over, and some have even read it and taken it at face value. Romans
8:28 in the KJV reads, "And we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to
his purpose." For most Christians, this verse tells them that no
matter what we go through, good or bad, God is working it out for our
good. Just as most other doctrines inspired by Satan and propagated
by well meaning Christians, Pastors, Teachers, Apostles, etc, their
doctrine is part truth and part lie. The truth is that, God along
with the Holy Spirit and angels, do have a way of turning bad
situations around and even bringing good things out of really bad
situations. The lie comes in when we somehow welcome tragedy in
order to get the good result, and therefore belief that we have to
have rain in order to see the sunshine.
Lets look at the following example: There was a single father that
was strung out on drugs and had two daughters. The daughters went to
church every Sunday with their aunt. The girls often prayed for
their father to be delivered from drug addiction so that they could
live in peace with their father. The father wanted to change, but
didn't know how. One night after a long binge of doing meth and
crack cocaine, the father overdosed and lay helpless on the floor.
The girls came home from church and found the father lying on the
floor and the aunt, which was also the father's sister, was
distraught and frantically dialed 911. Long story short, the father
ended up in a coma for 2 weeks and the girls were certain that he was
going to die. After coming out of the coma, the father finally
realized how his addiction negatively affected his family. He
finally decided to go to church, read, study and live out the Word of
God that he was learning in church, and was totally delivered from
drugs and alcohol. Now the question is, did God make all of this
happen so the father and girls would have a happier life? Surely
not! God was speaking to the father years before the coma. He even
tried to speak to the father before the girls mother (who was also on crack) gave up on the
relationship and the children. God could have brought about a good result without the
tragedy.
What does the verse actually mean? Well to find out what it means we
have to find out what it says. I'm not a greek scholar, but I did
stay at a Holiday Inn last night (and did a google search). Read
this article to get a good understanding how this verse is
translated. You also have to look at what the bible says in
context. To do this simply back up a few verses and read what Paul
is actually talking about. Actually, to get into the mindset of what
he's addressing here, you may have to go back a few chapters. Paul
is addressing this letter to the Romans. In chapter 7 (and keep in
mind that Paul didn't add the chapter and verse makers) he was
basically keeping it real by telling the new Roman converts about his
struggles to want to live right but sometimes coming up short. So he
starts off chapter 8 with, (because of the redemptive work of Jesus,
"[Therefore] there is now no condemnation for those that are in
Christ Jesus. This verse introduces the context of Romans 8:28 in
(or living in accordance with the Words of) Christ Jesus.
"All things" needs to be qualified. All things in this case doesn't
actually mean all things good and evil, but only all things talked about in the preceding verses.
Satan uses the Romans 8:28 lie to get people not take personal
responsibility for their actions, or give up fighting him when bad
things happen, because after all, God is working it out for our
good. I'm definitely not trying to take away the miracle working
power of God in people's lives, but what we must do is 1.) put Romans
8:28 in context, and 2.) add balance to the doctrine that God will
work even bad things out for our good.
The balance comes from resisting and preventing the bad stuff in the
first place.
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