Why does God allow bad things to happen?

 

God has told us not to worry about those who can destroy the body, but those who can destroy the soul. We often see the horrific things man can do to man and we see the physical destruction in the battle of good and evil, but we cannot see the spirits which continue on. Our bodies are sacred, but in the end they are temporary housing of our spirits.

God sent his children down and hid his face because, though we professed our love to him in his presence he knew some of us may not be happy to be with him eternally. He also knew some of us would do all we could to return to him. So he created a plan and allowed us to figure it out on our own, because if He sorted us out before we could prove ourselves it would leave questions as to why some were chosen, and others not. His plan left it up to us to determine our own fate, leaving no questions.

God sent us to earth to prove to ourselves where we belong in the eternal realm. He has given us prophets to guide us and teach us how to live successfully without exposing our self to the natural consequences of sin which is further separation from God. These prophets teach us how to make decisions to get closer to God. And they try and help us understand our eternal nature and responsibility to help others enter the path which returns us to our Heavenly home. He also knew that we would make mistakes in the process of learning. We needed a Savior who could account for our injustices, those mistakes which we made in figuring things out. All impurity must be cleansed before we could return to God’s presences. And so Jesus Christ was sent to take upon himself the task of purifying those who truly humbled themselves and accepted him as their Savior. Now we had an advocate, someone who could represent us and justify our learning process before God.

Christ also stands to protect the integrity of heaven by making sure that no evil could enter heaven.

So why is evil allowed to exist? Because, a man cannot be judged by their thoughts alone, because everyone is subject to temptations. Therefore, God could not interfere with evil actions, or those who were evil could not be judged justly. Therefore evil is allowed to happen to ensure that eternal consequences are just for those who are evil and merciful to those who used their lives to do good despite their weaknesses. This life is sacred and important, but in the eternal scheme of things we will look back and see many things as part a big and beautiful plan to ensure that our eternal life is spent with those whose true desire is to be just and merciful, like our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.