It’s a common question asked amongst the good people of the world, no matter your religion, race or creed: “Why does God let bad things happen?”

No one, and I mean no one, escapes suffering in this phase of our eternal existence we call mortality or life. It’s just the way it is. We came from heaven, known as premortality, determined to do our best, to prove to our Heavenly Father that we could be more like Him and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ MormonIn heaven we were given the opportunity to make a choice. We could follow Heavenly Father’s plan or we could follow Satan’s. By virtue of your physical existence, you chose Heavenly Father’s. The sticking point between the two plans? Free Agency.

Satan wanted to force us to live righteously and return every single one of us to Heavenly Father with no growth whatsoever, simply subjugated, dominated and uneducated.

Heavenly Father’s plan included allowing us to choose for ourselves if we wanted to follow Him or turn our backs on Him and walk away. But He refused to force us. He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior and Redeemer, to insure we would have a way to return home, whom President Thomas S. Monson, the living prophet of God, calls the Master Bridge Builder. Jesus Christ provided us bridges of obedience, service and prayer. In utilizing these bridges in mortality we are brought ever closer to our heavenly home.

In following Heavenly Father’s plan we have been given the freedom to become more like Him or the freedom to choose to follow Satan to his fiery eternal destination.

Satan and his minions were cast out of heaven for rebellion against God the Eternal Father. (Revelations 12) He holds a grudge unlike anyone you have ever met since you were born on this earth. He wants every single one of us to fail. You have something he does not, a physical body and a chance at eternal life. He has nothing but his bitterness, anger and everlasting greed and bitterness to bring us all down.

So, there are several reasons why bad things happen:

1. Choices. If you choose to become addicted to drugs and involve yourself in the continual feeding of the habit you WILL eventually rob, permanently maim or murder another human being in order feed that habit. This can often spill over to innocent human beings who had nothing to do with your choices. But your choices never effect only you. They always, always effect at least one other person if not more.

2. Bad things that happen can be turned around if we seek help from our Heavenly Father. Indeed, our Father in Heaven will never rob us of our free agency on this earth. But He cannot, nor will He, protect us from the consequences of our actions. But if we turn to Him, He will strengthen us to survive, possibly overcome, if we are willing turn to Him permanently and remember who we are.

3. Sometimes trials are given to us to make us stronger. Indeed, if we lose the “woe is me” attitude along with the “why me, why me” questions and simply ask “what would You have me learn,” then these trials become something which refine us into stronger, purer servants of God, much as gold is refined through the fires of forge, so too are we through the fires of our trials.

We have proof of a loving God, because if we turn to Him in times of unspeakable pain and horror we are given strength, comfort and peace to come this horrible time, even if it was caused by another’s actions.

Jesus, the Bridge Builder, spanned that vast chasm we call death. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22) He did for us what we could not do for ourselves; hence, humankind can cross the bridges He built—into life eternal.

I close by paraphrasing the poem “The Bridge Builder”:

“You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide—
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?”
“There followeth after me today
A vast throng whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been naught to me
To that great throng may a pitfall be.
They too must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for them.”

(Thomas S. Monson, “The Master Bridge Builder,” Ensign, Jan 2008, 4–9)

Indeed, regardless of our circumstances in life or the horrible things which occur around the world, we are children of a loving Heavenly Father who allows each of us the freedom to be a savior or murderer of His children, you and me. The consequences of each are great . . . I’ll leave it to you to figure out which set of consequences is preferable.

About Candace

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