Why does God let bad things happen

Well it has been a little bit since my last post. This topic is one that has actually been on my mind a bit lately. This post is the result of a question that was asked by a teen in my churches youth group. Christians constantly talk about God being a God of love and goodness and grace and mercy. Not to mention we describe Him as all powerful and wanting the best for us, then we look around and see terrible things happening that seem to completely contradict the God is love thing. On September 11th, 2001, 2974 Americans were killed in the attacks that day. Of that 2974 at least a handful were children, the youngest of whom was 2 years old. August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed to shore in the gulf coast region of the United States nearly 2000 people lost their lives in this violent storm.

These events as well as others cause us to wonder "just where is God"? If He is so good and loving and powerful couldn't He make it so that these things don't happen? Or at the very least couldn't he protect the innocent ones like the babies and children? If we are honest we have asked these types of questions many times in our lives and quite truthfully we have come up with some less then ideal explanation as too why bad things happen to good or even innocent people. We are tempted to (and maybe do) think that God just doesn't care all that much after all or maybe He just isn't as powerful as people claim that He is. After all why would a good, all powerful God allow sin and violence and evilness to run unchecked in society. Why is it that children are often the victims of violent, senseless crimes? Why doesn't God do something? Where is God? Does He even care?

 I have asked these questions many times in my life and many times I have gotten well intentioned but meaningless cliches that left more questions unanswered than answered. Things like "it rains on the just and the unjust", why does it have to rain on the just. I can totally understand raining on the unjust. In fact I think it should flat out flood the unjust out of existence but why does it have to rain on the just? Or things like "if all we ever got in life were the good things we would stop appreciating them like we should" I would LOVE to find out if that were true because personally I think that I could handle nothing but good things in my life and NEVER lose appreciation for them. So why do bad things happen to good people. Is God all powerful? According to the Bible He is. Does God care about what happens to us here? Again, according to the Bible He does. So why doesn't He stop the evil and right the wrongs and be the ultimate super hero?

The answer to these questions is honestly not one that we want to consider (warning you are now entering the Bible zone, hopefully Bill O'Reilly won't mind the spin off of his no spin zone). The truth of scripture is that originally God created everything perfect. God Himself pronounced creation "very good" (Genesis 1:31). Think about that for a minute, God, the perfect, all powerful creator called creation very good. I would have loved to see something that GOD called very good. Included in this perfect, very good creation were two people, Adam and Eve. They also were created perfect and flawless. We have never seen perfect people so we cannot imagine what this must have been like. Everything was perfect. There was no pain, sickness, injury, or death. Bad things never happened because bad things did not exist. Everything was perfect. So what happened? How did it go from perfect and God saying it was "very good" to what we see to today? In a word, sin happened. God had given Adam and Eve a very simple rule. To paraphrase it God said "everything that you see is here for you. Every plant every piece of fruit, everything. The only thing that you can't have is the fruit if the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Everything else is yours" Sounds pretty simple, out of all the trees in the Garden of Eden just don't touch that one. Shouldn't have been to hard, but it turns out that Adam and Eve were no better at obeying God then we are. They broke the one rule God gave them and with that action sin entered into the world for the first time. See in todays society we are so used to and so comfortable with the idea of sin that we don't recognize it for the destructive force that it is. It is the one thing that God absolutely hates. Sin is like a cancer that will, if left unchecked destroy everything that it encounters. When Adam and Eve sinned the perfect creation was destroyed. Everything was changed. Now instead of nothing but pleasure and easy living there would be pain and labor. Instead of unlimited joy and happiness there would be sorrow and heartache. Instead of eternal good health there would be sickness and ultimately death. Now before we are tempted to think "boy did God ever overreact to them eating a piece of fruit", let me ask a question. Aren't we still doing the same thing that Adam and Eve did? Aren't we ignoring what God has told us to do or not do and substituting Gods word and Gods law for our own wisdom? Romans chapter one says that mankind is guilty of turning the truth of God into a lie and not acknowledging God as God. So in reality what Adam and Eve started way back in the beginning we are still continuing today. This is why we see bad things happening everyday. This is why we see events unfold that cause us to wonder where God is. Sin is running unchecked in society and we are seeing the results of it. It is destroying everything that it touches. The truth of the matter is that we live in a world that is vastly different than what God created and intended. We live in a world that is filled with violence and with hate because people are selfish have no regard for the Word of God. We want what we want and nobody not even God is going to tell us that we can't have it. See God is not unable to intervene in our lives nor is He unwilling the truth is that we have built a wall between ourselves and God, "Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." Isaiah 59:1-2. That is what we see happening in the world today.

