Hi Rachel Henderson,
Rachel Henderson writes:
I love to speak the truth and I have very serious questions that I think many believers would like to know the answer to. Can you tell me please why does God's word promise so much and yet fulfils so very little to nothing in the lives of many devout Christians, in terms of, for example: long life, health, peace, joy and happiness, etc? Instead, I've seen many atheists who live very healthy, prosperous and happy lives and they obviously don't believe in keeping God's commandments. Doesn't the Bible lose credibility in this way? Isn't this part of the reason why many people don't take God, His commandments or the Bible seriously?
This seems to be 'the question of evil.'
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why does God allow it?
There are two possible main answers:
1. God exists but is simply not all-powerful and omni-benevolent. That is, perhaps He doesn't see all, can't fix everything, or simply doesn't care enough to correct all of life's tragedies.
2. God does not exist and morality comes from conscious minds (like humans), not God.
Some will attempt to cling to God remaining all-powerful and omni-benevolent while saying that we just don't understand why God allows the things He allows. To me, this is the same as saying God doesn't care enough to give us the comfort we require (therefore not *omni*-benevolent) since an all-benevolent being would care about all our grievous troubles, not just the ones He deems worthy. We're not talking about comfort like having chocolate ice-cream before bed or not. We're talking comfort like having your legs chopped off and being tortured or not. To me, there is no "mysterious way" that makes such tragedies okay. And anyone who contorts themselves to believe such things can possibly be made 'valid' by some as-yet-unknown-reason has their own evil streak to be held responsible for.
An omni-benevolent God who doesn't have the heart to care about the worst stress in your life is like an all-powerful God who doesn't have the strength to prevent such pain.
That is, such a God either isn't omni-benevolent, or isn't all-powerful.
When searching for truth, the only thing you need to remember is that only what you think matters.
Just because some religious guy is at peace for this or that reason, won't help you.
Just because some atheist guy is at peace for this or that reason, also won't help you.
Being at peace means understanding *your* thoughts, why you have them, and being content with *your* answers.
My advice is to be honest with yourself, otherwise you'll continually find your thoughts at odds against your own actions. Such inner turmoil can never lead to being at peace.
Be honest with yourself, and I hope you find your path.
Truth is when actions match words.
Good luck.
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