Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

By M.E. Brines

Explains tragedy from a spiritual standpoint and how we should respond. Considers the question in depth, addressing the standard atheist challenge: why would a just and loving God permit... (insert your favorite atrocity here.) Examines the Prosperity Gospel – Name it and claim it! Is suffering due to our failure to live up to God’s requirements? Is it a test of our faith? Does God protect the righteous from all harm? Is adversity proof of our spiritual inadequacy? Does Karma play a role? How does the omnipotence of God relate to cosmic justice? Are we merely puppets of our genes and cultural conditioning, predestined to Heaven or Hell by an omnipotent Creator? Is God unjust to punish finite sins with an infinite sentence to Hell? What is the purpose of Hell? (And it’s not what you think.) What does sin have to do with Free Will? What’s the Bible truth about Free Will? How does it relate to suffering? How do Islam, the Butterfly Effect, and the Wiccan Threefold Law of Return relate to the topic? Discover the Truth for yourself!

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.E. Brines
• Release date: Dec 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466052048

M.E. Brines

M.E. Brines spent the Cold War assembling atomic artillery shells and preparing to unleash the Apocalypse (and has a medal to prove it.) But when peace broke out, he turned his fevered, paranoid imagination to other pursuits. He spends his spare time scribbling another steampunk romance occult adventure novel, which despite certain rumors absolutely DOES NOT involve time-traveling Nazi vampires! A former member of the British Society for Psychical Research, he is the author of three dozen books, e-books, chapbooks and pamphlets on esoteric subjects such as alien abduction, alien hybrids, astrology, the Bible, biblical prophecy, Christian discipleship, conspiracies, esoteric Nazism, the Falun Gong, Knights Templar, magick, and UFOs, his work has also appeared in Challenge magazine, Weird Tales, The Outer Darkness, Tales of the Talisman, and Empirical magazine.

Book preview

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

By M.E. Brines

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 by M.E. Brines

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Contents

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

The Prosperity Gospel

Why an omnipotent and just God would permit war, suffering and oppression

Free Will

Miracles

Hell is not a punishment

This book quotes from the Bible extensively. If you doubt its relevance you should begin by reading The Bible - Dead Letter or Message from Your Creator.

All quotes are from the King James version. It is the translation most commonly accepted. Feel free to verify my interpretations against your preferred translation.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

This is the most important spiritual question. Most people who grew up in Christian homes but who have fallen away from the faith, point to this question not being answered satisfactorily as the primary reason for their loss of faith. Every atheist I’ve ever asked why they don’t believe in God, always brings up this issue – why would a loving God permit

The importance of this question is demonstrated by it being the subject of the entire book of Job, the oldest book in the Bible. That people today still don’t pay attention to the answer is also demonstrated by the fact that the same arguments made in the book by Job’s friends are also made today by people who would rather listen to their hurt feelings than the Word of God.

I recommend reading Job for yourself in whichever Bible translation you prefer. But in the interest of time, I’ll give you the Cliffs Note version here.

Job 1:1-12

(1) There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

(2) And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

(3) His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

(4) And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

(5) And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning,