Why does God let bad things happen?

BIBLICAL POINT OF REFERENCE:

"Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer."

~Romans 12:12

**Disclaimer: The opinions in this blog post reflect my own perspectives and understanding of Catholic Church teachings. My word is not law, as I am not God. Questions? Contact us here at SheCanLaugh!

I’m sure you all know what’s going on in the Catholic Church right now. It’s all over the news, and it’s looming over our heads as we struggle to grasp what to say and do as people of the Catholic faith.

In case you weren’t sure, I’m referring to the ongoing investigations of sexual assault and abuse by Catholic priests. As a young Catholic woman, even I can say how despicable, horrible, and heart-wrenching this time is for the Church. As the priest at mass this weekend said, “It’s embarrassing and it’s evil.” Even we know how this looks to the outside world, and it isn’t good.

All this makes me wonder why God let’s bad things happen. He lets good things happen too, but why do we have to throw the bad into the mix? What’s the point?

In my frustration over this question, I asked the Lord to plant an answer I could understand in my heart, and you know what He said?

He told me to think about Adam and Eve.

I’m not a huge fan of the story of Adam and Eve; the way I see it, they had everything, and they threw it away for a piece of fruit. Congrats you two—you’ve officially screwed over all of humanity. (I’m not bitter, I promise.)

But when God told me to look to them for the answer to my question, I saw something different: I saw myself. I saw myself and the bad decisions I make. I saw myself and the condescending voice I use with other people. I saw myself and the righteous attitude I hold over other people’s heads. I saw myself not taking the steps I need to to have a better relationship with God and with my loved ones. I saw myself saying “no” to God, just like Eve did when she gave in to temptation and ate of the forbidden fruit.

But most importantly, I saw that my actions have consequences. As discussed in last week’s blog, our decisions and free will are given to us by God because God will not force us to love Him, even though He loves us eternally. No matter what we choose, there will be an aftermath of good and/or bad results, and those results are hardly God’s fault. We see it time and time again: People make bad choices, and sometimes those choices hurt more people than any of us could have ever anticipated. And then we sit there and wonder how a God so loving and so powerful could allow us to make those choices, even though we want to be able to make our own choices. That’s a little backwards, isn’t it?

God doesn’t just let bad things happen. He allows us to choose between Him and our own greed, pride, and control. He gives us free will, and we take it from there. The recent acts that have taken place in the Church were the result of human choices and errors. It’s inexcusable, but not unforgivable, though it may seem that way now.

I get it—it’s a hard time to be a Christian right now. There’s so much we can’t control, and that includes the actions of people within the Church. But what we can control is our choice to continue to spread God’s Love to everyone. We can continue to work towards peace, to stand up for our faith, and to pray.

God’s not the bad guy here. It’s about time we stopped blaming Him for our problems.

Your Laughing Sister,

Callahan

Check out the WISDOM and WHEN LIFE DRAGS YOU DOWN quotes pages for more inspiration!