Expert: Griff Ruby - 6/7/2007

Question
Hello,

I have a question please, actually my brother asked me this question and I couldn’t answer him!

There are a lot of good people in this world, why doesn’t God protect them.

For example, few days ago a young good priest was leaving the church with three other deacons and a  group of criminal terrorist Muslims were waiting for them out side shot the priest and the three deacons and killed them all in Iraq.

My question is, the priest and the three deacons were all good people why didn’t God prevent this from happening?

I know each one of us has his or her own cross to carry but why doesn’t God prevent bad things from happening?  

Answer
Fortunately for me, you have actually given me the easier question, namely why it is that bad people are empowered to harm good people.
First of all, one must start with the whys and wherefores that a person would be bad in the first place.  God gave us our power to make choices in order that we might freely choose Him and love Him and serve Him and our fellow mankind.  And obviously, the ability to choose carries with it also the ability to choose not to do as we ought, else there never was any real choice.  That some folks therefore choose to do evil by murdering their fellow man is one of the less happy consequences of having a universe in which rational beings can make choices, and so their choices mean something.
The second part of the question however has to do with why it is that once someone has chosen to do evil, why is it that others are permitted to suffer from the evil choices of those who make such evil choices.  One could posit a universe in which each of us is contained in our own little pocket of the universe, such that for all of us it is purely ourselves and God, whom we can choose for or against, and without affecting anyone else, since they would all be in their own separate pockets of reality, and with nothing but their own choices to affect them.
But again, how much reality would a choice, either good or bad, have if it had no consequences?
In a world where no bad can be done by anyone to another, neither can any good be done.  Have you ever given someone a gift?  That would not be possible in such a world where no one can affect anyone.  The bare ability to say "I love you" to someone bears with it the possibility that you can also say "I hate you."
Or one could posit a world in which God intervenes all the time to prevent bad things from happening.  Again, how would we grow and develop as individuals and saints if no evil we did could have any consequence?  In that case why not harbor all the evil that strikes our fancy since "no harm shall come of it"?
It is a sobering fact to meditate on how we really do have the power to help or hurt others, and what a responsibility that comes with what choices we make.  For there is an accounting, and those who did evil shall be punished, and those hurt by the evil shall be recompensed in the final judgement and eternity.  But for now these things happen and there is little better opportunity to practice Christian charity and forgiveness for all the evil that comes our way.  We cannot condone it of course, but should, to what limited means we have available to us, see that it is punished by law and in accordance with good order, but the crime once expiated must always be forgiven for "if we do not forgive, then neither are we forgiven."
There is tremendous grace that comes in forgiving, and which allows us to be forgiven much ourselves.
I said at the beginning that this was the "easy" question so you may wonder what I consider the more "hard" one.  Well here it is and I hope you can appreciate my attempt to address it as well:  How about bad things not caused by bad people, such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, drought and famine?  Obviously these things are not the result of moral choice and yet good people can still be the victims of them.  And my response to that can only be how these sorts of things can sometimes be judgements, and also opportunities for us to help each other in substantial ways.  Again, they are opportunities for grace as we give aid to those who are injured and lose their homes or even family members to these natural disasters.  And wouldn't it be neat if only bad people could be killed by these events, but again this goes back to a world in which God intervenes frequently and continuously, as though the world were some badly made toy which must be forever put on course since it won't go straight.  In some cases the whys and wherefores will just have to be learned from God when we go to see Him.
I hope this helps, God bless!