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Q: There are multiple reasons that bad things happen to us or those that we love. Even more frustrating is why do they often happen to good people? I lost my wife to Parkinson’s, as did Father Tom. She was such a very good and special person to her students and others that it made me search hard for answers. So here is my attempt to help others understand why bad things happen to good people. First, if by being a person of faith or active in a church made us immune from misfortune, people would be joining churches solely for the purpose of immunization from misfortune. So, God must allow some random misfortune to happen, even to His faithful. Did the Lord not say that He is the vine and we are the branches? Then He followed it up with the branches will be pruned so that they may bear more fruit. Pruning is painful to the plant, and it may be necessary to prune us so that we can reach our full potential. Those that overcome adversity often become hope and role models for us when we face tough times. Finally, God allowed free will on earth and man often does misguided things with that free will that spill over onto the innocent. Everything from using toxic poisons, testing nuclear bombs above ground in the ’60s and then our many wars.

Often it seems to me our suffering is created more by man with his poor free will choices than by God. Finally, doesn’t Satan have some power on earth? Why does only God get blamed for the bad things.? What better way to turn people from God than by Satan using his earthly power to hurt those who are good, kind and are the definition of love of others?

I pray that others turn to God rather than from Him when things go bad. Because sooner or later the bad will happen to us all and it will make us feel like we have been abandoned. I was angry that He had abandoned me before realizing He was there even in my darkest hour and I had just lost sight of Him for a time. He never left me. After all, our grief can blind us at our lowest moment making us feel so alone and forgotten but please turn toward God at this time because he is there for you. God Bless. – (From D)

A: I am so proud of you, dear D, for your patient and strong faith. A problem is something you solve. A mystery is something you confront. The suffering of the innocent is a mystery. I am proud of you who is willing to confront the mystery of providence. Here are some of my confrontations with suffering.

Rabbi Shemuel ben Nachmani, a rabbi in the first century taught in the Talmud (Berakhot 55):“We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.” (ein mar'in lo l'adam ela meharhorei libo.) What this means is that we see bad things as punishment and good deeds as payment for assorted divine rewards. Neither of these beliefs are true.

If we do good to get paid off by God we are not in fact doing good at all. As Immanuel Kant taught, The only way to do a good thing is to do it for its own sake. Rabbi ben Azzai taught simply,“The reward of a good deed (mitzvah) is the mitzvah itself.”

Bad things do not only happen to good people. Bad things happen to everyone. Ernest Hemingway in his novel “A Farewell to Arms” puts it eloquently,“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”

Bad things are our lot in life and the test of our reaction to evil is how we choose to become stronger because of it or let it crush our faith. I know of no single verse in the Bible that guarantees a life journey without bumps along the way. God’s promise is that God will be with us along the way to give us hope. The famous story tells of a man who dreamt of walking with Jesus along the beach and the two sets of footprints marked their path. One day during a bad time the man dreamt the same dream, but there was only one set of footprints in the sand. The man awaked and cried out, “In my worst time you abandoned me! There was only one set of footprints.” Jesus then came to the man and said, “In your worst time there was only one set of footprints because I was carrying you.”

Finally, there is wisdom for this mystery from the East:

Be content with what you have

Rejoice in the way things are

When you realize there is nothing lacking

The whole world belongs to you – (Lao Tzu)

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.)

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