Another Serious Question

My brother-in-law just told me that when he was in California for the Christmas holidays, he found out about a niece he has that is suffering with Graves Disease. He said his dad told him that every time he thinks about it, he gets angry with "the man upstairs" for allowing this to happen. He asked me how I would respond to this if I were him.

I haven't answered him yet. I really don't know how to convince someone who blames God for the bad things in their life that they are wrong to blame God. All the bad things in this world are a result of sin being in the world. This is my belief due to what I have learned about God and the Bible and life. I am a Christian, so I am sure non-christians will differ with me.

What I know is that after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, Satan was let loose on the earth. He is the one that causes bad things to happen. He has this power because we humans let him have it. My son(almost 12 yrs old) was listening to our preacher talk about all the bad things that happened with Hurricane Katrina and how it affected christians and non-christians alike. The preacher asked why bad things happen and hurt the innocent? My son leaned toward me and said; "If everything was perfect on Earth and there were no suffering, there would be no desire to go to Heaven." He is pretty smart.

My thought was that if life on earth were fair, Jesus would not have needed to come to earth, live a human life and be tortured and crucified to save us from our sins. I can post scripture and go more into a detailed answer, but this is really the bottom line.