Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?
There are several important factors that can help us understand this. One is that none of us could experience true joy and inner peace without the gift of free will that God has given us. Another important factor is that God placed us here on earth as an earthly school and testing period. How could we learn much and be tested if it were easy? Another very important truth to keep in mind is that, compared to eternity, our earthly school and testing period are barely a blink of an eye—less than a second—so the trials don’t actually last very long compared to the eternal rewards we will be blessed with by our loving Heavenly Father if we pass our trials well.
Free will: – – is the God-given gift and power to choose and direct our thoughts and actions. God allows us to be free to choose both good and bad thoughts and actions, right versus wrong, good versus evil, kindness versus meanness, etc. Even if a person is a slave with quite limited personal freedom, they still have the power in many areas to choose good versus evil, kindness versus meanness, to pray to God or not, etc.
Free will is one of the most important and precious gifts God has given us, and one with which we are all blessed. If we were forced to do everything God’s way or anyone else’s way—without that personal freedom—we would be mere puppets, unable to achieve any real joy or progress, or become more loving, compassionate, and altruistic within the world. The inner spirit part of us—in short, more like our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, who lived an example of a perfect, loving, and selfless life, and taught us to follow Him and do the same.
If a taskmaster forced you to perform good, thoughtful, and kind works for others, instead of being free to choose between good and evil, would you feel true love, respect, joy, and inner peace? Or would you surely feel hatred, anger, rebellion, disrespect, and so on. If you stop to reflect and pray about it, you will recognize that you would not have had true joy, love, or progress in becoming more Christ-like, better, and kinder and more loving on the inside if a taskmaster forced you to do those things. If we were all free during our earthly probation and school to choose to be good or bad, kind or evil— … And if God designed it so that only completely kind and loving people were free to choose between good and evil, and those who tended to be meaner, grumpier, and selfish would be forced by a taskmaster to perform only kind and loving acts toward others; couldn’t that possibly work?
In short, during our brief time on earth, we all had to be free to choose good or evil, not just good—although we all suffer somewhat on earth due to the bad choices of those who choose to be evil, mean, and abusive. Some of God’s justice comes during our time on earth, and some not until after our short time here. For example, it is impossible for someone to be evil, mean, and abusive and still feel true love, joy, inner peace, and trusting relationships during their time on earth. They can pretend to be happy, but within our inner spiritual selves, it is completely impossible to feel true joy and inner peace while being evil and abusive to others.
After our time on earth, the full justice and mercy of our just and loving God will take place. Those who have chosen evil will suffer for their bad choices—unless they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and have completely repented and turned from their wicked ways. When you consider all of eternity, our short time on earth is so short that even if we suffer somewhat unjustly because bad people chose to be mean to us, it won’t last long, and God will always be just, equitable, and even generous to us in the eternities. When you understand this, you will understand why God allows some bad people to get away with it during their earthly probation and schooling.
In the Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi chapter 2, verses 11 through 13: the prophet Lehi taught the following true principles: “For it must needs be that there should be an opposition in all things. For otherwise . . . righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither iniquity, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor evil . . . . neither life nor death, neither corruption nor incorruption, neither happiness nor misery, neither sensitiveness nor insensibility. Therefore, it must have been created in vain; so that there would have been no object in its creation. This therefore would have destroyed the wisdom of God, and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God. And if ye say there is no law , ye say also there is no sin. If ye say there is no sin, ye say also there is no righteousness. And if there is no righteousness, there is no happiness. And if there is no There is no righteousness or happiness, there is no punishment or misery.”