The harsh reality is that we live in a fallen, degenerate society that has effectively kicked God out of our lives We have chosen to love our sin more than we have chosen to love God. We want to blame God when things go wrong like on 9-11 or with Hurricane Katrina. What we need to acknowledge is that it is not God who is at fault it is us. We have chosen exactly what we have gotten. Just like Adam and Eve we have decided that we will be the masters of our lives and that we will decide what we will obey instead of obeying God. The society that we have than is that legacy. The Good news is found in the implication of the passage given earlier in Isaiah. If we will turn to God and ask forgiveness for our sin (not mistakes or wrong choices but sin). God will hear us. He will forgive us and He will save us. Will this automatically restore everything to the way it was in the Garden of Eden, perfect with no pain or suffering? No it will not. Romans 8 tells us that the whole of creation groans because of the curse of sin and sin is a curse make no mistake about that. What we WILL gain by turning from our sins is personal forgiveness and cleansing. We will also gain the peace that only God can provide to deal with bad things that happen in our life. ultimately we will gain eternal life with God Himself and we will ultimately gain the priviledge of seeing God restore creation to its perfect status.

Why do bad things happen? Because we as a society and as individuals have chosen and exhalted our wisdom above Gods and our desires above Gods law. We have allowed sin to run freely and have enjoyed its company. Now is the time to turn from that and turn to God. One last verse, Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Are you heavy laden and laboring to make sense out of what is happening around us? Come to God and let Him give you the rest that Only He can give.

Husbands, are we REALLY that clueless?

Okay, I will give fair warning right at the front of this post. This will be directed mainly to husbands and if you are like me it will not be an easy read. From this point on unless otherwise specified I will be addressing husbands predominantly so when I use words like we or us I am speaking to husbands. Men, if you are like me than undoubtedly you consider yourselves as good to great husbands. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being high you would likely give yourselves between 7-10 (just to appear modest, really we consider ourselves to be 10-12). The question that we really need to be asking ourselves though is not how WE would rate ourselves, but how do our wives rate us, (here's a hint, ASK them trust me they WILL be honest). Too often we come home from work and sit down on the couch in front of the t.v. and we consider our day as over. The only thought on our mind is "when is dinner". Meanwhile our wives have a MUCH different perspective. Chances are they have had a hard day at work just like we have but on top of all that they have also: picked the kids up from school and/or daycare, are trying to get the kids homework done, make sure that the house is picked up, get dinner ready, deal with any squabbles that the kids might have, and if there are any after school actvities (sports, band practice, etc.) then our wives usually cover that as well. Then to top everything else off here comes their dear husband who promptly plops himself on the couch and immediately begins to add to his wifes stress level. "Honey. where is my________, honey have you seen________, did you remember to call about _____________, " and of course the ever popular "honey, when is dinner I'm starving" At which point we are VERY lucky if we don't find ourselves ducking from a flying frying pan. Now before I go any farther if this does not describe you as a husband than praise God and keep on supporting your wife she needs your help and is incredibly grateful for what you do. However, I have spoken to many wives, at work and various other places and this is the common description of their average day. I think men, that because our wives don't complain about what they endure day after day, we think that everything is fine and we delude ourselves into thinking that we are doing everything that we can possibly do for our wives and that they are as happy and content as they could be. Have you ever sat down and actually asked your wife to tell you how happy and satisfied she really is? Trust me, it is eye opening and not just a little ego deflating.

As men and husbands we are the ones that are supposed to lead (not dominate and boss but lovingly lead) our homes. Many times much is made of the Bible verses that speak to a wifes "submission" to her husband. We tend to ignore the fact that God requires much more from us as husbands than He does from our wives. In Ephesians 5:25 the Bible tells us "Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it". Read those words, that is a HUGE directive. First, as husbands we are instructed to LOVE our wives, and not just in some flimsy "romantic" way but in a deeply self sacrificing way. Catch the phrase "...even (or just like) as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it". Now to truly understand what kind of love that this statement has in mind we have to look at the relationship that exists between Jesus Christ and His church (which incidentally is described in the Bible as the Bride of Christ). The first thing that we see that shows Christs love for His church is that He wasn't afraid to serve it. Think about it just before Jesus and His church sat down for the last supper what do we see Jesus Christ the Son of God doing? He is going around the room performing the act of a common slave and washing the dirty feet of His disciples. His love was so deep and so intense for His church that He was not afraid to humble Himself and take on a role that was so far beneath Him. Men, husbands, when was the last time we even thought about serving our wives? When was the last time we came home from work and said "honey, I can see that you are really tired today go sit down I'll get dinner" Can you imagine the shock and then deep appreciation that our wives would have at that simply act? If we want to say that we honestly love our wives the way we are supposed to we will start showing them acts of service. We are so worried about making sure that we have every comfort that we think we deserve that we forget that when we are being pampered there is somebody doing the pampering and that someone would like nothing more than to feel and really believe that we love them in the same way that they so obviously love us. Not only was Jesus love for His church evidenced in the fact the He was willing to serve it but His love was also shown in the fact that He died for it. The Bible tells us that there is no greater love than that a man is willing to give his life for his friends (and yes our wives are supposed to be our best friends). Now before any macho husbands start thinking "hey I got this covered I would die for my wife in a heartbeat", let me burst your bubble here. The meaning here goes FAR beyond physically dying for our wives. The phrase "gave Himself" carries the connotation of completely emptying everything in Himself for the sake of His church (His bride). Think about that for a minute. We, as husbands are supposed to (if we want to love our wives correctly) give everything that is in us for our wives. That means that her needs come first, her needs are met first, her wishes are met first, we put her above ourselves. The sad reality is that oftentimes our wives get the leftovers. Why do you think it is that when it comes to getting up with a sick or crying child it is usually the wife that does it? I know, I know I have used the same excuse that you are getting ready to spout out, "she is better at handling that stuff than I am". Now if we are honest that has absolutely nothing to do with it. The truth is that we let her get up at 3 in the morning because after all we are tired and need to sleep (as if she is not tired and needing sleep probably more than we do because she is constantly working and going and our day ends when we get home from work and her day doesn't end until mercifully the kids are in bed and she is able to collapse into bed and pass out). Then we wonder and are angry when she is not "in the mood" as often as we would like her to be. Is it any wonder that this part of our relationship suffers? She is exhausted, frustrated (angry), desperate for a break, and wondering why we can't see that she is drowning. Not too mention she is also probably feeling betrayed, hurt, and generally not important to the one person that is supposed to treasure her above all else. Those feelings and emotions are hardly the making for great intimacy. They are, however, a PERFECT recipe for no intimacy and possibly if left unchecked long enough, divorce court and another clueless, confused husband wondering how a great relationship broke up. Men, do we REALLY love our wives? Do we?

