Why does God let bad things happen to good people? (was [HPforGrownups] Dumbledore and Petunia)

[Tammy Rizzo]

   _____  

From: HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com [mailto:HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of krista7



To me, the problem with Dumbledore is that he represents an ideal
(the epitome of goodness) and we all want to believe he's 
all-knowing/all-powerful; that he could allow such abuse 
just runs entirely counter to what we believe of his character. 
Actually (just thinking aloud here), I don't consider myself 
an overtly religious person, but the thread about Dumbledore 
and abused Harry really, really, really made me think about 
the ages-old debate of how an all-powerful, all-knowing, 
loving God can let bad things happen to good people. And
since I can't resolve that in a nifty email, I'm just going to
send this thought bubble out to y'all!


Krista



[Now Tammy says:] Okay, I'm taking this here from the main list, because
this is certainly not going to stay a discussion of the books, but I do have
an answer to that question, Krista.  This is, of necessity when discussing
God, going to be a religious message, so if anyone doesn't feel like reading
this, that's fine.  Hit the delete key now.  How can an all-powerful,
all-knowing, loving God let bad things happen to good people?  There are
several reasons for this, but most of them boil down to, in a single word,
agency.  
 
Agency, the ability to choose our own actions, is the greatest gift God gave
us besides life itself.  While we are here on this earth, we are free to
choose our own actions, be they right or wrong, good or bad, and we are held
accountable for the choices we make, to be (eventually) rewarded or punished
for them, according to our choices.  Agency is, in fact, one of the main
reasons why we are even here on earth to begin with (according to my
beliefs, which I suppose should be 'disclaimered' right from the front, here
-- all of this is according to my beliefs, okay?).  We are here because we
needed to have the opportunity to choose for ourselves how we would live our
lives, to follow God (whatever we may call God), or to not.  Some people can
learn to choose the right simply by watching others and learning from what
they do, but some people have to test everything themselves, and cannot
accept others' experiences as lessons for themselves.  God allows us this
agency, this ability to freely choose our own path, in order to test us, to
see if we will follow Him, or not.  Bad people who do bad things are allowed
to continue doing bad things because this is their own choice, this is their
agency in action, and until a people is 'fully ripe in iniquity' (as bad as
they can possibly get, can't get no worse if they tried, absolutely
hellaciously wicked), God allows them to exercise their agency, while
offering them redemption in the form of prophets bringing gospel truths to
them.  If a people is so far gone that none of them will accept these gospel
truths and repent, then God usually wipes them from the face of the earth,
using famine or war or natural disasters to do this.  This pattern has been
established from Old Testiment times, any Bible-readers will agree.
 
Anyway, God MUST allow bad people to do bad things, even to good people,
instead of forcing the bad people to behave, because He cannot take away our
free agency.  That would make us all merely puppets, and would NOT allow us
to grow and develop to our full potential, which is the reason we're all
here in the first place (to grow).  Were God to *FORCE* us all to obey, He
would be working against his own purpose in giving us our free agency, and
would, in effect, cease to be God.  Also, as wicked people continue their
wicked ways, the innocents they prey upon become witnesses, if you will,
against them, contributing to the wicked people's own damnation.  Now, God
being both just AND merciful, He promises blessings on those innocents,
either in this life or in the hereafter, commensurate with their sufferings
here, and with their faith in Him during those sufferings.
 
Another reason why bad things happen to good people is to bring them closer
to God, to give them reason to rely more upon Him, so that He may bless them
more fully.  Think of Job here, as an example -- Job was faithful to his
God, through several horrible losses and through terrible sickness.  Job
lost all he had, his family, his friends, his home, his health, *everything*
he had, except for his faith in his God.  Job didn't know WHY these awful
things were happening to him, but he never ceased to put his trust in his
God, and in the end, God blessed him with a new family, more friends, and
wealth more than double what he'd lost.  Granted, not all of us get to see
such a physical reward for exercising our faith in our God through troubled
times, but I know that, when hard times hit me and my family, like when we
lost our baby girl to severe birth defects, my faith in my God made these
trying times much easier to deal with, and helped ease the pain
tremendously.
 
An imperfect analogy can be drawn beteween God and parents here on earth
(imperfect because, though God is perfect, we mere mortals aren't).  Most
parents would not feel that taking their child in to get his shots is a bad
thing, though the child himself might feel it's the worst thing EVER!  The
parent would know that the shots hurt, but only for a little while, and will
leave their child better protected and more able to fend off illness than if
he didn't get the shots.  Most children, of course, would HATE their parents
(for a while) for MAKING them get stuck with needles in that awful, scary,
too-bright, smells-weird doctor's office, and wouldn't be able to understand
(at the time) why Mommy and Daddy are being so mean.  When that child grows
up, though, and develops a more adult outlook on life, he will come to
realize that his parents did NOT want to hurt him by making him get his
shots, but instead, they had his best interests in mind, and took him for
his shots because they loved him and wanted him to grow up healthy.  Most
parents would not feel that grounding a child who consistantly sneaks out is
such a bad thing, either, though, again, the child would undoubtedly HATE
his parents (for a while) for keeping him locked up like that, though later
in life the child might realize that his parents disciplined him to help him
grow into a decent, upright, good person.
 
In the same way that children cannot understand why their parents take them
for shots, or ground them, or do other things which seem counter to the
child's wants, until the child grows up and realizes that his parents have a
different perspective than he did, we mortal 'children' cannot understand
why this God who, we are told, LOVES us, lets these awful things happen to
us, until we become more like Him and can begin to understand that He, being
eternal and perfect and all-knowing, has a rather different perspective than
we mortal, flawed, confused human beings do.  If we once learn to trust Him
enough to realize that somehow, sometime, some good will come of anything
that happens to us (even if we never see that good in this lifetime), then
all things become more bearable, even the worst and most horrific things
that can happen in this mortal life.
 
I hope that this has helped you, Krista.  And if this is not the answer you
feel you need, then try this one on for size:  
 
Ponder the platypus, then tell me God doesn't like a good joke.  ;-)
 
Tammy Rizzo
HYPERLINK "mailto:ms-tamany at rcn.com"ms-tamany at rcn.com
.


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