Letter to the Editor

Bad things happen when gift of free will abused

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

To the editor:

I had not intended on sending another letter so soon, but felt compelled to do so. The reason being that as one takes notice of the world, they see a world where bad things are always seeming to happen to good people, young and old. I'm not sure if this is really so, or that it makes the news more than what it would if the bad things happened to those perceived as bad.

Often people ask if God couldn't prevent these things from happening, such as the tragedy in Connecticut. The answer is that He could. The next question is why doesn't He? This is more complicated, and I do not think I am qualified to speak for God. All I can do is offer some insight. One of God's great gifts to mankind is the gift of free will. It ranks in with forgiveness of sins, life and a place to live in His creation. God did not want to make us come to Him or force salvation on us, so He gave us free will in all things. Most of the time we use free will for good. We choose things like forgiving others, helping others, accepting Jesus, loving and comforting others. Some people, for whatever reason, pick the evil choice and pervert this gift. No matter which path you choose, other people are effected. You could call a customer service number which has been outsourced to India (just as an example), and reach an unstable person who is set off by your call to do something horrific. That may or may not be a good example, but it makes the point -- you can make a good choice and still have the result, several people down the line be that there is a bad outcome for someone. There were no guarantees that went with free choice.

The other part of the answer is, that we often tend to look at a problem rather than look through it. By looking at it, we only see a small part. The damage done or the suffering, but not any further. Looking through the problem, we can sometimes see God using that bad situation caused by the perversion of the free will He gave us to accomplish something good. Maybe you suffered, but how you endured it with God's help was an example to one that had their faith shaken before or did not have faith at all before so that they grow closer to God and accept his gift of forgiveness. This could possibly be someone you know and love or someone you will never know.

So when bad things happen to good people, remember it isn't because God doesn't love them anymore or He has deserted them. Bad things are done by bad people that are corrupting the gift of free will that God gave them so that they could freely of their own will be able to choose to have a relationship with Him. If bad times happen to you, you will not be the first or the last, just reaffirm your faith that He is by your side and will help you through it.

Gary Conley
Blytheville