For it is necessary that there be opposition in all things. If it were not so… Neither righteousness, nor wickedness, nor holiness, nor misery, nor good nor evil, could be realized… having neither life nor death, nor corruption nor incorruption, nor happiness nor misery, nor sense nor insensibility. Therefore, it must have been created for nothing; so that there would have been no purpose at the end of its creation. Therefore, this must necessarily destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, mercy, and justice of God. And if you say there is no law, you will also say there is no sin. If you say there is no sin, you will also say there is no righteousness. And if there is no justice, there is no happiness. And if there is no justice or happiness, there will be no punishment or misery.” If you stop to reflect and pray about it, you will realize that none of us would be worthy of any reward in Heaven if we were mere puppets forced to do good while on earth. Therefore, we all needed the God-given gift of free will to have any real progress or joy, even if it means that some people will choose to be mean and grumpy to others while in their earthly school and probation.
God will hold each of us responsible for what we do and think in any given situation, etc., so our personal thoughts and actions must be under our control, or it would not be fair. On our future day of judgment before God, depending on our eternal degree of reward or punishment, it would be far better if we were the ones abused in any given situation, rather than the abuser.
On the last day of Jesus’ life on earth, He was held captive, spit on, whipped, mocked, and nailed to a cross to suffer, bleed, and die for our sins as part of His gift of atonement to pay for our sins and free us from the consequences of our own sins. Jesus was also free to choose His own thoughts and actions in that situation. And amazingly, He didn’t choose anger, hatred, or revenge. In fact, Jesus prayed to our Heavenly Father and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Jesus understood that in order to redeem us all from our sins, He, as a perfect sacrifice/lamb without blemish or sin, needed to suffer beyond all understanding that day and the night before in the Garden of Gethsemane, and bleed and die for our sins, because we are all imperfect, and we need His atonement to make it possible for us to receive forgiveness and cleansing to qualify for any Heavenly reward. Because of Jesus’ perfect love for each of us, he was willing to suffer and die for us. We needed to be cleansed from our sins to meet the demands of justice and be worthy of entering a heavenly place. In short, Jesus Christ paid a debt He didn’t owe (by suffering for our sins), because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.
Important questions to reflect on:
Is more motivation to do good developed through the use of kindness, respect, gentle guidance, and sincere discussions rather than through forceful methods? Which methods are of God and which are of the devil and his team? Some sports coaches yell and scream at their players and thus achieve limited success in “winning games” (not in building quality relationships), but isn’t it true that the best coaches, by far, are those like legendary college basketball coach John Wooden, who taught Christian principles of success through the use of methods of kindness, respect, honesty, gentle persuasion, and sincere discussions?
I had some pretty good coaches in high school sports, but the one person who made the biggest difference in helping me do better and work harder to do my best in sports and in other, more important areas of my life, was my older brother, Doug, who coached me for about an hour one day before I started high school. Reflecting on this helps me understand how powerful the concept is of being free to make your own choices and not being forced to do what someone else wants you to do. My older brother, Doug, was one of the best high school wrestlers in the state of Utah. He placed second in the state tournament, barely losing by a point or two to the state champion, who went on to become a great conference champion college wrestler at BYU. Doug taught me a couple of wrestling moves one day when I was in eighth grade and encouraged me to try out for the junior high school team when I started middle school (ninth grade) the following year. Doug then took about 30 minutes to give me one of the most persuasive motivational pitches I have ever witnessed. Doug didn’t start wrestling until 10th grade, and it took him 3 years to become one of the best in the state in his weight class. He explained that almost anyone, even a skinny kid, could become a state wrestling champion in three years if they decided to work harder than the other wrestlers. I figured, OK, since I’ll be starting on the wrestling team in 9th grade, if I work harder than the other wrestlers, I can be a two-year state champion my junior and senior years. That’s what I secretly set as my personal goal that day. I didn’t tell any of my friends or anyone else about my goal because I didn’t want anyone to laugh at me for setting a far-fetched goal that they would probably think was unrealistic. Not long after that, Doug joined the Army for a couple of years and then served a two-year Christian mission at our church. He came back in time to see me win the state wrestling championship in my weight class my senior year, after also winning it my junior year.
