Main idea: Why do bad things happen to good people?
- Atheists say that bad things happen to good people because there is no god to protect them.
- Bad things happen to good people because God is unable to prevent bad things from happening.
- Dualism
- Good and evil are in a seemingly endless conflict.
- God needs us to help him win the fight against evil.
- Open Theism
- God is not all powerful.
- God didn’t see what was coming.
- God can’t stop what is happening.
- God cannot control evil.
- Question #1: If God cannot control evil, why did he create the world knowing that bad things happen to good people?
- Question #2: If God cannot control evil, will he be able to stop suffering?
- God is not all powerful.
- Dualism
When we come to the book of Job, we come to a book that is filled with doom and gloom. Job, who is a really nice guy, suffers at the hands of Satan, but Job never finds out why. As we read the book we see that God gives Satan permission to afflict Job. It appears that Job who is a really nice guy gets treated unfairly by God. Then his friends turn against him and tell Job his suffering is his own fault. Even Job’s own wife tells him to “curse God and die.”
The book is depressing. The book is confusing. The book does not fully answer our questions about why Job had to suffer. So why read the book of Job? Why have a sermon series on the book of Job.
Why a sermon series on a book that is depressing and confusing? We need to study the book of Job because the book of Job helps us answer the question: Why do bad things happen to good people?
As an introduction to the book of Job we’ll be looking at the problem of suffering and we’ll be looking at the person and character of God. If God is a good, and loving, and all-powerful god, why does he allow suffering?
As Christians we believe in a God who is good. We believe in a God who is loving. We believe that this good and loving God is all-powerful. So if God is good and loving and all-powerful, why does he allow bad things to happen to good people?
If God is good and loving, It would seem that He would want to prevent or end suffering, but he doesn’t. For some reason God who is good and loving allows bad things to happen.
Well maybe God is good and loving but maybe God is not all-powerful. After all, if God is all-powerful, He could easily prevent bad things from happening, but he doesn’t. For some reason, God who is good and loving and all-powerful allows bad things to happen.
Suffering is real. We could easily list many ways people suffer. People are starving to death. People die in tragic accidents. War, famine, and disease are common in many places around the world. Hurricanes and earthquakes kill thousands of people every year. Much of the world’s suffering is caused by bad people doing bad things, but most people die of natural causes like heart disease and malaria.
We know that suffering is real and that suffering is bad. We know that suffering is bad because Jesus spend much time and effort alleviating pain and suffering and sickness. The Bible says, Matthew 9:35-36
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus had compassion on people who were suffering, but couldn’t God have simply prevented suffering and sickness from the very beginning? Couldn’t God have created a world without suffering? Yes, God could have created a world without suffering, but he didn’t.
Why? Why does God allow so much suffering?
How do you answer the question? How do you answer this very important question: why do bad things happen to good people?
For people who believe in God, this question is one of the hardest questions to answer, but for people who do not believe in God, it’s not really a problem. Atheists say that bad things happen to good people because there is no god to protect them. Bad things happen because that’s the way things are.
If you and I really spent some time thinking about the question of suffering, we too might come to the conclusion that there is no God. In fact, some people have turned away from God because they couldn’t find a satisfactory answer to the question of suffering.
On the other hand, most people who have thought about the question of suffering continue to believe in God. They may never find a satisfactory answer to the question of suffering, yet they continue to believe in God.
We need to admit from the very beginning of our study that our ability to arrive at a good answer will probably be limited.
You see, we really can’t fully understand God and even though we may try to answer the question of why God allows suffering, we need to admit that our ability to arrive at a good answer will probably be limited. In other words, any answer to the question of suffering will probably not satisfy everyone completely.
The Bible says: ““For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8
We can believe in God even though we may not fully understand why bad things happen to good people. The Bible says: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29
I’m not suggesting that there is not an answer to the question of suffering, but I am saying that even if we may never fully understand why God allows suffering, we should not stop believing in God.
