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| JUSTICE |
Why does God allow suffering and evil?
RABBI MOSHE BEN-CHAIM
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Ignorance of this topic evokes questioning God’s justice. To answer this question, one must study God’s justice shared in His Bible. It requires much study and thought. And only those who take the necessary time to study God’s words will understand and find answers. Not all questions will be answered, as man’s mind is weaker than God’s mind, and the subject is vast. But with no study, no answers are found. God gave man the Bible precisely to prove He exists, and that the justice and wisdom that guides mankind’s existence and his understanding of justice is solely designed by the Creator. Without Bible, man remains with questions.
In principle, one who follows God must have a better life than one who does not follow Him. This is because God designed happiness to be attained by following His will. Just as God designed air, water and food to perfectly satisfy man’s bodily needs, wisdom was designed to satisfy man’s psychological and mental needs at the highest level. But even a wise or righteous person makes errors, and this is when bad things can happen. But without error, or sins deserving punishment, Bible teaches that God intervenes and protects a righteous person from others seeking to harm him, from disease and from other problems, as King David discusses in Psalms, and as Bible teaches throughout. Additionally, a person cannot assess another person as “good” or righteous. Ego is powerful; we see only what others wish us to see. Many people operate to gain approval, and not because they are truly righteous. This mitigates the strength of questions on why “good” people suffer...we never know who is truly good. God alone knows man's heart: “Man sees with his eyes, but God sees the heart” (Samuel I, 16:7).
Cases like the Holocaust where masses were murdered must be the result of man's sin. God describes this method of terrible and extreme punishment in great detail in His Bible (Deut. 28:15-68) due to man’s failure to follow God’s commands. The Flood of Noah's time, Sodom's destruction and the Egyptians’ destruction are all due to man sinning to the point of no return. But when masses repent as in Jonah’s case where the great city of Ninveh repented, God spared them (Jonah 3:10). God grants man opportunities to correct himself: “For it is not My desire that anyone shall die, declares the Sovereign God. Repent, therefore, and live” (Ezek. 18:32). God gave Pharaoh many chances to repent.
But there are many times when God is not punishing man, but nature runs its course. And nature is necessary for Earth to endure. Tsunamis are the result of necessary natural laws. They can kill many, and if the country afflicted does not follow God, or follows idolatrous religions, such people are not entitled to God’s providence to protect from natural disaster. Here, we learn the principle that the right to life is “earned.” Many assume that God must under all situations preserve life. But if man does not use his God-given life as God wishes, he has lost his right to life. We must mature our thinking to match God’s terms, and cease from defending ignorant views.
Other forms of evil include human aggression towards others. But if one follows God, he earns God’s protection, as seen in God's salvation of the Jews from Egyptian bondage.
This of course is a general outline of how God relates to mankind. Greater appreciation of God's wisdom and His methods of justice are only possible through greater Bible study.
We invite you to use our Search tool, and our Philosophy and Bible Study links to continue learning about the Bible, the Jewish religion, and arrive at a fuller understanding of why evil occurs, and that God is not the cause of suffering. God created man for a great life, and Bible bears out that good people receive God's help. This is historically proven. Maimonides teaches that evils are of 3 kinds: natural causes, human aggression, and self-inflicted problems due to ignorance, which Maimonides says is the greatest cause of evil.