Every now and then there is the question that people ask. Why does God permit injustice and inequity on earth? There have been many attempts to answer the question. The one that I can recollect is the Harold Kushner book, 'When bad things happen to good people.' (I have not read the book. And interestingly Wikipedia does not have a commentary on the book either.) But those answers simply do not either reach people or convince them.
Some religions have answered this question through their core stories. For example, in the Hindu tradition, the 10 avatars of Vishu are answers to this question. Vishu comes as an avatar when evil reaches its pinnacle of influence and destroys them. This is direct action by God.
My interest is in Christianity and therefore, I shall write in detail on that. In Christianity, the narrative is a little different. There is only one instance of direct action by God. That is the flood in the times of Noah. In the rest, it is always a case of God taking his shield off his people, namely Israelites, and letting them face the ire of their enemies. But these are not really addressing issues of inequity and injustice. They seem more about establishing primacy of God's will and the demand for absolute obedience. The only instance where one gets very close to an explanation on Why God permits injustice and inequity on this earth is in the story of Job. Here, the answer from God is more like "I made you, you have no right to question me, I have my own reasons which I am not answerable to reveal to you."
Having said that, I think it is possible to formulate an answer to the question by putting together various ideas presented in the Bible. It may not satisfy every man, but it will have a logic. Only if one accepts some fundamental axioms. If one is looking to establish the existence of God through an answer to this question, then he or she will not be able to.
The first part to the answer is the meta narrative of Christianity. This is absolutely critical. That there is a God and that human life is only temporal. That human life is not an end in itself. But it is only a means to achieve eternity. That human life is only a means to establish God's glory and victory over evil. The moment one accepts this, the rest becomes logical. The moment one rejects this, the rest sounds like mumbo jumbo. So if you reject this, go no further. If you are willing to consider it, then let us go a step further and see what it implies for human conduct.
The first part above has to be taken on faith. There is no way anyone can prove it. However, the next part is more amenable to reason. That all human beings are of sinful nature. The very fact that all of us are susceptible to temptations of various kinds and we do fall into some of them once in a while (anger is possibly the most common one), should convince us of our sinful nature. This is where there is a difference between Hinduism and Christianity. In the Hindu tradition, there are good people and bad people. In Christianity, there are only bad people. This immediately makes the question of justice a little tricky. In effect, bad things dont happen to good people. Bad things happen to only bad people and all people are bad.
So where does that leave us? In between a rock and a hard place. Well, it is not all that bad. God does give us a way out. He does not use sin against us. He forgives and transforms us. Moses, David, Peter, Paul, Mathew etc should convince us of that. None of them were quite saints. They had their share of faults. The first was a murderer, the second was an adulterer and murderer, the third was a betraryer, the fourth was an oppressor of the weak, and the fifth was supposedly corrupt and an extortionist. So now what do we do. That is where one has to read the following verses and piece together the answers.
1. Luke 6:37 - Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
2. Isaiah 53:7 - He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet he opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. (This is Isaiah's prophecy about Jesus Christ and his crucifixion.)
The first one is on account of the sinful nature of ALL human beings. The second is a clear directive on how to model our life. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the ultimate message of Christianity as it embodies the central tenets of the Christian beliefs. It gives us a living real example of what it means to be a Christian.
While the picture of a lamb to the slaughter conjures up an image of passivity, it is a misleading imagery. We only need to think of how the lamb ended up being taken to the slaughter. Jesus' life was not one of inaction or passiveness. If he were passive, would his detractors waste 30 pieces of silver, their vocal chords and their scheming minds on his extermination. It was more a result of evil sensing danger in what Jesus was doing and working to eliminate the threat through Jesus' detractors. Now, there is gross injustice that is being inflicted on the person of Jesus' and what does he do. Submits meekly to the ire of his detractors and accepts the punishment that is inflicted on him.
What was his explanation for accepting the injustice being meted out to him? My guess is he was holding on to the axioms and the meta narrative I had mentioned earlier. God, his Father was in control and he was using Jesus as a pawn in his battle against evil. He was not to be tempted to react in anger, not tempted to sin. The final triumph over evil is to be by God. Not by man. Man can only be a pawn in this game of chess.
It is important to note that it is evil acting THROUGH his detractors. And God acting THROUGH Jesus. It indicates the necessity to surrender ourselves to God and also provides the basis for why we should forgive others if we feel they are acting against us or doing evil. Because it is evil acting through them and not they acting. Free will? Not quite I think. You have the Free Will to submit yourself to God and seek relentlessly and passionately His Grace to live like Jesus Christ. Beyond that, it is God's game.
One can ask, what does one do when one sees injustice being inflicted on others. The Biblical answer would be to throw in your lot with the oppressed. This is what Jesus had in his mind.
Then Jesus, looking at him loved him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross and follow me." Mark 10:21
I think this is what the women in Chipko movement were also shooting for, their treasure in heaven, when they decided to embraced the trees that were about to be cut down.
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