This basic question was posed by the “Fox & Friends” hosts, to Fr. Jonathan Morris, a Roman Catholic priest in the Vatican this morning as I was working out. Fr. Morris basically said that a more constructive question is, “Why is it that some people choose to use the gift of free will to do bad things (like the VT student) and others choose to use their free will to save others (like the professor)?

This is also a very good question. But, his response still doesn’t fully answer the first question about God’s role. I think some people would feel that he didn’t answer the question.

C. S. Lewis wrote an entire book about this topic entitled, “The Problem of Pain.” He wrote out of his own experience and firsthand relationships with people who struggle with this topic. Later in his life he wrote out of his own pain “A Grief Observed,” based upon his own deep struggle to align his faith with the loss of his wife Joy Davidman, to cancer. I recommend both books.

Peter Kreeft has helped us to see the question this way: “Imagine, he said, a bear in a trap and a hunter who wants to liberate him. The hunter cannot win the bear’s confidence, so he has no choice but to shoot the bear full of tranquilizers. The terrified bear thinks the hunter is trying to kill him. He does not understand that the hunter is acting out of compassion.”

“I believe,” Kreeft says, “God does the same thing to us sometimes, and we can’t comprehend why He does it any more than the bear can understand the motivations of the hunter. We simply have to trust God.”

It really boils down to “who” you put your trust in, and if that “who” is trustworthy. If you trust only yourself, you will eventually be faced with your own limitations. If you trust other men, or governments policies or political systems, you will also eventually be disappointed. If you trust God, you may not always understand the “why” questions, but you can find out if he is trustworthy or not through personal experience.

Suffering and tragedy is a reality. I have seen it up close and personal. Does this mean God does not exist? Does it mean he doesn’t care? I think not. It means He has a bigger purpose and plan in mind that I can’t fully understand at the moment. I CHOOSE to trust Him anyway, because in every other area of life, I have found Him to be trustworthy.

Cho Seung-Hui had a choice and made his choice with the free will God gave him. Others made their choices. I have to make mine. In the end, we will all be held accountable for those choices. No one will get away with anything.