Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?

Before I start with my blog post, I have been working on a new website for my posts that will have a lot more features than this one. It is located at: ponderitinyourheart.com. It is password protected with the password "stone81". Feel free to take a look at it. I will probably finish it within the next couple of weeks and stop using this one. I have already transferred all the past posts over there. The website will be set up so that you can look up the past posts by category or search by keyword. I am also setting up a photo section, a family forum, a family calendar and a section of "good reads," articles that I have hand picked. It will still email you when a new post is posted. This website will also be mobile friendly.

Now for today's post...

Over the years I have often asked this question "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I'm sure you have asked this as well. You may even be asking this question, "Why are bad things happening to me now?"

It is hard to understand sometimes how a loving Heavenly Father can allow such bad things to happen to good, innocent people, his children. If he truly loved us, wouldn't he want to shield us from such pain and sorrow? The answer is just one word, "agency".

In order for agency to work, to be developed, we had to have choices placed before us. And in order for us to use our agency and make choices, we had to have opposition so that we would be enticed to choose.

One of the great sermons on this subject ever given is in the Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 2). Nephi, speaking to his firstborn son, Jacob says:

11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

12 Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God.

13 And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.

16 Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.

27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

I know as a parent, when I see one of my children in pain or suffering, if I could, I would step in and take the pain away. But I have learned over the years that those painful experiences have made you what you are today. And the pain you are feeling now will make you even better tomorrow. It is hard to understand this when the pain hurts so bad. But it is the opposition, and your choices during these times of opposition, that develop your God-like characteristics to become what the Father would have you be.

We are not suffering alone. Heavenly Father and his Only Begotten Son, have been through the same suffering processes;

And he [the Son of God] shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. (Alma 7:11–12)

Within a span of fifty-eight years, Mormon fought in several major battles and witnessed the death of tens of thousands of his people! Yet he was filled not with hate and bitterness but with the pure love of Christ. Try to imagine a large, powerful, battle-hardened career general standing up in testimony meeting and saying this:

Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen. (Moroni 7:47–48)

How did Mormon manage to keep his spiritual sensitivity while growing up in an environment of war? He must have been renewed by the Atonement, which can take away not only the pain of our sins but also the pain of things that happen to us over which we have no control (Alma 7:11).

Is the Atonement powerful enough to help someone who has suffered physical or sexual abuse? Absolutely. The atonement of Jesus Christ is infinite and eternal. Dr. Carlfred Broderick, a Latter-day Saint and noted family counselor, related the story of a woman who had endured such abuse. On one occasion, she asked Dr. Broderick a tough question that evoked an inspired answer:

"Where is the justice? How can God pretend to be just and send some little girls into homes where they are loved . . . and made to feel like somebody and others into homes where they are beat and molested and abused and neglected? What did I do in the pre-earth life to deserve such a family?" I felt inspired at that time to tell her that she had volunteered in the preexistence to be a savior on Mount Zion, to come to a family drowning in sickness and sin and to be the means of purifying that lineage. Before her in that line were generations of ugly, destructive, family relationships. Downstream from her purifying influence every generation would be blessed with light and love. The role of a savior, I said, is to suffer innocently for the sins of others that still others may not suffer. There can be no higher calling.

This woman had suffered abuse as a child, but the Atonement gave her the power to refuse to pass it on. It's hard to imagine a greater evil that could be done to a child. The impact of such an evil would require a power greater than the evil to bring peace and healing. The greatest power available is the atonement of Jesus Christ. Christ suffered not only for our sins but also for the bad things that happen to us.

In like manner, I see Adam and Sarah playing the role of savior as they rescue these abused children from similar generational chains of abuse. Thanks to them.

Some things in life are temporary, and some are permanent. Our temporal life is temporary. Our trials are temporary. Our pain is temporary. Because of the Savior and his atonement, our mortality will become immortality, and we may dwell with God in a state of permanent, or "never-ending happiness" (Mosiah 2:41). President Howard W. Hunter taught, "Please remember this one thing. If our lives and our faith are centered upon Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can ever go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on the Savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be permanently right."

We know that the Lord will be victorious and that his victory will be permanent. That very thought should give us faith and hope. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has observed:

The future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who wins because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team's jersey we want to wear!

Those who have done needlepoint know it's important which side of the fabric to display. One side is full of crisscrossing threads and tiny knots that make the design difficult to recognize. But when it's turned over, the entire picture comes into view. I have always loved the following poem about a needlepoint or weaving design. It helps me trust God when I can't understand why things happen the way they do.

My life is but a weaving between my God and me;
I cannot choose the colors He worketh steadily.
Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride,
Forget that He seeth the upper, and I the under side.
Not till the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful in the Weaver's skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

Someone once said that in this life suffering is mandatory, but misery is optional. No one's going to make it out of here alive. We're all going to pass through some trials and perhaps even some tragedies.

But what do we know for sure, from a source whose answers don't change? We know that God loves his children (1 Nephi 11:17). We know that part of his plan is to allow evil to exist in the world and that he is not unaffected by what happens here on earth (Moses 7:26–33). We know that if we're still alive, we have a work to accomplish (Alma 14:13). We know that the Savior suffered not only for our sins but also for our pains and afflictions (Alma 7:11–12). And we know that one day the Lord will conquer the evil one, answer all of our questions, and bless us with a fulness of joy (D&C 101:32-36).

Love, Dad

(Source material: When Times Are Tough, John Bytheway)