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if there is a God, why do bad things happen to good people?

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As a test of faith!

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But if your good whats the need for tests
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God Has His Reasons
For The Ways That
Operates.

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Scripture Quote
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For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
----------------------------------------
so are My ways
higher than your ways
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and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9 AMP)
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Correction: For
The Ways He
Operates.
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Wow...if someone said that to me in person I would tell them to... never mind I won't say it. God doesn't sound like a very nice person. I will leave it at that.
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That makes God sound pretty arrogant, as if he believes he is better than you. I thought God created Man in His own image. See, these are precisely the type of statements that keep me from joining the Christian cult.
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Earthly Fathers Bear Children
In Their Own Image: The
Parent's W a y s and
Understanding Is
Higher Than The
C h I l d; Not
Arrogant;
Exam-
ple.
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Most people feel that God does test us. But the Bible shows that not to be the case. Note for example what he says in this verse:

1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has taken YOU except what is common to men. But God is faithful, AND HE WILL NOT LET YOU be tempted beyond what YOU can bear, but along with the temptation he will also make the way out in order for YOU to be able to endure it."

Causeing something to happen and allowing it to happen are two totally different things.
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That's how life is...

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Life has to have ups and downs. If it were a perfect life and everyone was perfect, it would be boring!

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luv ur pic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D
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life has good things and bad things and god is a human he is watching over u but if something bad has to happen he cant get in the way!

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I've asked that question a million times and all I ever get are some convoluted answers like "It's God's will" or "As a test of faith". How does that really explain why if God is so powerful he would allow horrible things to happen to innocents?

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See Auxarcs' Answer
Just After Yours.
Great Insight
That Will
Help.
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satan
free will
human choice
choosing satan over God

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I chose neither.
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Bad things happen to everybody. Life can be a veil of tears for anyone.

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That's so true. It has NOTHING to do with God.
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Of course not neither God nor in my way of thinking Satan. Satan would get more satisfaction if people act bad of free will. He is a thinking and most likely a highly intelligent being also.
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I think you need to read the book of Job. I can tell you that this is a question we have all asked ourselves. Reading the book of Job gave me an understanding of the tests of man and faith. Good luck.

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Christian123456
Agreed!!
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It Still Pays To Get and
Stay Connected To
The G o d Of
Abraham.
Star 4
You

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Scripture Quote
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THEN JOB said to the Lord, I know that You can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained or thwarted.
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I had heard of You [only] by the hearing of the ear, but now
my [spiritual] eye sees You.
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After the Lord had spoken the previous words to Job, the Lord
said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against you and against your two
friends, for you have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job
has.
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After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his
sons? sons, even to four generations.
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So Job died, an old man and full of days. (Job 42:1, 2, 5, 7, 16, 17 AMP)
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If there are barbers, why are there so many people who has long beard, long hair living on the street or whatsoever?, you see, the answer is that because people do not come to barbers, same thing as people do not come to God. c:

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Great Example. Believe
and Receive The God
Of Abraham
T o d a y.
Star.
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If you follow that line of reason, bad things should not happen to people that believe in god and follow his will.
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It is a consequence of sin. After the Fall of man in Eden the world was cursed and we were punished. God is a just God but a merciful God. We are lucky we are even alive right now. We all (my self included) deserve to be dead and in Hell right now but God has mercy on us and can give us life if we except it and follow him. So because of our sin we have bad things happen in the world. It also can be a test of faith. Like DTM says above, Job is a great book in the Bible to learn about how God tests people through troubles and bad times.

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Christian123456
Amen!!
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Read Romans, you may find your answer there. God bless and happy reading.