Looking back, I’d say the main reason I ended up becoming a two-year state wrestling champion was because of that 30-minute motivational conversation with my brother and my own private goal I set for myself that day. No one needed to pressure me to work hard because that heartfelt conversation helped motivate me so much. Instead of my brother having that argument with me, what if I had a coach who yelled and screamed at us to try to “motivate” us to work hard, like some coaches do? That really wouldn’t have motivated me to do my personal best, would it? Achieving that goal helped me realize that I could achieve other, bigger goals in my life than sports. Honestly, I’d rather watch my grandchildren play Christ-centered pickleball and ping-pong than wrestling, which doesn’t really teach or emphasize kindness and respect for opponents.
There is no principle more ennobling, strengthening, and motivating than the divine gift of free will. And there is no principle more destructive, joy-destroying, discouraging, and demotivating than forceful methods. You can usually tell whether God or the devil is the root source behind things by carefully observing the methods they use—to see if they are forceful methods or gentle and kind, with loving persuasion and encouragement.
God’s loving and kind ways of working with and motivating people, such as our own children, grandchildren, and others, are well described in this quote/revelation from the Prophet Joseph Smith: “ 41 No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, but by persuasion , by long-suffering , gentleness, meekness, and by love unfeigned;
42 through goodness and pure knowledge, which will greatly exalt the soul, without hypocrisy and without malice ;
43 Rebuking in due time, with severity , as the Holy Spirit moves you; and then showing greater love to him whom you have reproved, lest he think you an enemy;
44 so that he may know that your faithfulness is stronger than the bonds of death.
45 Let also your bowels be filled with charity toward all men, and toward those of the household of faith, and let virtue garnish your thoughts continually; then shall your confidence be strengthened in the presence of God.” Doctrine and Covenants 121:41–45.
The tactics of the devil and his team are the complete opposite with forceful methods, and taking away freedom of choice, manipulative, dishonest, deceitful, many false promises, no compassion, no true love, etc. We can all be tempted at times, to use forceful methods to get our way when a child misbehaves, etc., – – – unless we pause to prayerfully reflect deeply on the true principles as taught by Jesus Christ, on how we should work with people in all our relationships, and why. If we reflect on it and use our memory of past experiences; we may feel that whenever someone tried to force us to do something, it always damaged the relationship and demotivated us, instead of motivating and empowering us. Even doing a good and kind action or deed would not bring true joy or inner peace or help us become better and more loving within the inner spiritual part of us, if we were forced to do it, would it? No one ever becomes more like Christ or better within their inner spiritual part, through forceful methods.
Furthermore, people who feel forced or pressured to do things don’t even desire a close, trusting, open, and loving relationship with the one forcing them, right? That’s a big part of the reason why our loving Heavenly Father and our wise parents don’t use forceful methods. However, natural consequences are wise and good, like how God blesses us with greater love, joy, and inner peace when we choose to have good thoughts and actions toward others, and how we lose those gifts of God’s Spirit when we choose to treat others in mean or abusive ways. So, as parents, if we would love to always maintain a trusting and loving relationship with each of our children, we would be wise to choose never to use forceful and manipulative methods. Some child psychologists have developed a method for raising our children called “Love and Logic,” where everything is done with love, but also with logical reasoning and natural consequences for bad decisions. It is wise for a family to establish pre-established consequences (such as a time-out or loss of certain privileges) that will be lovingly enforced in the event of poor decisions or actions.
