People frequently ask why bad things happen to good people. They think that good people deserve certain things and are taken aback that doing right doesn't bring justice or prosperity in many cases. Frequently, it brings ruin enough to dissuade certain among us from doing what is right or at least what is best for fear of what might happen. There is a simple answer to this age-old question: pests are not attracted to things that are already spoiled.
Things that have rusted or broken or rotted do not attract the forces that trend to those ends. It is things that are still functional and pure that are the targets of destructive entropic forces. Physics itself teaches us that everything small combines together in fusion and everything large breaks apart in fission until everything is lead. There must be another process of which we are as yet unaware, because lead is poison to everything except fictitious kryptonite!
Many of the people I meet who complain about why bad things happen to good people are amazed at my stance on the matter. I think they are simply looking at things with too short a wavelength. In their short-sightedness, they expect good karma or univeral powers or justice or goodness to rebound and redount when they think it ought to. The universe, however, frankly doesn't care what we think it ought to do. If life were about what men deserve, most people would have markedly different lives than the ones they lead, and if punishment or reward were immediate and quick and obvious, people would probably do what was best almost all the time. Where's the freedom in that?
Years ago, I was introduced to a book called, "The Process is the Punishment". In this fascinating book, the author considers the possibility that the process might actually be the punishment. Consistent with religious and philosophical principles in which I already believe, I begin to believe more and more that hell is on earth. In fact, I was once attacked by a dog in a city called Hell!
According to scripture, the devil has dominion over this world. He is its god. He is the great deceiver. He wants to bind us in the darkness. For many people, they suffer here so that they, as did Lazarus in the biblical tale, rest in Abraham's bosom at death. Some others 'enjoy' life here, which is actually hellish, because it robs them of their life, their wealth, their sensibilities, and everything that really matters. It might be part of the great mercy of God that when we come to judgment some of our punishment might already be programmed into the life we already led.
This world is an uncertain realm, filled with danger. Honor is underminded by the pursuit of power. Freedom is sacrificed when the weak are oppressed by the strong. However dark the day may be there are those who oppose these powerful forces, who dedicate their lives to truth, honor, and freedom. They take punishment now so that you may live in relative peace and prosperity, and One descended to live among them so that all might live in lasting happiness and peace. I encourage you to join them. Although the process might be the punishment, after the refiner's fire, the blade grows stronger, straighter, truer, and brighter, until the perfect day.
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