Why do bad things happen to good people?

In other words, why does a good God allow suffering at all? The short answer is, God loves us so much that He gives us all a free will. He won’t force anyone to spend an eternity with Him in heaven, or force us to choose Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives and have our sins forgiven. That’s all entirely up to each one of us to decide!

A good question to ask (pun intended) is, “What do you mean by good people?” Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, “Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.” And Romans 3:23 says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Also, 1 John 1:8 says, “ If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.”

Author Peter Kreeft said, “The point of our lives is not comfort, security, or even happiness … but training. Not fulfillment, but preparation. This world is a lousy home, but it’s a fine gymnasium.”

We falsely think that if we never ever had to deal with any sort of hardship, or troubles, or suffering, then we’d be totally content and fulfilled. 1 Peter 1:6-7 says, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Here’s what Paul says in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” And in verse 19 he said, “For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.”

The Biblical reality is we’re all born into sin, and the only way we can be ultimately redeemed is by saying “Yes” to Jesus and accepting His free gift of eternal salvation because He paid the price on the cross in order for our sins to be removed.