“But Elder Hunt, what about people who are unjustly imprisoned or held in slavery, which still happens in some parts of the world? They don’t have God’s gift of free will to make their own decisions, right? That’s a very good question; and yes, they have some limitations on their freedom, but they are still free to choose their own thoughts, their actions, and reactions during their brief period of probation and earthly school. For example, if they are being abused, they are still free to choose to react with silent inner prayer to connect with God and feel His love, or to react with anger and hatred. They can also choose to treat their fellow prisoners or slaves with kindness and respect. When someone is abused by an abusive parent, for example, they themselves can learn to be abusive in their relationships and when they become parents, or they can become very aware and sensitive to how that abuse makes them feel inside and choose to live a life exactly the opposite, like a little girl I know well in our Church, who chose to live a life of kindness toward others and toward her own future children; which was exactly The opposite of the abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of her abusive father. Many of Jesus Christ’s followers over the years have been unjustly abused, imprisoned, murdered/martyred, etc., yet have still been blessed with loving and joyful relationships with God, themselves, and others as they have overcome their challenges and trials.
Powerful Quotes from Jesus in the Bible: “But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” Matthew 5:44
(Pause to consider, who in the world, except Jesus Christ, and later His faithful followers, would even think of something like “love your enemies and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you?” Yet, surprisingly, it works much better for maintaining inner peace and joy in our lives than choosing the painful inner poison caused by hatred, anger, bitterness, revenge, etc.)
Isn’t it true that someone who decides to let themselves be filled with anger and hatred toward their abusers will be almost as miserable, sad, and unhappy inside as the abuser?
“But Charles, I think you must have always enjoyed a very comfortable life, with hardly any real trials or people causing you problems in your life, or you would realize that it is simply not realistic to choose not to be filled with hatred, anger, resentment, and a desire for revenge when people do bad and unfair things to persecute and hurt you.” Certainly, we could all swap stories about some of the tough trials we have endured, with difficult, unfair, abusive, unreasonable people, situations, etc. And many of you readers have been tested with tougher trials in this life than I have been so far; but even so, I and many millions of others have learned that no matter what challenges and trials we are going through; that the best solutions and answers are to give our personal best efforts to prayerfully follow the joy-producing teachings of Jesus Christ and view everything with an eternal perspective—with the ultimate goal in mind—to faithfully overcome all of this life’s trials and prepare to live forever with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and with our beloved family members and friends. I have learned that our loving Heavenly Father does not allow almost any of us to make it through our earthly school and probationary period without some really tough “trials.” Otherwise, this earthly school would be too easy…kind of like being stuck in kindergarten your whole life, which wouldn’t teach us much of any value, would it? The next time you are going through a really tough trial, like dealing with a nasty, difficult person, simply quietly repeat in your mind the great and helpful power quote: “It’s just a test, it’s just a test.” You will find that simply acknowledging that “it’s just a test” actually makes it a lot easier to handle, without letting it stress you out too much.
Bible Quote: John 15:20: “ Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me , they will also persecute you;
Bible verse: John 16:2: “Whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.
Considering that the principles of free will are so important to each of us for our growth and progress, how much freedom should we give our children to make their own decisions? Well, of course, if our toddler says he wants to go play on a busy street with cars racing by, we wouldn’t want to allow it. Every child will develop their wisdom and ability to make good, safe, and wise decisions at a different pace—but this will happen at an earlier age if we teach them not only the correct principles as taught by Jesus Christ, but also the reasons behind why God teaches us to follow his beautiful, joy-producing principles.
For example, if we simply tell our children and young people that God “commanded” us not to have any physical intimacy until marriage and never outside of marriage, without helping them clearly understand many of the most important reasons why God gave us that loving and wise command/guidance, so that we will be much more likely to end up with a more joyful, trusting, and loving marriage and family. If young people do not clearly understand why our loving Heavenly Father gave us that wonderful and loving teaching; then most young people, of course, will not have the wisdom and self-control to reserve all physical intimacy for marriage – – – especially in these modern days, with the devil and his large team of cunning and deceitful marketers, in the seedy industries of Hollywood, Glamour magazines, pornography peddlers, etc., pushing constant lies and distortions to make us believe that lots and lots of sex, even without any loving, trusting, committed marital relationship, is cool and the hottest thing to do. And they teach that self-restraint and saving physical intimacy for marriage are “old-fashioned,” and not a good or wise choice in these modern times, where they like to teach that if it feels right at the moment, do it.
