Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen in Our Country?

A friend recently sent me this answer Anne Graham Lotz, Billy Graham's daughter, gave in an interview. Like me, you may have heard some of this before, but in light of recent events, it bears repeating. Here is a large part of what she said:

"I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government, and to get out of our lives." God will not force Himself on us. "I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone? In the light of recent events - I think it started when Madeline Murray O'Hare complained she didn't want prayers in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school - the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK. Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with WE REAP WHAT WE SOW." 

"Funny  how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to" Hades. "Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar, and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. Funny we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. No nation or people can ever survive or succeed without Jesus Christ."

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