Why?

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Unfortunately, the worst of times is often what we remember most. And it is in these times that a certain question always seems to reappear:

Why do bad things happen?

Or perhaps, we should rephrase it: “Why does God allow bad things to happen?”

Many people have tried to answer this. It’s a hard one for sure. But we’re not God. Maybe we wish we were, since we would never allow such a thing to happen to other people.

I suppose that no man can answer it as we would like it. But there may be answers out there—as long as we are willing to consider the arguments.

First, there are those events that are caused by man . . . the Holocaust, the Boston bombing, 9/11, Segregation, cruel torture, etc. In some ways this kind of event is easier to “explain away.” Man has free will. And he chose to use that free will to hurt others.

But then, why do we have/need free will? Wouldn’t it be better to just have man always choose the good? Then evil wouldn’t have a chance.

But would it really? We make choices every day—we choose to get up, we choose to get a glass of milk, we choose to sing while washing the dishes . . . our life is filled with choices. If there was no free will, we could not make any of these choices—regardless of how “good” or “bad” they were. And thus man would be no more than a robot—never thinking for himself, never doing anything for himself—in fact, man would cease to be human. Our intellect and our free will distinguish us from the other creatures of the earth. And yes, while these creatures are great, man has an even greater gift. That gift is freedom—the freedom to choose.

We could continue to philosophize on the same question, but to prevent our heads from spinning further, let’s move on to the next question: Why does God allow natural disasters to happen? Or disease? The Black Plague, the tsunami in Japan, Hurricane Katrina, the tornados in Oklahoma . . . we all know man can’t control the weather . . .

Here is one possible explanation.

The first has to do with science. If the world is made a certain way, and molecules and air patterns and water and all that has to follow the laws of nature have to work in a certain way, then it just makes sense why such natural disasters—or diseases—have to happen. Right?

However, this explanation doesn’t satisfy everyone. There are two other explanations. Neither, however, is particularly satisfactory and thus not very popular.

a)       “Do you think God is punishing us?”

b)       “It happened as a result of the Fall.”

The first is saying that the natural disaster occurred as a result of God’s just or unjust judgment. The second is saying that all bad things happen because of Adam and Eve’s sin a long time ago. Both explanations sound harsh if not downright unfair.

The first explanation was believed by many people for a long time. Now, it is doubtful that God directly causes hurricanes and tornados to hit cities and towns because he wants to punish people for their sins or try to “teach them a lesson.” Perhaps he does have some reason for allowing it, but that reason probably has a lot more to do with his loving people and not hating them. There’s no point in believing in a hateful God, especially if it’s not true.

The second explanation does sound a bit harsh, so let’s break it down. Let’s just say that God does allow natural disasters to happen as a result of “the Fall.” Well, you say, why can’t he just not allow these things to happen? He’s God, isn’t he? He can do whatever he wants!

But can he? God gave Adam and Eve a choice. As a result of their choice, there is evil in the world. It’s not that God necessarily wants that evil; it’s just that by the very nature of Adam and Eve’s sin, the evil—women’s labor pains, diseases, natural disasters—all that entered in with it. So, really, it’s Adam and Eve’s fault, not God’s. (And don’t forget that they were human too!)

So, if there’s any way to answer the most timeless question in history, than here was just a humble attempt. Five years later, now that your head is spinning. But then again, be glad that you have a head that can spin, because if you didn’t, then you wouldn’t be human. And then you wouldn’t be you. And that would be the real tragedy.