit did sin (evil, pain, suffering) enter the world. It is not God but humans who are to blame for this.

You may ask, "if God is so powerful then why can't he step in?" "Why did this child have to die?" "It's not fair!" Well...the answer is yes he could intervene in times of tragedy, but in order to do so he would have to take away our free will and we would become like robots. This is not what he wants.

More than anything else, God wants to know us in our fullest capacity. If he takes away our freedom to choose and we become like robots he can not truly know us and we can not truly know him. So He endures our pain along with us...and probably even more so.

The next best thing was to send his son to die for us on the cross. Blood is Life. When Jesus sacrificed himself for us His blood symbolically washed over all of us...giving us a clean slate with which to start over.

There is still pain on the earth, but at least we have another chance to develop an intimate relationship with God and eventually be with Him in heaven. For this I am grateful.