One of the major obstacles I faced during my journey back to God and the Catholic faith was the question of why God lets bad things happen. We have always been taught that God is good and God is love. Well, if that were true, then why do bad things happen? We hear that “Everything happens for a reason.” If that is true, what possible reason is there for taking an innocent life?

I am sure I am not the only one who has struggled with this or is struggling with it now. I also wonder how many people this has kept away from God, from believing in him. After all, it certainly is a good argument against there being a God that he allows suffering. But does he? It’s a thorny question, isn’t it?

 I guess we can say God is responsible for evil. But not in the sense you think. He is responsible because He gave us the power of free will. This means we can either do good or evil, right or wrong. God doesn’t make us choose either one. People choose to be good or evil.

When we say, “Everything happens for a reason” and “God has a plan,” I think part of the plan is to make us stronger. Sometimes, we need to suffer through bad times to learn from them.

Finally, who says God has to tell us why He does anything? God is, well, God is God. He is the creator. He is in charge. His is infinite wisdom. We don’t have to know the reasons for what He does because whatever He does is because He loves us. He wants us to spend eternity with Him. If having us go through tough times brings us closer to Him and makes us stronger, then that’s a good thing.