Grace School of Theology

WHY DOES THE GOOD GOD ALLOW BAD THINGS TO HAPPEN?

A Paper Presented to

Ronald Allen, Th.D.

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of

OT-516: Wisdom Literature

by

Joriel S. Asi

Lobo, Batangas, Philippines

April 22, 20
OUTLINE

WHY DOES THE GOOD GOD ALLOW BAD THINGS TO HAPPEN?

1A. Introduction
2A. Body
1B. The Condition of Mankind
2B. The Nature of God
3B. God‟s Purpose for Suffering
3A. Conclusion
 Why Does the Good God Allow Bad Things to Happen?

Introduction

This short paper is a study on the book of wisdom in the bible - Job, Proverbs,

Ecclesiastes, and Songs of Solomon. Concerning specifically the Book of Job, this paper searches

for the answer to the question why does the good God allow bad things to happen?

Recently, due to a typhoon which was not as strong as we usually expected, hit the

province of Leyte, Philippines. It caused a landslide that immediately killed 116 people while 73

were still missing. This was only one of the innumerable instances when bad things happen to

any people. The same with what happened in the Book of Job chapters 1 and 2 when bad things

happened to Job‟s possession, to his precious sons and daughters and to his physical condition

which affected his emotional, mental, and spiritual condition.

Job was a good man. Not just a good man, but as a servant of God. According to Job 1:8

(NKJV), “...there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God

and shuns evil” Not only that Job was godly, but as Don Flowers noticed it, “Not only was Job

good, he was successful...But we do not know the name of Job because of his success. We know

him because of his tragedy.”1

Everything that he had collapsed! In one of his devotionals, Pastor Charles Ibañes noted

about Job‟s condition, “He lost his livestock, his children and his health. His wife was there but

only to tell him „curse God and die‟ Job 2:9.”2 Job was left with nothing but the wife who was

supposed to be his companion for poorer or richer, in health or in sickness but found to be

hopeless and discouraging.

1
Don Flowers, “When Bad Things Happen: Blame God!: Job 1:1; 2:1-10,” Perspectives in
Religious Studies 46, no. 2 (Sum 2019): 142, accessed April 2, 2022, https://search.ebscohost.com/
login.aspx?direct= true&db=rfh&AN =ATLAiA14190629001292&site=ehost-live
2
Charles Ibañes, “HOPE - Job 19:21-27”, (Unpublished Daily Devotional)
 So, Job was a good, godly and successful man. Then why does the good God allow bad

things to happen to him in particular and possibly to all - in general? To pay attention closely to

the question, it involves God, man, and existence of suffering or bad things that happen. These

are the three main aspects we need to understand. So, we want to search for correlations about

the condition of mankind, nature of God, and His purpose for suffering.

The Condition of Mankind

Growing up, getting awestruck with the existence of life and creations is natural to

mankind. Discomfort is undesirable; feeling free and happy is pleasurable. Everybody wants to

do and be right to gain the favor of having a good life which is free from suffering. Just as Don

Flowers has illustrated his desire of summer over winter as do most wanted a kind of spirituality.

He said,

“Summer has the sense of freedom. The days are longer and the possibilities seem boundless.
You can escape the heat by going to the ocean, or to the pool. You can play golf after work, or
dig in the yard. You can eat out on the porch or take a picnic to the beach. Even the clothes we
wear are looser, cooler, and less restrictive. Summer is freer.
And if we are honest with ourselves, most of us want that kind of spirituality. We want a
spirituality that is light and breezy, one that is free and unencumbered. The sun is shining, God is
on the throne and all is well with the world. We don‟t want to worry about questions of theology
and doctrine. We try to avoid issues that make us struggle, that make us squirm. Our faith merely
3
calls on us to love Jesus and get along with others. And everything else will take care of itself. ”
It is so natural to mankind to avoid or reject bad things to happen. Suffering is not part of

the good life everybody is designed for. Suffering belongs to evil. It is evil. To man therefore, it

is abnormal for the good God to allow suffering as a part of a good life. This theological problem

that arises from suffering, according to Nora Carroll from the The Graduate Center, City

3
Don Flowers, “ When Bad Things Happen: Blame God!: Job 1:1; 2:1-10,” Perspectives in
Religious Studies 46, no. 2 (Sum 2019): 141, accessed April 2, 2022, https://search.ebscohost.com/
login.aspx? direct= true&db=rfh&AN =ATLAiA14190629001292&site=ehost-live.
University of New York, “are centuries old and writers in the past and present struggle with the

rectifying the benevolence of God with the realistic suffering of the world… how can God

remain good and loving when there is suffering in the world?”4

The Nature of God

While mankind understands God‟s nature of being good, as a created being, its

comprehension has limits. God‟s thought must be far beyond the way his creations think. The

Wisdom Books of the Bible have a lot of expressions on how God‟s greatness is so much higher

than anyone or anything. In Job 11:7 it says, “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can

you find out the limits of the Almighty?” Chapter 36, in verse 14 it says, “Indeed these are the

mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power

who can understand?” Verse 26, says “Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; Nor can

the number of His years be discovered.” In 37:5, it says, “God thunders marvelously with His

voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.” As king David puts it, “His greatness

is unsearchable.”

According to Dr. R. C. Sproul, first president of Reformation Bible College, “Human

beings are finite creatures, so our minds always work from a finite perspective. We live, move,

and have our being on a finite plane, but God lives, moves, and has His being in infinity. Our

finite understanding cannot contain an infinite subject; thus, God is incomprehensible. This

concept represents a check and balance to warn us lest we think we have captured altogether

4
Nora Carroll, "Tragedy and Theodicy: The Role of the Sufferer from Job to Ahab," (2018): 2,
CUNY Academic Works, https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2485.
andmastered in every detail the things of God. Our finitude always limits our understanding of

God.”5

God is not only good, but he is also just. He is perfectly right in everything He does or

allows to happen. It is even if it seems too difficult to understand from the point of view of

mankind. No wonder, later on Job realized and declared that God does not oppress or will afflict.