I believe that if we help our children from a young age understand the joyful teachings of Jesus Christ and why God and Jesus wisely taught us His loving guiding principles (commandments), then at a young age they will be ready to make many of their own strong and wise choices for a happy life and eternity. If we try to force our children to be kind to their siblings and others and to follow God’s other commandments; then they may mostly follow them, – – – out of fear, while we are there watching them, but inside their inner spiritual part, they are likely to feel rebellious and frustrated because we are trying to force them to do what we want them to do, and when we are not “watching” them, they will be even more likely to snap and be mean to a sibling, or go against many of the other wise and joy-producing teachings of Jesus Christ. How much “joy” do the teachings of Jesus Christ bring if we feel they are being forced down our throats and if we feel “forced” or under great pressure to follow them? – – – versus if we are lovingly taught the true, correct principles of Jesus Christ, and if our home environment is always filled with unconditional love, kindness, and respect?
Powerful quote song:
I love the song from our church’s children’s songbook called “Love Spoken Here” by Janice Kapp Perry: The beautiful and true words go like this:
“I see my mother kneeling with our family every day.
I hear the words he whispers as he bows his head in prayer.
Your supplications to the Father calm all my fears,
And I am grateful that love is talked about here.
Mine is a home where every hour is blessed by the strength of priesthood power,
With father and mother at the head,
Teaching me to trust and obey;
And the things they teach are very clear,
Because here we talk about love.
I can often feel the Savior near,
When we talk about love here”
Let us remember that even good and positive messages will not be clear or even heard by our children and grandchildren if we do not speak them with love.
Another great, powerful quote: Song: “How Gentle Are God’s Commandments.” The first words of that beautiful and true song go like this:
“How lovely are the commandments of God! How kind are his precepts!
Come, cast your cares upon the Lord, and trust in his constant care.”
If we stop to reflect on why God gave us each of His commandments, we will see that they are very kind, loving, wise, and gentle.
What if your young child, ages 6 to 12, said, “Mom and Dad, I’ve decided I don’t like going to school, so I’m not going to go anymore?” What would be your wise and carefully considered response? I doubt you would say, “Sure, whatever you want, son. You’re old enough and wise enough now to make all your own decisions.”
First, hopefully you’ll want to gently and lovingly ask him or her what’s going on at school that’s making him or her feel this way, for example, are they being bullied at school?
You might ask, “Are you being verbally or physically bullied at school? Or would you just rather stay home playing video games and watching TV all day, or what exactly are you thinking?” In short, I have a feeling that between the ages of 6 and 12, you would feel that you are not yet mature and wise enough to make all of your own important decisions about things like whether or not to drop out of school – for your own future, so that you can one day financially support your own family as an adult, right?
In the United States and some other countries, going to school is a legal requirement, so you could explain it and tell your child, “You have to go to school” by law, or you and we will get into big trouble. But that’s a rather forceful approach and therefore doesn’t motivate the child to do their best in school.
Quote: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” In other words, you can try to force a child to sit in a school desk, but you can’t force him to truly open his mind and heart and wisely do his best to learn useful lessons there. If we tell a child that he must go sit in a chair at school 7 hours a day, whether he wants to or not, that certainly won’t do him much good. Instead, it will gently and lovingly help him understand the many good reasons why giving his best in school will help prepare him for a more successful and happy future. So, son, could you help me understand your reasoning as to why you think it would be a good decision for you to drop out of school at age 6 or 12, or whatever age you are? In some cases, if the mother is a stay-at-home mom, she may decide to try homeschooling, because many students learn much better and faster in a good and loving home-school environment.
What if your 6- to 12-year-old said, “Mom and Dad, I’ve decided I don’t want to go to church with the family anymore?