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These are difficult questions to grapple with for Christians because since God is omnipotent, He does have it within His power to make this a heaven on earth. Moreover, since God cares about us, why would He allow harm to come to us if He has it in his power to stop it? When God can change the world at His whim, why is His help usually so subtle? Well, consider two things: faith and choice. First of all, if God wanted to remove all doubt about his existence, He could do so -- but, He doesn't because the cornerstone of Christianity is faith. (cont in comments)

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... if God wanted automatons who bowed to His will mechanically, He could have made us that way. Instead He chose to give us free will and the ability to choose our own path -- but, without real options, there can't be a real choice. Put another way, a "choice" isn't much of a choice when you have a gun to your head. So again, if bad things DIDN'T happen to good people, there would be very little real choice. If you wanted to live and prosper, you'd have to be a Christian because non-Christians would spend their short, unhappy lives wandering from one disaster to the next.
Of course, knowing that God wants to allow us to have faith and a choice is often a cold comfort when something terrible happens in the world, to us, or someone we love - but, it's worth remembering that we Christians believe, "Our days on earth are as transient as a shadow," while what comes afterwards is eternal. Sometimes on this side of eternity, all we can do is realize that we are going to see our share of sorrow, accept that, "God moves in mysterious ways," and keep on keeping on, secure in the knowledge that there is something better to come when this life is over.http://www.rightwingnews.com/uncategorized/why-does-god-allow-bad-things-to-happen-to-good-people/
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Go to Barnes and Noble, or Amazon, and grab a copy of the book The Problem of Pain by CS Lewis.

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if bad things didnt happen to good people, then they wouldnt be good people because its the hard times in life that make us better and stronger

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As Answered Here Already, B a d
T h i n g s Happen To Everyone
At T i m e s. It Therefore Is
V i t a l l y Important T o
Connect To J e s u s
By His Spirit To
Add Sugar To
T h e Bad
Times.
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Scripture Quote
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I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have
[perfect] peace and confidence.
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In the world you have
tribulation and trials and distress
and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be
confident, certain, undaunted]!
-----------------------------------
For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it
of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] (John 16:33 AMP)

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That's the question now. If there be an "all good" god, then, why did he allow millions of his children to be enslaved? Why did he allow millions of mothers to be robbed of their babies? Why has he allowed injustice to triumph? Why has he permitted the innocent to be imprisoned and the good to be burned? Why has he withheld his rain and starved millions of the children of men? Why has he allowed the earthquakes to devour, and the tempest to wreck and rend? Why he has caused his volcanoes to devour the good and the bad, his tsunamis to wreck and rend the generous and the cruel, his floods to drown the loving and the hateful, his lightning to kill the virtuous and the vicious, his famines to starve the innocent and criminal and his plagues to destroy the wise and good, the ignorant and wicked. Why has he allowed his enemies to imprison, to torture and to kill his friends. Why has he permitted blasphemers to flay his worshipers alive, to dislocate their joints upon racks, and to burn them at the stake. Why would even a mother has to clasp a dead children in her breast -- if there's a god?

