WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE ?

(April 13, 2008)

I saw a bunch of postings on YouTube from this "God is Imaginary" website. Some of the questions there were completely legitimate and bound to arise when anyone starts exploring the Bible or God/Christ.

I also used to feel somewhat dismayed by the fact that the majority of Christians seem to be .. . how do I say this politely ... not "intellectuals?" Being from the East Coast I am all too familiar with the snide critical thinking involved that leads to contempt for Christianity.

I was, if not an atheist, at least VERY ANGRY at God for many, many years. I asked all those questions: God if You're so great, why didn't you keep Adam from biting that apple? God if You're so loving why do you let poor little babies die? God if You're so awesome why are there serial killers and dictators and why can't You just fix this world and why can't You just fix me and make me perfect while You're at it? God if You are Good why do You allow this world to be so messed up ... etc, etc, etc.

Well, I fought. I raged against the machine. I felt like a rat in a cage. I communed with metalheads and sympathized with Satan. I felt the tragedy of Kurt Cobaine. I went deep into the rectum of gender-bending Judith Butler NYU anti-phallocratic pro-choice lesbian feminist theory. I got A's.

And I came out the other end a Christian.

How?

It's called aporia. I believe that is a term used to describe a state of intellectual paralysis, when you realize that you. know. NOTHING.

Assuming you believe there is a God. By definition you can't possibly understand Him. So when you try to figure out why things happen, you might as well be scratching at the Hoover Dam with a wooden toothpick thinking you can poke a hole through it. If you believe in God as Creator Omniscient, then you, little wooden toothpick, are going to be splintered into pieces. That's what the book of Job is about, too.

And sometimes it takes a whopper of a tragedy to really wake you up to that. Your child dying. Cancer. Something that cuts the bottom of your heart out and leaves you with nothing to grab. That's when you look for God and see Him, or turn your face away. That's your choice. He is there or He isn't, for you. He IS YOUR choice. That much is true. You can perfectly well decide that He doesn't exist. Does that mean it's true?

As for why bad things happen to good people. You're assuming people are good. Personally, if I were God, I would have sent the puling pathetic horrid lot of us to Hell in a Gucci handbag and said good riddance. That is a struggle I have as a Christian - I don't love people. I think people are evil. They are greedy, selfish, faithless, cruel, vain, and completely lacking in any redeeming qualities whatsoever. I pray that God will change my heart on this attitude and I have faith that He will.

But for all the smart thinking, well educated wealthy people who don't believe in God, that's fine and dandy. Guess they're not the ones who need Him. Like I said, Christianity is for stupid, ugly losers. THANK GOD.