Why do bad things happen to good people?
It has been a harrowing week to watch the news as the death toll from the Turkish earthquakes has risen beyond 20,000. We are also very aware that in the middle of winter, with critical infrastructure so heavily damaged, that there will be some who have survived the earthquakes, only to die from a lack of access to the necessities of life. Experts also warn that disaster zones are often stalked by those seeking to ensnare the vulnerable through human trafficking. Headlines like this rightly take us to our knees in prayer and lament.
Closer to home we pray too for the people of Auckland who are facing potentially devastating rain once more as Cyclone Gabrielle heads to the North Island. We pray for those feeling the anxiety of more rain, and who will have to clean up already damaged properties and businesses.
The problem of suffering (also known as theodicy) is one that theologians have wrestled with since the very beginning. Job is probably the oldest book of the Bible, and its central question is the age-old 'why do bad things happen to good people.' Many answers have been given, some better than others. In my own wrestling with theodicy I've found the choose-your-own-adventure style book "Why is There Suffering" by Bethany Sollereder to be very helpful. We have a copy of it in our BookMarks library.
One answer from Thomas Aquinas (in very simplistic terms), is that often 'natural' evil can be understood as an imbalance between otherwise good things. "Why then is there evil? There are two reasons. First, there is evil that happens to people, and second, there is evil that is chosen by people. Evil that happens to people might have many sources, but most of them are not themselves evil. Rather, they are a conflict of goods. Two musicians could be playing very good songs. But if they play them loudly in the same small room, the conflict will not be good… My hungry stomach and the continued life of a lettuce are also set in a type of conflict, but both my being a living person who can get hungry and the life of the lettuce are good things."
Theologically, we will wrestle with those questions of evil until all tears are wiped away at the end of time. In the meantime we are called to pray and to offer practical love. I encourage you to find the time and the funds to support those who need it this week.
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