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No matter what you say if God did kill people YOU think shouldn't have died don't you think he'd be able to resurrect them after Armageddon? Upon resurrecting them he'd give them the chance to learn about Him and worship Him. Don't you think maybe our minds are too feeble to grasp GODS decisions? Or you think that much of yourself? We need to be careful not to shape our concept of Jehovah so as to conform it to our own standards and desires. Why is this important? Well, as we study the Scriptures, some of Jehovah?s actions may seem to be not quite right from our limited, imperfect viewpoint. The ancient Israelites fell into that way of thinking and drew a wrong conclusion concerning Jehovah?s dealings with them. Notice what Jehovah said to them: ?You people will certainly say: ?The way of Jehovah is not adjusted right.? Hear, please, O house of Israel. Is not my own way adjusted right? Are not the ways of you people not adjusted right???Ezek. 18:25.
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The hope of your god's resurrecting or Armageddon is the only bee that makes honey without any flower. Because unless we can prove god himself here, it's unnecessary to assert an afterlife or Armageddon hereafter. It will not do to say that which is bad in human standard, is good in god's standard, while claiming that our standards came from god at the same tone.
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pious666- you have stated so eloquently what I have attempted so many times to say myself. You manage to cut right through the nonsense and get to the heart of the matter and I admire that about you.
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Thank you, ma'am.
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well if you believe in God you dont have to have proof of him to believe his promises. ultimately whatever you say YOU dont KNOW what awaits you pious you and everyone else alike REALLY doesnt know. all you need is big words to sway a few people
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you still didnt address my question of you thinking that highly of yourself. if you did accept there was a higher power do you think you being a human could question it?
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Of course I do. If that higher power purports to have made me in his image and gave me brain, and yet if i can't understand or question him then he is but clearly an inapt maker. Hence, unworthy of my tribute. Therefore, not a god. Can it be possible that an infinite Deity is unwilling that a man should investigate the phenomena by which he is surrounded? Can it be possible that a god delights in threatening and terrifying men without giving them reason enough of understanding him? What glory, what honor and renown a god must win on such a field! The ocean raving at a drop; a star envious of a candle; the sun jealous of a fire-fly. That doesn't make any sense to me.
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By the way, if "I don't KNOW what awaits me, I and everyone else alike REALLY doesnt know" then you MUST also NOT KNOW anything on this subject. Why then should I take your authority? If have not the right to think, why have I a brain? If I have no such right, have three or four men, or any number who may get together and sign a creed, and build a house, and put a steeple upon it, and a bell in it -- are they right - have they the right to think? I deny such absurd notion. I hold that standing in the presence of sheer Unknown, all have the same right to think, and all are equally right in the great questions of life & death. I believe that, "the man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellowmen".
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You have the right to think what you do and yea I didn't know what awaited me and I thought to myself without faith there is no hope so my existence would be pointless. I'm not the one forcing stuff at you you're saying things about God and I'm trying to reason with you but on this topic you are unreasonable. And you could ask God questions but his thinking would be on a totally different level. So like always pious agree to disagree
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In the bible it says a war broke out in heaven and Jesus cast out Satan and his demons to earth. Also it is a test to see if we maintain our loyalty to God or if we curse him when it wasn't even His fault. Satan tests us everyday in attempts to pull us away from our heavenly father

revelation 12:12
On this account be glad, YOU heavens and YOU who reside in them!+ Woe+ for the earth and for the sea,+ because the Devil has come down to YOU, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.?

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Yes, war did break out in heaven between God's Son Jesus and the Devil. But the the trouble that followed was not a test from God. Take a closer look at Job chapter 1. Note the question that God puts to Satan in verse 8. Note that God also reveals his thoughts of the kind of man Job is. Clearly, God did not have a problem with Job, but Satan did as is revealed in verses 9 through 11. Yes, it Satan, not God who puts us to the test, trying to break our integrity. God allows the test, but he is not the cause of it.
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Yes that's what I meant. Satan challenged Jehovah's sovereignty saying that no human would prove faithful if tested so therefore Jehovah allows us to be tested psalm 27:11 is an excellent verse showing how Jehovah feels
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Oh and how are you thus fine day sir?
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Hey there. Okay, not just anyone uses language like that. Sounds like a person that serves a very special God. Jehovah.
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Lol not special just a humble servant :) I'm studying with witnesses 6 months now. It's definitely the truth! It sucks because everytime I try to make a breakthrough to someone who is questioning faith some other person with a twisted understanding messes it up. But eh it's ok it's the effort we put forth that matters :)
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Ohh lol I just read that you called Jehovah is special lol. It's true he most definitely is!
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Okay this is a simple one, there is no God. Good things and bad things happen to everyone. People like be all emo and act like when bad things happen to them that life is horrible and they are treated horribly unfairly. This is not the case. You will probably find that a lot of people have a lot worse happen to them they just don't go around complaining about it. I guarantee that everyone one of these so called 'bad' people you are referring to have had plenty of bad things happen to them. Take a look at serial killers for instance. I think everyone can agree they are bad people. A massive majority of them suffered severe emotional and physical abuse as children. Don't be so naive as to think that only bad things happen to good people. I bet just as many good things have happened in your life as bad you just choose to ignore them.

