I know there are biblical answers to the question, ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’

I’ve heard respected, highly-educated theologians teach on the subject, and I’ve read some good articles about it. The answers made so much sense at the time.

But when I see the news reports of what’s happening in Haiti — the loss of so many loved ones and the horrible pain and suffering that so many people are enduring — the best answers in the world don’t seem to make sense. And they don’t make the grief go away.

The Bible clearly states that God punishes individuals for their sins. It also says He judges and punishes nations. But when Jesus’ disciples asked whose sin caused a man’s blindness — his or his parents – Jesus said it was neither.

When Satan went before God and asked permission to torment Job, God gave it to him, even though the Bible — God’s word — clearly states that Job was a righteous man. How can that be? How could a loving God allow such bad things to happen?

I posed some questions over lunch today with my friend, Lee Grady, the editor of Charisma magazine.

(Charisma is published by Strang Communications in Lake Mary, Florida. Lee was a reporter and writer many years ago for my newsletter, National & International Religion Report.)

Before I asked Lee why bad things happen to good people, I asked him if he thought we were getting close to Judgment Day. He said he doesn’t concern himself too much with the timing of the Day. He feels we have too many more-important things to do before the Day gets here, and he wants to invest himself in things that matter most.

When I asked about God letting these things happen in Haiti, Lee reminded me of some horrifying natural disasters where Christians responded in major ways, sending both supplies and people to help those who were devastated: thousands of missionaries and Christian aid workers responded quickly to the 2002 earthquake in Afghanistan in 2002; the devastating tsunami that killed over 230,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand; and hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Another interesting thing  Lee mentioned: following the 8.1-magnitude earthquake in 1985 that devastated Mexico City there was a massive outpouring of help from Christians. Since then, there has been a dramatic surge in Protestant Christianity. Could this be a direct result of the hard work by these missionaries and Christian aid workers?

Regardless, I don’t have the answers for all this pain. But I know Who does… And someday I hope to ask Him.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.     – I Peter 1:3-9

I left Lake Mary, Florida, and headed to Clearwater…