What is more eternally important, the principles we learn in school or the principles of Jesus Christ that we learn in church? Both are important, right? However, I must admit that some of the principles being taught recently in many public schools in America are not always important, and some are even scary to many of us parents and grandparents, aren’t they? And I clearly understand why so many parents choose homeschooling and charter schools these days to avoid some of the harmful teachings and negative peer pressure in public schools. In some charter schools, children can be in school about two days a week and work from home three days a week, and it often works out much better than many public schools. We have a young 9-year-old granddaughter, who would be in third grade in public school, but who is homeschooled and reads at about a 12th-grade level, and is far ahead in other subjects as well. We’ve been amazed at how confidently and quickly he can read any book aloud. He reads children’s storybooks to his younger siblings, but for his own enjoyment, he reads tons of much more advanced books. Our daughter-in-law takes her four children to the library every week, and each child chooses several books to read that week. My son and I worked together to build them a library room with bookshelves around the room that have shelves that reach up to the ceiling to hold hundreds of good books.
In some public schools in this country, even some high school children can barely read and comprehend what they read. However, ultimately, as a parent and grandparent, I am personally convinced that the principles of Jesus Christ we can learn in a good Christian church are far, far more important than anything we learn in school.
We have a dear friend of ours at our church who told us about the time her teenage daughter, around age 14, told them she no longer wanted to go to church. They discovered she was offended by something one or more of the children at church said or did. Our wise friend told her daughter that at that age, she felt she didn’t yet have enough experience and maturity to make such an important decision, and that as a family, “We go to church together on Sundays, and as long as you are under 18 or under our roof, we will all continue to go to church together as a family.” We are sorry to hear that she doesn’t feel much joy and inner peace attending church right now. Is there anything we can do that might help her feel and experience more joy attending church together each Sunday? In life, there will always be some people who offend us—even in church, where everyone is supposed to be on their best, kindest, and most loving behavior. A few years later, as an adult, our friend’s daughter told her parents she was so grateful they had the wisdom to help her stay with the church, even though she was being pressured to do so as a teenager. We can’t and shouldn’t give up on something as good as the church just because there might be some complications or issues to work through.
Powerful Quotes: “Not going to church because some people there aren’t perfect yet is like not going to the gym because some people are out of shape and not yet in top form.”
“The church is a hospital for sinners, not a resting place for saints.” So, in short, let’s be gentle and kind to one another in the church and everywhere else, and be thankful that God doesn’t judge us until the end of our lives, and we shouldn’t judge others either, right?
If we begin to gently and lovingly teach our children the joyful teachings of Jesus Christ from a very early age, then they will gradually gain more and more wisdom and willpower to make and keep the personal commitments they make to themselves and to God, and thus prove worthy and ready for more and more trust. However, all people, of all ages, need to be lovingly taught to be wise enough to flee a situation quickly, to walk away from temptation, just as in the true Bible story about young Joseph, who was sold into Egypt by his brothers. Remember, when he fled and quickly escaped the clutches of Potiphar’s wife, who was trying to seduce him? Let us all choose not to be afraid to flee and flee quickly from temptations, and to seek God’s help in prayer.
If you are a young (or old) single man (or woman), who has not yet found your lovely, sweet, pure wife, who has wisely been saving herself and all her physical intimacy to marry you; then she will enjoy hearing your true stories, of how you chose very firmly and unwaveringly in advance, and exactly how you chose to quickly run away in such and such a situation when a person without strong Christian morals, tried to seduce you, and how you wisely decided to never go out with her again. – – – and how and why you chose to never, not once in your life, use any mind-altering drugs, not even alcohol (beer or wine, etc.), because you did not want to ever risk having some seduction. and tempting him to have physical intimacy before marriage, while he is under the influence of mind-altering drugs, would weaken his self-control, his wisdom, and his power to choose wisely. In order for each of us to best exercise our free will with wise and super-strong perseverance, we must always and forever be free of any addictive and mind-altering drugs, which greatly weaken any person’s ability to choose wisely and strongly no matter what, in times of temptation and at all times.
