If there is a God, why do so many bad things happen?

I can tell you really thought about this, and that is wonderful. Yes, the bible says "not by faith alone but also by works, because faith without works is dead." Knowledge is nothing without action. If you know a train is coming at 3 o'clock but you don't move, what good does it do? The reason the world is so ugly right now is because Satan is currently the ruler of this system of things.

1.John.5:19  "We know we originate with God, but the whole world is lying in the [power of the] wicked one."In matthew.3:8,9 Satan tries to temp Jesus by offering him the "Kingdoms of the world."

Luke.4:5-7  "So he brought him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth in an instant of time;  and the Devil said to him: “I will give you all this authority and the glory of them, because it has been delivered to me, and to whomever I wish I give it.  You, therefore, if you do an act of worship before me, it will all be yours."

However, God being all powerful, is not going to let his purpose for the Earth be ruined by the devil. In the garden of Eden questioned Gods sovereinty or right to rule, and so God by letting Satan rule the Earth now, is letting him prove that God is the ONLY one capable of ruling. The Earth will not always be like this. The whole theme of the bible is actually "Gods Kingdom." Have you ever thought about what God's Kingdom is that so many people pray for? If its a real government?...

(Daniel.2:44; Daniel.7:13,14; Psalm.72:1,7,8)The bible is filled with promises for the future that have not come about yet. The time we are living in now, is fortold to have come about in the bible. Its called the "time of the end" or "last days." 2. Timothy.3:1-5 "But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here.  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness,  betrayers, headstrong, puffed up [with pride], lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God,  having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power."

Matthew.24:4-12 "And in answer Jesus said to them: “Look out that nobody misleads YOU;  for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.  YOU are going to hear of wars and reports of wars; see that YOU are not terrified. For these things must take place, but the end is not yet. “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another.  All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress. “Then people will deliver YOU up to tribulation and will kill YOU, and YOU will be objects of hatred by all the nations on account of my name.  Then, also, many will be stumbled and will betray one another and will hate one another.  And many false prophets will arise and mislead many;  and because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the greater number will cool off.  But he that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved.  And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come."

The end, being the end of this worldly society. The world will no longer be seperated by imperfect human governments. We will all be at peace with eachother.

Revelation.21:4 "And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away." Psalms.37:9-11  For evildoers themselves will be cut off, But those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will possess the earth. And just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more; And you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be. But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, And they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace."

(Matthew.7:13-20 look up) I am happy to say, that I regularly have the privelege to share in preaching this good news of God's Kingdom. I would really like to send you a book, called "what does the bible really teach?" It doesn't take the place of the bible. It has many questions in it that people wonder, and it directs you to the scriptural answers. Our work is done on a voluntary basis, so it won't cost you anything. If you'd like me to send you one, or would like to talk about scriptural topics, please feel free to email me @ mountainlionz21@yahoo.com

God has given us all free will. Bad things happen partly as a result of people's free will making them happen. 'Bad' is really a judgement call based on perspective. For example, say you fell in the mud. That could be bad from your perspective, but someone else might benefit from it in some way. Suppose instead of being annoyed that you were muddy, you laughed about it? Life would be boring if no one ever fell in the mud. At least you could remember that day you fell in the mud to bring a smile to your face. What seems bad now may be a blessing to us later. When we are challenged, we grow stronger from facing the challenge. God wants us to grow in our relationship with Him. How can we grow to appreciate Him if we never have cause to ask him for help? God wants us to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind. If we don't talk to God, then how can we love Him? So you can think of bad things happening as the natural way for us to turn to God. Think of the relationship children have with their parents. When a little girl falls and scrapes her knee, she cries for her parents. When she has everything she needs, she can get lost in play and never call out to them. It is simply natural that the bad things that happen as a part of our having free will, bring us closer to God. I believe a main purpose to our Earthly existence is to learn to love God. We grow spiritually when we practice dealing with these 'bad things' through prayer and a positive attitude. If you don't have a positive attitude, then pray fervently that you will get one. Prayer works. I know.

Evil, suffering, natural disasters, etc are permitted by God because He created mankind with freedom to choose, not robots. God did not create a screwed up creation, nor impotently allow it to get this way; mankind’s persistent rebellion against Him screwed it up – the aggregate of each individual’s choices to sin. Considering numerous opportunities throughout human history, amazingly Mankind has not yet succeeded in self-annihilation…seems to speak louder than all the ‘imaginary gods’ or scientific theories that attempt to disprove the existence of a loving God who, despite our screwing-up of His creation, is nonetheless redeeming it. Evil being permitted by the Creator forces us to make a choice. Will you obey God, or rebel? Rather than simply destroy us, as our sinful rebellion so justly deserves, He has made the way for your sins to be forgiven and become part of His restoration. Why not confess your sins to Him and ask His forgiveness, He will! Then turn from them proving your repentance is real. Trust Jesus took the punishment your sins deserved, on His cross (aka “believing in Jesus”). I have done this, so can you.

Actually, if you read the bible (I know that's asking a lot, but do it at least once, please) you'll find that Satan is harmless at best and it is the god of the Jews that is the evil one running amok slaughtering entire worlds. Also, look at their respective followers. When's the last time you heard of a Satanist attempting to slaughter those who do not follow their faith? Never. Yet Christians and Muslims do such things all the time. The behavior of the followers is a good indication of the nature of the deity and honestly, there's really no way to view YHWH as anything other than evil, all things considered. Perhaps if you and others like you would quit honoring a god of destruction and hate things would get better. Start here if you must stick with the Middle Eastern lore http://joyofsatan.com/

Wait wait wait, let me answer for them

"It is gods will"

Right?

Bad things happen because that is just life, Im sorry that bad things happen to anyone but it is no higher powers will at work.

MOST 'bad things' happen because a SINFUL PERSON has made the wrong decision (yes, I'm also a sinful person). I'm not talking about things of nature like storms, earthquakes, etc. Satan can only TEMPT us to do something wrong. WE make the decision to do wrong. Satan can only do what God ALLOWS him to do.

This is a very good question and the answer is just as simple.

Please take the time to read the information via the links below, they will give you good insight to the answer to your question.

Why Does God Let Us Suffer?

http://www.watchtower.org/e/20040322/article_01.ht...

And also this one, it comes from a good little book called "What does the Bible really teach"

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_11.htm

I hope that you will look and read this information, If I can be of any more help then please feel free to mail me.

Sent with Christian love.

You get a gold star.. God wants us to freely choose to take on His character and way of life and to reject the opposite—the way of evil. Evil results from our capacity to choose to reject good. Evil involves making choices, and mankind has been given the unique gift of the capacity to make choices that involve good and evil.

Because the Devil is busy at work. There is a battle between God and the Devil. The humans are caught right in the middle and must choose. ~

Who knows the "will of god". Don't believe anybody who tells you that they know.