Hard Teaching 7 - The Big One

Is God in control of bad things on earth, and if so, why does he let them happen?

Yep, this is the Big One. The hardest, most difficult question a Christian can get asked (in my opinion). Why does a good God let bad things happen?

What can I say about this? First, to state the problem as acutely as possible: 
If God is good, presumably he doesn't want bad things happening. If he doesn't prevent them, then he must be insufficiently powerful to do anything about it. Or maybe he is powerful enough, but he just doesn't care.

It's hard work defending the idea of a good God with enough power to prevent tragedies, who doesn't. Very hard work. But I promised to try.

There's a fascinating parable that Jesus told that I always reflect on when grappling with this question. There was a farmer growing a field of corn. One night, an enemy planted seeds of a weed in his field, and as the plants sprouted, it became obvious what had happened. The farm workers asked whether they should try and weed then out, but the farmer said no. Let them both grow together until the harvest, and then we will sort them out.

"Let them both grow together until the harvest."

That reflects what we see in the world - good and evil both flourishing. But there's also a promise there that one day Things Will Be sorted Out.  
In Capitals. 
Sorted Out Once And For All.
That is very important - the idea that eventually Right will prevail. This is part of the Christian hope. One day, God will tell us all the Truth about the way things are. No one will be able to pretend any more. No one will be able to say "I was just following orders," "It wasn't my fault, I was led astray." Everyone will have to give account for their own actions.

So is that it then? We've just got to struggle on through, but at the end of all time, God will finally put things straight? 

Well, no. There is something else. But it's not what we'd expect. We'd expect something mighty, probably with a bit of smiting and thunderbolts thrown in, wouldn't we?

This is what we get: God suffers too.

God takes a dive off the deep end of heaven and plunges right into the cess pit that is the human condition. He's born in a stable, for Heaven's sake. 

He's born!! Blood and umbilical cords and screaming and crying. Then he lives, and then he dies, with blood and nails and screaming and crying.

By entering into our suffering world, and suffering within it, God found a way to redeem suffering. 

If there was a better way, don't you think he would have found it?

Jesus once said, "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a single grain. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

It comes down to trust. Is this tiny seed dying and being transformed the best way to save the world? I happen to think it is.