“But Charles, a single sip of beer or wine or a mind-altering drug won’t hurt you, will it?” – – That’s a question (lie) the devil and his team of charlatan junk peddlers like to ask, isn’t it?
When you’re young, you might think, “Oh, I’m so strong and always in perfect control, even under intense peer pressure, that I’ll never drink too many drinks to risk being “under the influence” enough to be “under the influence.” I’m inclined to do something I wouldn’t do if I weren’t drinking or using other mind-altering drugs.”
Important Question: Is alcohol a mind-altering drug? Yes, absolutely. That’s why they have AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings everywhere to help people combat their addiction to alcohol, which is a very powerful mind-altering drug, and why it’s illegal to drink any alcoholic beverage until you’re 21, and why it’s illegal for anyone of any age to drive under the influence. How much alcohol does it take to alter your mind, your clear thinking, and your ability to resist temptation? What’s the surest way to never risk drinking too much alcohol, which will cause you to make a bad decision?
Even if you are one of the few alcohol drinkers who never, not once in your life, drinks too much and risks making a foolish mistake while under the influence; if you choose to be a drinker, it’s much more likely that your children and grandchildren will also decide to be drinkers, right? So, if you have four children, and each of them has four children—that’s 16 in their offspring by that point—then, statistically speaking, what percentage will become “problem drinkers” and thus seriously damage or destroy their own lives or the lives of others because of drinking? Is this really worth the risk?
All things considered, would you and your posterity be at greater or lesser risk of damaging or destroying your own life and/or the lives of others if you decided to be a “drinker”?
In this book, when we refer to “drinker,” we mean someone who drinks alcoholic beverages.
Wouldn’t a healthy smoothie, juice, or water be a much smarter choice? But Charles, won’t some people make fun of me and try to pressure me into drinking if I choose not to? Yes, of course, they did that to me too, but so what? My good and wise friends never tried to tempt me into these things and respected me and my choices. I am very glad that I decided at a very young age to forever be a non-drinker, non-smoker, non-drug addict, non-swearer, etc. – – – and that almost all of my posterity are choosing the same.
“But Charles, didn’t you and your posterity ever think that you might have missed out on something by choosing never to taste even a sip of beer or wine in your life?”
No, not at all. I’m grateful that we’ve decided never to try a single alcoholic beverage or other harmful or addictive drug. And even if some wines supposedly taste pretty good, how could they have more positive benefits than a healthy smoothie or juice? I don’t want any of us to feel the effects of having our minds altered by alcohol or any other drug. I feel much more peace of mind knowing that we’ll never risk a $10,000 DUI, or much worse, being seriously injured or seriously injuring someone else, by driving under the influence of alcohol, and we’ll never risk giving in to a foolish temptation by being “under the influence,” and there’s no risk of becoming an alcoholic and thus destroying relationships, etc. The National Council on Violent Crimes estimated that alcohol is a factor in 40% of violent crimes—and a large percentage of the time the abuse is inflicted on a spouse or child in the home, thus destroying family relationships.
Powerful Quotes: “Temptation wouldn’t be temptation if it didn’t seem attractive, fascinating, or fun.” Dieter Uchtdorf (so, of course, the devil and his team of liars try to make temptations seem attractive and good.)
“There is no right way to do something wrong.”
Did you know that “peer pressure” is one of the devil’s most powerful and favorite tools to pressure God’s children into making foolish decisions? How important is it that you make your own important decisions in life and never consider following peer pressure?
What good is your God-given gift of “free agency” if you allow your peers to make decisions for you? – – – Should I choose for the first time to try tobacco, alcohol, drugs, pornography, gambling, profanity or vulgar language, verbally abusive words toward other children of God, etc.?
