Why Does a Good God Allow Bad Things?

It has been said that no theology is worth believing that cannot be preached in front of the gates of Auschwitz. For more than 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, life became an evil nightmare void of meaning. I’m sure many of them asked the same question posed by the Old Testament judge, Gideon: “But if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?”⁠ (Judges 6:13).

Have you ever asked yourself that question?

I found this question particularly acute during the graveside service for my son in 2004. We had just come from the memorial service during which testimonies were shared and a biblical message of hope was delivered. The encouraging and sensitive words were like a calming balm for the weary soul, reminding me of the many biblical promises of life after death. This shot of biblical adrenaline filled me with hope, helping me look forward to a brighter future. But as family and friends gathered around the freshly dug grave and as the simple, wooden coffin was lowered into the vault, I was overwhelmingly confronted by the ever-persistent question of why. That profound and perplexing question reminded me of the abnormality of life as we know it. In the normal process of things, children bury their parents (as I had done) and not the other way around.

But life is not normal.

One writer has formulated the problem in these terms: “Sooner or later I must face the question in plain language. What reason have we, except our own desperate wishes, to believe that God is, by any standard we can conceive, ‘good?’ Doesn’t all the prima facie evidence suggest exactly the opposite?”⁠* These are not the words of an atheist or skeptic. Nor are they written by the promoters of a smear campaign against Christianity. They are the words of C. S. Lewis, one of the greatest defenders of biblical faith during the twentieth century. He wrote those words while grieving the loss of his wife to cancer. As a believer, Lewis was dealing with the problem of evil. How can a good God allow bad things? Can we reconcile what the Bible says about God—that He is good, loving, just, and kind—with the harsh realities of pain and evil in the world all around us? These questions are the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith.

About the same time that my son died, three other young people in the church of which I was the lead pastor died in tragic and seemingly nonsensical accidents. One was a young Rwandan who had immigrated to the United States along with his family. Though he and his family had come to America to flee danger, danger found him. He was crossing a street with his bicycle when a careless driver hit him broadside and fled the scene of the accident. I’ll never forget standing by his bedside in the Intensive Care Unit—touching his hand and praying with his grief-stricken mother—as he took his last few desperate breaths before passing through death’s door. Several months later, a newly married young lady from our church was crossing a street in Seattle when another inattentive driver ran over her, killing her instantly. Then, only months later, one of the closest friends of our oldest daughter was killed in a tragic head-on collision while she was driving to her elementary school where she taught underprivileged children. She is buried only a few yards from my son.

Four young lives snuffed out in the space of fifteen months. Why?

The answer to that question depends largely upon how we define two foundational pillars of God’s character—his greatness and goodness. One of the first prayers I heard as a child was: “God is great, God is good. Let us thank him for our food.” However true and full of childlike faith, the first part of that prayer highlights the conundrum posed by evil and suffering in the world. Yes, God is great, God is good, let us thank him for . . . even the evil in the world that brings about so much human suffering? After all, if God is great would he not be able to prevent evil and suffering? And if God is good, would he not be willing to prevent evil and suffering?

I wrestle with these questions from a biblical perspective in chapter two of Life with a Limp: Discovering God’s Purpose in Your Pain. The book is due to be released by June 25 and will be available on amazon.com and other online booksellers.

* C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (London: Faber and Faber, 1961), 26. The citation of Evan Braun comes from Nerin E. Gun, Eva Braun: Hitler’s Mistress (New York: Bantam Books, 1969), 209.