Again, if this post does not describe your relationship with your wife than praise God and keep up the good work. Like I said though I have heard from many, many, many, many....many women (women who by the way DEEPLY love their husbands and want to have the best relationship possible) that this is exactly the way it often is. Men if you think that this may describe you or you really aren't sure than it is time to talk to your wives and ask for forgiveness and then start loving them the way we are supposed to and the way that they deserve. We have GREAT wives who honestly will ALWAYS out do us in terms of showing love and caring. They don't require that we match item for item what they do. It is not about keeping score. They want to know that they are loved, cherished and the MOST important person in our lives. We are great at saying "I love you". Honestly they don't want to hear that if it is not matched by actions.

Life does not come with may guarantees, but I can absolutely make this guarantee. If we as husbands will love our wives in a sacrificial way that shows that we truly do love them, our marriages will be 1000x's better in every sense.

"Husbands, love your wives, even (or just like) Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it" Ephesians 5:25. Do we love our wives? Than it is time to show it.

Truth Is Marching On-Legacy Five

The lost generation

Okay, I guess the best way to get into this is to just do it so here goes. Like I said in my profile I work as a Youth Pastor in my church, so, no surprise I have very strong religious beliefs. Since I am also a Baptist those religious beliefs tend to be conservative in nature. Probably not conservative enough for some and definitely too conservative for others. Oh well, can't please everyone right. One thing I notice as I work with the youth in our church (we have teens from 3 different middle schools and 2 different high schools)is that there are a lot of confused kids that are trying to find answers but are looking in all the wrong places. I hear alot that the youth of today are rude, inconsiderate, have no values or morals and the list goes on. My question to these statements is. What happened to cause the youth of today to become this way? Is it just that there is a unusual number of "bad kids" or is it possible that the problem is deeper than just bad kids? Is it possible that the reason why we have "bad kids" is because we as adults have dropped the ball in teaching values and morals and respect and courtesy to our kids. In the Bible we are told "Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set" Proverbs 22:28. As I see it too many landmarks of morality and just basic rightness (yes I know that is not a word) have not only been moved but flat out discarded. With the current culture of relativism and the anything goes mindset is it really any surprise that our kids are quickly losing any moral compass that they might have had. I work with 15-20 kids every week and just in that small sample I see a lostness that is hard to explain and even harder to overcome. They want answers, they just don't know where to look because we (the older ones who should have been preserving the landmarks)have worked hard to make sure that there was nothing that could impinge upon our "right" to do what we wanted. Now are kids are left trying to find their way without any kind of map or landmarks to lead them. Yes I know that there are some kids that have no excuse for their behavior and this is not meant to excuse poor behavior. I just believe that if we are honest with ourselves the kids of this generation are a direct result of previous generations eradicating any and all vestiges of morality so they (we) could then turn around and say that we could live how we wanted and there was no right or wrong absolutes. If we want to see our kids turn around and gain a sense of morality the change needs to start with us. We need to reset the landmarks and start investing in our kids. For the record the "landmarks" that I am referring to are the Biblical guidelines of morality and absolute truth and right and wrong. Until that happens we are deluding ourselves if we think that we will see a change in our kids and their behavior.

Hey everyone

Hey, I just started this blog and I am really not sure what I am doing. I am looking forward to learning all about this form of communicating. Hope to hear from some of you.