If the devil and his team, who will do anything for money, can get you to partake of the first drug, they begin to have the power to take away your God-given gift of free will—so they will give you the first ones “for free,” knowing that the addictive powers of drugs will take away much or all of your freedom to make your own wise life choices. Many people without character or love for their fellow man make a lot of dirty money selling their addictive substances to unsuspecting victims. One of my kind and honest Christian insurance clients told me he knew he could make close to $1,000 more per month at his small gas station if he offered tobacco products to his customers, but he decided against it because he didn’t feel right making money selling such a bad and addictive vice.
If any wise child of God would carefully reflect and consider all the pros and cons of tobacco and drugs, no one would be foolish enough to partake of the former. But the devil and his team apply strong social pressure and lies to get them to take the former, and like a fish caught by a hook inside the bait, drug and tobacco addicts are caught by the powerful “hook” of the addictive drug or tobacco.
Powerful Quote: “There is a powerful hook in every can or package of tobacco, drug, or alcohol products.”
And alcohol is the most common gateway drug to get people to use even more powerful and addictive mind-altering drugs that take away their free will. The big money-making wine and alcohol industry tries to convince us that a little wine is good for us, as long as no one gets too drunk and then drives or makes other bad decisions, immorality, etc. after having their mind altered by alcohol. These alcohol-producing companies know full well that thousands of their customers’ lives and other innocent lives will be ruined by the alcohol they sell.
I can promise anyone that it’s much easier and safer to be a 100% non-drinker, non-drug addict, and non-smoker than someone who is only a social drinker or a social drug addict, or who only uses those addictive vices on the weekends, so they don’t over-control them. If you drink too much and the police catch you driving, then a DUI will cost you about $10,000 in fines and higher insurance costs. If you cause a serious accident by drinking too much, you can kill or seriously injure an innocent victim, which of course is much worse than losing $10,000. I have many good, kind-hearted friends who drink a little alcohol in moderation and, hopefully, will never drink too much or make bad decisions or get into accidents because of it. And I don’t want to judge them. However, honestly, wouldn’t the world be a much better place if we all decided to never use alcohol or any other mind-altering addictive substance? People would be much freer to make their own wise and carefully considered decisions without these vices forcing them into bad and painful ones.
Data from the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse shows that in 2019, 25.8 percent of people aged 18 and older reported binge drinking in the past month! So, if you have four children, chances are good that one of them will occasionally engage in dangerous binge drinking—unless they choose to be a complete non-drinker.
A three-year study conducted by Columbia University found that 80 percent of men and women behind bars—about 1.4 million inmates—were seriously involved with drugs and alcohol. How many lives and families are ruined by alcohol and drug problems? Is it worth taking the first alcohol or drug that could end up making you addicted and ruining your life and relationships? As a wise and loving parent (or parent-to-be), would you recommend that your children choose to be drinkers or non-drinkers of alcohol? When one of my insurance clients discovered that as a child he had decided never to touch any alcoholic beverage, he told me that almost every bad decision he had made in his life had been while drinking alcohol. That is one of the most important reasons why I am deeply grateful that each of my children wisely and firmly decided from a very early age never to touch alcohol or drugs.
In these modern times, our children and grandchildren will suffer many temptations, and they will not overcome them, unless they are personally motivated and empowered by their own wise and well-chosen choices long before the temptations arrive to make the right decisions they have learned work best to bring true joy and inner peace, and loving, trusting relationships, which are the teachings of Jesus Christ. They will not make the right decisions simply because a mother or father used forceful methods to try to get them to be kind and gentle to their siblings and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Regarding the freedom God has given us to make our own decisions, I love this song below:
Song: Know this, that every soul is free (Author unknown)
1. Know this, that every soul is free.
To choose your life and what it will be;
Because this eternal truth is given:
That God will not force any man to go to heaven.
2. He will call, persuade, direct rightly,
And bless with wisdom, love and light,
Be good and kind in anonymous ways,
But never force the human mind.