Another answer to the question: why do bad things happen to good people is that God is unable to prevent bad things from happening.
You probably believe that God is all-powerful. The Bible tells us that God is all-powerful. Jeremiah 32:27 “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?”
Mark 14:36 ““Abba, Father,” he said, “Everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” ”
As Bible-believing Christians we believe that God is all-powerful. God is omnipotent, but not everyone believes that God is all-powerful. Some people believe that God is powerful, but an equally powerful evil being also exists. Suffering and evil come not from the good god but from the evil god. The belief in two equally powerful gods—one good and the other evil—is called “dualism”.
People who believe in dualism, believe that: the good god and the evil god are equally powerful. They believe that God and the devil are equally powerful.
Many years ago, I visited a Pentecostal church. I was sitting in Sunday school and they were discussing Satan. One person said: “God and Satan are equally powerful.”
You may find it strange to hear that some Christians believe that God and Satan are almost equally powerful, but throughout church history, some Christians have been influenced by ideas of dualism.
The conflict between good against evil, light against darkness, God against Satan is a real conflict, but the Bible never suggests that Satan is just as powerful or even almost as powerful as God. The Bible teaches that Satan was created by God and God continues to have power and authority over Satan. God does allow Satan a certain amount of freedom, but this freedom is limited. The conflict between God and Satan is a real conflict, but God will eventually defeat Satan and bring an end to suffering.
We read in Revelation 20:10; 21:3-4
And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur . . . He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
The Bible teaches that God is all-powerful and will someday easily defeat the devil and bring an end to suffering. Dualism, on the other hand, teaches that good and evil are in a seemingly endless conflict.
Dualism teaches also that God needs us to help him win the fight against evil. The darkness can only be overcome when good men and women take a stand against evil. As soldiers of light we must conquer the darkness. As messengers of truth we must defeat the lies of Satan.
In response to dualism, we affirm that we are in a war with darkness. We are in a battle for truth, but victory does not come because of our efforts. God gives the victory. The Bible says, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57
Slide #12 There is another kind of Christian who believes that God is not all-powerful. These Christians are called “open theists”. Open Theism teaches that God is unable to prevent bad things from happening. Open Theists believe that God cannot prevent bad things from happening because God is not all-powerful.
Open theists say that in the conflict between God and Satan, Satan is able to do almost anything he wants. They believe that Satan actually has a good chance of winning the fight against God.
They believe that God can’t stop what is happening. God didn’t plan for Satan to take over his world, and now that Satan seems to be in control, God can’t stop him.
Evil seems to be outside God’s control.
Open theism raises the question: If God cannot control evil why did he create the world knowing that bad things might happen to good people?
Open theists answer the question by saying that God doesn’t knows the future. God didn’t see what was coming. God created the world and everything was good, but uh-oh, Satan came and deceived Adam and Eve and now the world is in a mess. Open theists believe that God does not know what will happen in the future.
Was God really so naïve that he couldn’t see what was coming?
The Bible says that God knows all things even the future. Isaiah 42:8-9
“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.”
Isaiah 48:3-5
I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. For I knew how stubborn you were; your neck muscles were iron, your forehead was bronze. Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened.
God has always known that bad things will happen to good people, yet for some mysterious reason, God went forward with his plan to create just such a world.
Open theism raises a second question: If God cannot control evil, will God be able to conquer evil?
The biblical response to these questions is, first of all, God is all-powerful. “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27
Secondly, God can and will stop suffering. Revelation 21:4 “[God] will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain.”
Third, God can and does control evil.
We read about God’s control over Satan in the book of Job 1:8-12
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.””
Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
The book of Job shows that God calls Satan to give an account of his activities and God must give Satan permission to afflict Job. God is all-powerful. God created all things and God governs and directs his creatures including Satan. God allows for freedom. We can choose to obey God or disobey God, yet somehow within that freedom, God still exercises his power and authority.
The book of Job is not an easy book to understand. Yet we need to study it because the book of Job helps us answer the question: why do bad things happen to good people?