Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
Foremost, as a Christian, I believe no one is truly “good.” As I said in my post about suffering for Adam's sin, through Adam sin entered the world. Our nature is corrupted so that it no longer resembles God’s original intent. The Bible makes it clear in Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 3:23, and 1 John 1:8 that none are righteous, that we fall short of the glory of God and that we are fooling ourselves if we believe otherwise. And in case any doubt remains, Romans 3:10-18 spells it out rather pointedly:
"There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes."
I think if we are honest with ourselves and take a good look around, we can see the applicability of these words around the globe today. We tend to compare ourselves to others and so long as someone is “worse” than us feel better about ourselves. We are using the wrong measuring stick. When measured against God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, our shortcomings and our need for God’s grace become abundantly clear.
Much suffering has nothing to do with God. Even if we accept the world’s typical definition of “good,” there are other considerations. Sin entered the world, not just humankind. That means that in this fallen world we see both natural and moral evils. Natural evils are things like floods, tornadoes, disease and such. I think we are familiar enough with moral evil that it needs no further illustration. I explained in my post regarding the suffering of children why God will not interfere with the natural laws He put in place. Unfortunately, sometimes that means that a tree is going to fall on the breadwinner of a household. I also explained in that post why God does not interfere with man’s free will. Sadly, that means “bad” people are going to sometimes murder “good” people. And not all suffering originates outside the sufferer. "Good" people suffer the consequences of their own actions when, for example, they run a red light at a busy intersection.
At other times, God is directly working in the life of the sufferer for some purpose. Our classic example comes from the Book of Job. Job was “blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1), yet God visited great suffering on him. That suffering was a crucible in which Job’s righteousness was refined. It highlighted God’s power and glory. And it demon-strated that sometimes suffering comes as the result of an unseen conflict in the spiritual world. Most importantly, Job was not being punished, but refined. His suffering was neither a result of nor a sign of God’s anger.