The KGB Oracle Forums General Public Discussion (SPECIAL ACCESS) KGB Political Debate Central Make JetStar a believer... A Challenge

I know there are terms I use that are not universal among all religions or philosophies, if you like I can list them and provide explanations.

Your question Jet is a great one. In my years of missionary service, I served in Japan, I heard it many times. It is a great and difficult question, sometimes....

While we may not have all the answers in this life, the Lord does, and we can trust Him more than anyone or anything in this world. He will help us get through everything.

So what do we know for sure, from sources whose answers don’t change? We know that God loves His children. We know that part of His plan is to allow evil to exist in the world. We know that if we’re still alive, we have a work to accomplish. We know that the Savior suffered not only for our sins, but also for our pains and afflictions, and we know that one day He will conquer the evil one, answer all our questions, and bless us with a fulness of joy.

God already knows what we’re made of, but perhaps He wants us to learn what we’re made of. I think we would all agree that we learn more from our tough times than from our easy times. Sometimes bad things happen to good people.

Sometimes our trials are a direct result of someone using their agency to do evil. Often when tragedy strikes, someone will say, “Well, it must have been God’s will.” What exactly is “God’s will”? It seems to me that God’s will is that we choose righteousness over wickedness! However, He also desires that we have a choice in the matter.

What the Lord desires is that we love one another and choose to obey Him. But some do not. They are “without affection.” Everyone on earth has agency, and sometimes those who misuse it have an impact on many innocent people.

Many of the bad things that happen are contrary to God’s will. But remember that man’s will is temporary, and ultimately God’s will is what will be done.

There are other questions in all of this, too. How many acts of premeditated evil has God prevented? How many of these tragedies could have been much worse? There is no way we could know. Sometimes we see things on the news and ask, “How could God allow this to happen?” Could it be that one day we’ll discover that God prevented much more than He allowed?

How many times has someone prayed that “we might get home in safety,” and we actually did? How many traffic accidents has He helped you avoid? How many times has He inspired you to do something that saved someone from injury? We will never know in this life.

The plan of happiness allows for agency, and therefore it also allows for evil. There is no flaw in the plan.

We may never have all the answers in this life. The newspapers, the cable news networks, and the politicians will be debating the causes and solutions to our modern problems for years. The faithful will look for answers in the scriptures, where the answers don’t change. And one day, the Lord will return and answer all our questions.