why do bad things happen to good people?

[natasha levchenko]

is God to blame for such calamities?
could it be Karma, the result of person's bad deeds in a past that reflect their lives today and cause suffering?
if God is loving why does not he protect good people from harm?

 

[Estro Felino]

if you talk about calamities, there's nobody to blame.
But in most case, people are victims of other people's selfishness

 

[savagewind]

is God to blame for such calamities?
could it be Karma, the result of person's bad deeds in a past that reflect their lives today and cause suffering?
if God is loving why does not he protect good people from harm?

How are you, a believer in Jesus Christ, able to call people "good"? According to you who is good?

 

[savagewind]

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone."

So, who are good people that bad things happen to?

Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? Luke 13:4

Or does Jesus ever think all the others living in Jerusalem were LESS guilty? Jesus doesn't consider guilt. Does he? Ever? Are You sure?

 

[Deshtat]

If I may, aren't bad things a way for us to appreciate good things? I mean, things can't exist without their opposite... we need prune yogurt so we can appreciate peach yogurt. We need pain, so we can appreciate pleasure. We need mean people, so we can appreciate good people. We need death, so we can appreciate life.

... well that's how I see it anyway ^^"

 

[Willamena]

Things happen, both bad and good. To suggest that no bad thing, or only good things, should happen to some people (or most people, or all) is to say that the world should be bent for some.

The world doesn't bend.

It has nothing to do with god.

 

[Riverwolf]

Because the Giants, the Primal Forces, are uncaring and unkind: one minute beneficial, then on a whim deadly and destructive.

IMO, outside human conception, there is no good and evil. These are concepts we came up with and developed over time as our social interactions became more complex; absolutely essential for civilized (that is, settled-city-based) living.

But the problem only comes when we're given an expectation that the world will reward good behavior, when that's the job of our families and friends (even when that reward is as simple as "good job").

 

[1137]

Good is subjective, bad is subjective, and things happen due to causation. One thing that is important to take into question is what you believe makes someone good or bad. Next you have to decide what makes an event good, bad, or in between. Now that you have started using the original question as a way of learning yourself, throw it out. Things simply happen, that's all there may be to it. Maybe "good" people do good things because bad things happened to them first and so they understand, which I've seen to be the case quite a lot. Perhaps less bad happens to colder, more corrupt people because of their perception. Being sick is significantly worse if you are poor and have trouble with medical bills. This will cause extra stress and make any situation seem more desperate. If someone is a sociopathic business man all that can touch them is direct attacks to themselves - they have less to call "bad" so they seem to have more "good". All in all we could play this guessing game all day long, but the simplest answer is things happen to people. That's all, no gods or karma or meaning needed.

 

[bobhikes]

is God to blame for such calamities?
could it be Karma, the result of person's bad deeds in a past that reflect their lives today and cause suffering?
if God is loving why does not he protect good people from harm?

Good people are to blame. They seek out bad and try to help it. The odds state that eventually they will find something bad they can't fix.

 

[Revoltingest]

When **** hits the fan, the resulting fecal aerosol does not discriminate between good & bad people.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

"Belief in a just world" is the term one of my sociology text books used. I nearly busted out laughing in the middle of class over the idea that people can actually believe that only good happens to good while only bad happens to bad. If that's the case, then why are so many generous and kind people (the kind who would literally give the needy the shirt of their own back) walked all over and taken advantage of while corrupt executives receive million dollar salaries and lavish bonuses over the money they saved the company by cutting the wages of those below them and laying everybody else off?

 

[The Sum of Awe]

There is no good or bad person.

There are no good or bad happenings.

There is only people, and there is only happenings.

 

[Ingledsva]

if you talk about calamities, there's nobody to blame.
But in most case, people are victims of other people's selfishness

I'm with you! :yoda:



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[ChristineES]

As a Christian, I think this verse kind of explains in a small way:

Matthew 5:45 So that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven; for his sun gives light to the evil and to the good, and he sends rain on the upright man and on the sinner.
(BBE)

 

[CynthiaCypher]

As a Christian, I think this verse kind of explains in a small way:

Matthew 5:45 So that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven; for his sun gives light to the evil and to the good, and he sends rain on the upright man and on the sinner.
(BBE)

Pretty much it. We all get sunshine and rain but some people get more rain than sunshine and that is why we are called to share our blessings with those who it rains upon all the time.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

is God to blame for such calamities?

To the extent that God is responsible for the universe, he's also responsible for whatever evil in the universe was foreseeable to him. I'm not sure whether your theology assumes that God is responsible for the universe or has perfect foresight.

could it be Karma, the result of person's bad deeds in a past that reflect their lives today and cause suffering?
if God is loving why does not he protect good people from harm?

Bad things happen when people don't know that they're happening, can't stop them from happening, or don't care to stop them. Again: I don't know enough about your theology to know which answer would apply to your particular version of God.

 

[Ingledsva]

Pretty much it. We all get sunshine and rain but some people get more rain than sunshine and that is why we are called to share our blessings with those who it rains upon all the time.

I like that.



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[George-ananda]

is God to blame for such calamities?
could it be Karma, the result of person's bad deeds in a past that reflect their lives today and cause suffering?
if God is loving why does not he protect good people from harm?

Karma and reincarnation do play a part but decrepitude and death stalks all at the least. This world is a learning ground for the soul so we shouldn't get too attached to the temporary.

I believe this universe could not have been designed better. But if we think that one physical body is all there is for each of us then it doesn't make sense. Too many are guilty of judging from too limited a perspective.

 

[1137]

I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.

Isaiah 45:7

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I believe this universe could not have been designed better.

This suggests to me that it's futile for us to try to make things better. Do you agree?