Responding to Justice-Only People

I bet that if you asked many of your neighbours, co-workers, and classmates if they believed that bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people, they would agree.  If people add a belief of God into the equation, then you can see why many people hold to the concept of the divine retribution principle - God blesses the righteous and afflicts the unrighteous. We reinforce this concept to our kids when we teach that there are rewards for good behaviour and discipline for bad behaviour. And reality is that there are natural consequences for bad behaviour. Like the time I almost burned down the house by playing with fire after being taught that fire was not to be played with. A hint for all you kids out there reading this... Moms notice when you cut out the carpet because a portion of it was burned.  We know bad things happen when we are bad. But how do we explain when bad things happen to good people? This was the question of Rabbi Harold Kushner. His conclusion was that God is good, but not all-powerful enough to stop evil.  How would you answer the question if asked, why do bad things happen to good people? This is part of the dialogue between Job and his counsellor Zophar in Job 20-21. May you find answers in both your suffering and witnessing.