In Job 37:23 it says, “As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is excellent in power, In

judgment and abundant justice; He does not oppress.” God‟s goodness and being just is enough

for the human to trust Him amidst sufferings.

Not that God is only good and just, He is also holy. There is neither corruption nor

imperfection in Him. Suffering is not part of His purpose and plan. However, because of the Fall

of Man, curse enters in the race of mankind. According to the Biblword, ministry founded by

Marten Visser,

“God pronounces this three-part curse in Genesis 3: war with Satan (Genesis 3:14-15); war in the
family (Genesis 3:16); and war in the world (Genesis 3:17-19). The curse introduces extra
suffering into the world, such as Satanic oppression (Job 2:13), demon possession (Matthew
15:22; 17:15), spiritual blindness (2 Corinthians 4:4), birth defects (John 9:2), diseases (Luke
4:38) and “natural disasters” like famines (Acts 7:11). One of the things we (and no doubt God,
too) often find so awful about the curse of sin is that its sufferings can seem utterly random and
unfair. If we ask: “Why, then, does God allow the curse of sin?” The Bible assures us: God also
hates this curse, and won‟t let it continue forever (Revelation 22:3) – He subjected the world to
frustration “in hope” (Romans 8:20). However, until the curse is removed, Jesus teaches us to see
in the curse God‟s emergency warning system: our world is under God‟s judgment, and if we
6
don‟t repent, we too will all perish (Luke 13:1-5).”

5
R.C. Sproul, “God Is Incomprehensible,” September 11, 2019, accessed April 5, 2022,
https://www.ligonier.org/ posts/god-incomprehensible.
6
Biblword, “Why Does God Allow Suffering?,” February 8, 2022, accessed April 5, 2022
https://www.biblword.net/why-does-god-allow-suffering/.
 If God‟s revealed nature is His being good, just and holy, and that suffering is not

primarily His will for mankind and for the rest of the creations, then there must be a divine

purpose for suffering.

God’s Purpose for Suffering

God could have prevented suffering through eliminating the possibility of sin in His

creation. He could eliminate evil among the choices so mankind would be left nothing but good.

This would also mean eliminating free will. However, mankind was created with free will for the

loving relationship between God and man to become possible. In Job 1:22 and 2:10, God could

not prove Job‟s love and loyalty if he had no free will to deny Him. As Rufus Burrow, Jr puts it,

“God's perfect love and sense of justice will not allow God to interfere with human freedom.”7

God‟s main purpose perhaps is to draw mankind toward Him - to know more of Him, to

experience more of Him, to love and be loyal to Him.

Brian Koning, faculty at Grand Canyon University, has illustrated three purposes of

suffering8. First, it is “a consequence of sin”. One experiences suffering because of personal sin

or because of the fact that this world is fallen as a whole. Although this is not the same in the

case of Job who was good, godly and successful, but experience suffering. However, curse and

corruption that cause suffering is a consequence of sin (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:21). In

this case one would humble down and rely on the power and saving grace of God.

Second,suffering acts “as a tool of sanctification”. When bad things happen, it helps a

person to contemplate inwardly and check his condition before God. Suffering produces good

7
Rufus Burrow, Jr. 1994. “[When Bad Things Happen to Good People, by H S Kushner, 1983,
Review Article].” Encounter 55 (1): 70, accessed April 7, 2022, https://search.ebscohost.com/
login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0000876604&site=ehost-live.
8
Brian Koning, “Theology Thursday: The Purpose of Suffering,” November 11, 2021, accessed
April 5, 2022, https://www.gcu.edu/blog/theology-ministry/theology-thursday-purpose-suffering?fbclid=
IwAR2libc7W8v9np7ukVxm-VyCYlGRHyVj05Ertdxl4MImrl8tWbWMtTQhfrE#:~:text=Nothing%20
forces%20a%20 person%20to,1%3A2-4.
effect when there is a good response to it (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-4).Third, “suffering as a test

of faith.” This is exactly what Job had experienced. In chapter 1, he had lost his livestock and

children. But in verse 22 it says, “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.”

Suffering has not ended there, in chapter 2:7, Satan “struck Job with painful boils from the sole

of his foot to the crown of his head.”But Job‟s response proved his loyalty and love to God. Job‟s

says in verse 2:10, “…In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

It is clear that even though suffering is not primarily designed for us, it helps a lot for the

mankind to meet, know, and abide in God.

Conclusion:

Suffering is foreign in God‟s intended life for mankind. This is the reason why people

evade it as much as possible. While in reality, in this fallen world, suffering is inevitable, God is

abundantly powerful and sovereign. God still is in control. He has the overall plan and final

authority of all. Like what the Book of Job is teaching, God is free. He is the almighty One. He is

incomprehensible. There are plenty of great things about God that mankind has still to know.

Evil as it is, suffering could radically draw people closer to God. God in return will pour

out His favor to those who endure suffering and remain faithful to Him. As Koning concludes,

“Suffering remains evil. What must be understood though, is that suffering can be redeemed; it

can be made purposeful. When we are burdened beyond our strength, we must not become bitter

but instead allow our faith to make us better. For the Christian, we must see suffering as a trifold

call to long for a better world, to seek to become a better person and to live out a better

witness.”9

9
Brian Koning, “Theology Thursday: The Purpose of Suffering,” November 11, 2021, accessed
April 5, 2022, https://www.gcu.edu/blog/theology-ministry/theology-thursday-purpose-suffering?.