1. CLarify

To understand where your friend is coming from, here are some questions you may ask:

·       How do you usually decide whether a person or an action is “good” or “bad”?

·       Why do you believe that good people ought to receive good things in return?

·       Has there been a particular experience that has made this question feel personal for you?

·       What do you think a “good” God should do when people hurt one another?
How should He respond when we are the ones who cause harm?

 

2.    Explore (Context) 

Remember that your friend asks this question out of a genuine concern for justice. Our conscience expects goodness to be rewarded and evil to be punished. Yet there’s often a jarring gap between reality and expectations. “Good people are often treated as though they were wicked” (Ecclesiastes 8:14 NLT).

Sadly, we find ourselves in a world shaped by unjust principles like “survival of the fittest” or “might makes right”. People often pursue self-interest at the expense of others. Injustices are also evident here in Singapore, for example in cases of domestic worker abuse.

It’s natural for this to cause indignation and doubt. Your friend might question God, asking why He doesn’t step in to punish the perpetrators or remedy the situation immediately.

 

3.    Agree 

Our frustration with injustice or what people call “conscience” shows that we have a moral compass within us. This innate sense of right and wrong suggests that we were created by a just God, who made us to be like Him.

Christians believe in a God who cares about justice and will ensure it is carried out. Scripture tells us that righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne (Psalm 89:14). This means that every wrongdoing matters to Him and will not be left unresolved.

Justice isn’t merely something God carries out. It is part of who He is.

4.    Reveal

However, Christians also believe that God can use injustice to bring about a good outcome. One such injustice recorded in the Bible was the plight of Joseph, who was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt. There he was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit.

Yet these injustices laid the groundwork for Joseph to rise to the position of prime minister of Egypt, where he enacted policies that saved multitudes, including his own family. As Joseph told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good… so I could save the lives of many people” (Genesis 50:20).

Christians believe that God can weave even the worst injustice into a tapestry of redemption. While we see only parts of the story, God sees the whole and works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

But what about people who don’t find relief in this life? To them, Christianity holds out a distinctive hope: God is not distant from human pain. He enters it, redeems it, and promises that justice will ultimately be done.

God did this by sending His Son Jesus to the world. Jesus become truly human but without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He endured the greatest injustice by suffering execution on the cross despite his innocence.

But Jesus rose from the dead, assuring us that evil and injustice does not have the final word. Scripture tells us that Christ will return to judge the living and the dead, set every wrong right, and usher in eternal life, where suffering will be no more (Acts 17:31; 2 Corinthians 5:10).