Recently a youth
asked me this question: if God is that powerful, loving and good, why does he
allow Boko Haram to destroy innocent people, why does he allow those who serve
him to be killed by Islamic fundamentalists. Why does He allow evil to happen
to good people?
This youth was questioning
the existence of God. What was going through the mind of this youth is whether
the so-called scientists are right in saying that God is a creation of ignorant
cultures as a coping mechanism for issues in life they have no answer.
This person was
not against God. He believes in God but wanted a faith that brings head and
heart together. He wanted to reconcile his intellect with his heart but was
finding it difficult because he could not answer some questions. An anti-intellectual
stance by some well-meaning Christian leaders on issues that concern our faith
has largely produced believers with compartmentalized lives, a people who
cannot integrate their faith into everyday life.
If this question
was a faith extinguisher for this youth, it could mean that several other
youths do have the same doubt. For ease of instructing others, I want to give
you a seven-point answer to this question.
1. First, if there
is no God, there cannot be anything called evil because evil can only be known
and measured against a standard of good. Apart from God and the morality that
flows from Him there is no standard – and therefore no evil either. The fact
that we can recognize certain things as evil is one evidence that God, the
perfect good exists.
2. God created the
world good but man’s rebellion at the garden of Eden brought evil. There are
consequences for our rebellion against God. Sin is the origin of evil.
Sometimes God shields us severally from evil in this world because of his
mercy. At other times, He allows consequences of our choices to play out in
this world. In the case of Boko Haram, we do not know everything about why he
saves some people and allows others to be killed. The fact that we do not know
these things does not mean that God does not know. We can trust Him who gave
His Son for our redemption to do justice.
3. We do know
however that God does deliver his people in response to faith. God’s people
also have chosen to be martyred as an act of their faith. If God has not called
you to be a martyr, the appropriate response to affliction is to pray and
expect deliverance. The bible commands, “is any among you afflicted, let him
pray” (James 5:13).
4. God has
promised justice, and everyone eventually gets justice. God’s children who were
killed get justice in eternity. Those who killed them also get justice in
eternity. It is difficult for us to understand how eternity effectively make up
for the loss we experience in this world. But God who is the author of both
worlds and gave us ability to enjoy this world, assures us that we will be
satisfied with his justice when it is revealed in eternity. David accepted this
position when he said, "As for me, I will behold thy face in
righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness".
(Psa 17:15 KJV).
5. Those who have
been killed as God’s children have not missed out. God has transported them
from an inferior place to a superior place. Imagine a loving father who took
his son out of a village school in Zamfara and brought the boy to live with him
and school in Abuja. It may be a loss to the boy’s friends in Zamfara but not a
loss to the boy or his father. Obviously, they are in a better place. Paul said,
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 NKJV).
6. Why did God
allow them to die such a painful death, the youth also asked. Their death may
not have been painful as many people suppose. When we imagine how they died, we
are imagining a situation for which we have no grace to bear. The writer of the
Book of Hebrews tells us that grace is given at the time of need (Heb 4:16). Some
people who have come face to face with life-threatening situations have always
wondered why they acted boldly and reasoned normally until the threat was over.
Others remember how they did what was considered impossible, something they
could not replicate at normal times. What happened in the two occasions
mentioned above is that grace for that occasion was given to them. Many people
reported feelings of great fear after the threat was over. God told Apostle
Paul, “my grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor 12:9 NKJV).
7. Lastly, no one
is truly innocent. The questions we are dealing with fall within the generic
type that says, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” The Bible says that
we were born in sin. Even as babies, we were sinful human beings in small
bodies. When we grew up, we added sinful choices to our sinful nature. Therefore,
everybody deserves the wages of sin. The fact that good things happen to us
despite our sins make us to constantly respond to God with grateful hearts.
Therefore the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people” should be, “Why
do good things happen to bad people”? The answer is because our God is
merciful.