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Because the people who turn there backs on neopaganism also turn their backs on the gods and godesses.the pagan God Pantheon is angry at these people's foolish choices -ESPECIALLY if they are Christian or Muslim-then the gods have had enough-that is usually why things are like that.!

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God is not to blame for the suffering and bad things that happen. As the Bible says in 1 John 5:19, "The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one." Satan has the world under his control and he is always trying to cause corruption, pain and suffering to mankind.
Sometimes bad things happen as a consequence of our imperfection and our own actions. James 1:13-15 states, "When under trial, let no one say: 'I am being tried by God.' For with evil things God cannot be tried nor does he himself try anyone. But each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin; in turn, sin, when it has been accomplished, brings forth death."
And at times, bad things happen to good people because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Ecclesiastes 9:11 demonstrates this with these words, "Because time and unforeseen occurrence befall them all."

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Good one, MsYo!
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Thanks!! :)
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Green
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Because it is a trial. everyone must go through them at one point or another, and different people have different trials.

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Because the Devils main targets are Gods Children. Those who are The Devils enemies. And God ALLOWS the trials & tribulations only to make you stronger. God turns the bad things the Devil does All Around. And in the end we come out of the struggle stronger,wiser, better, victorious.. And the devil gets mad his plans failed. Its up to us not to get consumed in the trials, but know this, God NEVER puts more on you than you can bare.

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Very well stated.
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Bad things happen not because of God, but because man brought sin into the world creating "bad", "evil", whatever you choose to label it. It is man's doing, not God's! To blame God or even Satan is to totally negate man's accountability in the mess of things.

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To find out why God allows suffering, we need to think back to the time when suffering began. When Satan led Adam and Eve into disobeying God, an important question was raised. Satan did not call into question God's power. Even Satan knows that there is no limit to God's power. Rather, Satan questioned God's right to rule. By calling God a liar who withholds good from his subjects, Satan charged that God is a bad ruler. (Genesis 3:2-5) Satan implied that mankind would be better off without God’s rulership. This was an attack on God's sovereignty, his right to rule. Adam and Eve believed the lie the devil told and thus plunged us into the condition we all find ourselves in today.

Would you like to know why God has allowed things to go on for so long?

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great answer brother
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There is no God.

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then who made this world ?
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You ever heard of this saying before "fight the great fight of faith" ? Its means when things try break you down and make your life fall apart, and make you wanna stop believing in God you have to Fight your way through your faith in God takes you how far you want to go if you dont have faith in God you cant make it. thats way you have to fight the great fight of faith. Yeah some people might say this " i do have faith but nothings happen so i give up on it" if you say that you dont have faith because if you did you would still have it. you have to have forever lasting faith. There are no GOOD people in this world world not we are not even close to being GOOD. We all have sin, lied, stole, cheated, rude to parents. We are not good. God is Good. We are human, we do stupid things. God died for all our sins. You have the nerves to call us Good. Look what God has done for us he is Good. I live each day of my life thinking God for everything he does all the good and the bad.

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just to make us more strong...!!!

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I work at a hospital and I see so many good people with cancer and I have learned that they are the angels that brings family and people together. we are all angels to each other.

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Human are not angels and people are not GOOD. . .
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Because he cannot interfere with the lives of others, he is simply there to help with the transition from a human to a spirit. He also can protect from the evil in the world, but some things are just ment to happen. It isn't really God/Cresto who you should pin point your question on, some things just happen for no reason, and the actions of oneself interperate what will happen in the future. There is so stopping destiny.

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To strengthen faith! To show humility and to give us a chance to trust God instead of relying on ourselves.

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