Why are some saved and others aren’t?
Why do some suffer with cancer while others are cured?
Why do some struggle financially while others have abundance?
Why do some have difficult family relationships to navigate while others have such unity?
Why do some fail while others get accepted to every school they wanted?
Why were the faithful women of Ammonihah and their innocent children killed in the most brutal way, while a prophet of the Lord was told not to intervene?
Life can be infuriatingly unfair.
So, so, so unfair.
Elder Dale G. Renlund gave a talk in 2021 titled “Infuriating Unfairness” that shook me to the core, and I’ve quoted it often since.
I actually want to point you to this apostle’s words to answer this complicated and heartbreaking question.
Please go read or listen to that talk today.
But here are some of my favorite teachings he shared:
“I declare with all my aching heart that Jesus Christ both understands unfairness and has the power to provide a remedy. Nothing compares to the unfairness He endured.
“It was not fair that He experienced all the pains and afflictions of mankind. It was not fair that He suffered for my sins and mistakes and for yours. But He chose to do so because of His love for us and for Heavenly Father. He understands perfectly what we are experiencing.”
“In mortality, we can “come boldly” to the Savior and receive compassion, healing, and help. Even while we suffer inexplicably, God can bless us in simple, ordinary, and significant ways.”
“In the eternities, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will resolve all unfairness.”
(Go read his talk and share it with others you know are grappling with the same question.)
Life is inherently unfair, and while this unfairness is manifest in both insignificant and life-altering ways, God’s will always reigns supreme.
And Jesus PERFECTLY understands the unfairness you face.
I am sure that these righteous women and children in Ammonihah, surrounded by their beloved scriptures, praised God “even in the very act of perishing”.
Do we have the faith to praise God, despite the infuriating unfairness we have to face?
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
One Response
I love every post, but try not to post every day! But on this one, I think there is an important point to be made.
It’s true that life is unfair, but I think there is more to why bad things happen to good people than just saying, “That’s how life is.”
If people think God should have told Alma to intervene, at what point should it have happened? After a few died? After most of them died, then stop them? Or keep them from ever burning anybody? At what point do we think God should intervene so that bad things don’t happen to good people and yet bad people get punished for what they do? If we think about that, we realize the bad people have to actually DO something bad before God can punish them, and I think we all agree that they DO need punished for being evil.
If God were to protect all good and innocent people from all harm from bad people, He would be taking away the bad people’s agency, which we fought a war over. The only way to keep bad from happening to good people would be for God to be the “thought police”. He would look at their intentions and stop them before they DO anything so that good people don’t get hurt.
If we want to have agency to do good, there has to be agency to DO bad. It is one of the most important parts of God’s Plan of Salvation.