Roaches, Karma and Japanese Subways

Why do bad things happen to people?  Is God really in Control?...and if He is...Why did He do this to me?  Why does He let wars and starvation and horrible things happen to people?

I am going to try to tackle these questions with as little theology as possible but be advised....there will be a little!

Is rape a good thing or a bad thing?  How do you know?  Many papers and books have been written by scientists showing how rape is simply a part of our evolutionary process...We might not like it but you need to get used to it.  Could mankind become so warped as to take the rape of your wife, sister or mother as just another event of the day that needs to be dealt with...like the grocery shopping or laundry?

Folks who believe in Karma think that good intent and good deed contribute to good Karma and happier rebirths, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad Karma and bad rebirths.  With these folks, Karma in the present (the right now in the timeline of history) affects a persons future in that "right now" life as well as the nature and quality of their future lives.

So, maybe 500 years ago one of your ancestors got in a bar fight and broke the jaw of another person...Karma says payback is coming...maybe not right now in this life...but definitely in a future life.  So when the paint bucket fell off the ladder and hit your head just right and broke your jaw...that would be Karma!  You can thank your Grandpa Rufus who's been dead and buried for 450 years.

I got into live radio disagreement with a Buddhist Monk a little over twenty years ago.  A question from a caller came in asking; "What was the Buddhist way to get roaches out of your house?"  they went to commercial and when they were back on the air the Monk answered; "First, meditate....become one with the roaches.  then ask them to leave."  He followed up with; "If it doesn't work the first time then have patience to try again.  If they don't leave after a second time then they obviously have been born into a life of 'Bad Karma' and we must help them to evolve into a life of better Karma...in which case you must kill them however you can."

I took exception to this and called in.  My question:  On March 20, 1995 some radicalized Buddhists attacked Japanese subways with Sarin gas.  They managed to kill 12 people and injured over 5000.  their intent was to kill as many people as possible.  In their Doomsday Buddhist cult their reasoning was to help as many people avoid the coming doomsday as possible....they wanted to help them evolve!  So with your reasoning if we can be on the same level as roaches then murder is simply helping someone to evolve to a life of better Karma."  The monk said he could not respond to how they were thinking...and they abruptly ended the show.

Psychologists believe in a Nature vs. Nurture doctrine which ultimately says that some people are just born evil (Nature) and some are made to be that way (Nurture).  If something happens to you by their hand then just deal with it...go to therapy.

Some religions believe that some all powerful being or beings are just playing with our lives because they are bored or we didn't worship them enough.

So ultimately every religion and science has an explanation for the existence of good and evil.

For me, the only answer that makes any sense is to follow after a belief in God also known as Jehovah whose Son Jesus of Nazareth (also God) sits at His right hand and in the Holy Spirit (also God) who ministers to believers and draws people toward salvation.

There is an unshakable logic to the doctrines that surround God...but it takes time to learn them.  If you don't spend the time in learning then Jehovah just seems like other stories of other ancient religions that belong in the fairy tale section of the library.

So here is the answer to the questions posted above:  Humans were never designed to deal with the concepts of deciding what was good or what was evil.  In the beginning humans were to trust God and His judgement of what was good or evil.

When humans decided that they wanted to make those decisions for themselves, they sinned against God.  A chasm was created between God and humans that could never be crossed by anyone other than God.

So humans began deciding for themselves what was good, bad or ugly.  Their decisions...all of them...even if they got it right were still conceived in sin and so sin was at the heart of everything that humans did in the earth.  Humans released sin upon the Earth.  God has said that everything that sin produces will die.  So everything humans did was doomed to fail...everything was going to cause pain and suffering...everything was going to cause sickness and disease.  God was not involved in their death choice of sin.  Humans were the masters of their own destiny...but they didn't understand that their destiny was to be separated from God for eternity and eventually die in eternal suffering.

But God loved the humans he had created...He didn't love the sin...but he loved His children.  So He crossed that chasm as Jesus of Nazareth....a Messiah who could pay for the sins of the whole world by being sacrificed...but because he wasn't sinful Himself...He didn't have to pay the eternal price.  He paid the human price of death and burial...but because He was guilty of no sin he was raised from the dead!

So every sin has been paid for by Jesus Christ of Nazareth....Cain killing Abel, The Holocaust of the Jews by Nazi Germany, the murders committed by Charles Manson, the time you drove over the speed limit or the time you did that thing with that person.

The sin that cannot be overlooked....is the sin of unbelief on Jesus Christ as Savior.

So, sin is still happening in the world.  Sin has one undeniable path...death, destruction, pain, sickness, injury and a whole host of other things.  Yes, the sin is paid for but if unbelief still runs rampant then so do the effects of sin.

If you become a believer then yes you are freed from the power of sin...but as a believer you still live in a lost and dying world full of  sin that will affect your life...if you let it.

The Bible teaches Christians that God has given us promises, blessings, gifts, authority and power to overcome every possible way that the sin in the Earth can affect us....but....if a Christian doesn't know what the promises, blessings, gifts, authority and power are he can't have faith in them...which is the single way that God has said these things operate in our lives.

So to sum it up:  The leaders of two countries don't agree on something....whether its resources or land or even religion...so they go to war....that isn't God's fault.

Somewhere in China a brand new virus infects a few people who infect a few more....after a couple of weeks the Earth has a Pandemic and because of it people are losing their jobs...businesses are closed which means that they aren't buying stuff.  Restaurants aren't buying food which means a farmer in Idaho has to destroy a whole crop of potatoes while a little girl in Ireland hasn't eaten for three days.  God didn't do this...He is not responsible....The sin in the Earth is responsible.

In the oldest book of the Bible....Job....It says that "trouble comes" just as surely as sparks from a fire go upward......it means....stuff happens.....it's gonna happen to everybody....It doesn't mean that God is mad at you..He loves you overwhelmingly...You are His kid!...it means there is sin in the world.