Very simply, all that exists in the world is that which is of people and that which is not of people. Following this logic, the tragedies and traumas of life are caused by: 1) the events of nature that injure people, 2) the result of decisions we make that are harmful, and 3) the result of decisions other people make that are harmful.
Death is perhaps the worst "bad thing" most people consider that could happen to them. In the broader perspective of our infinite lifetime, death is necessary for us to move on to the next phase of our infinite life-experience. It is not to be feared, and only to be avoided because it decreases our ability to gather greater wisdom of the process of living from imperfection to perfection on this material plane.
For people who have not had the benefit of a near-death experience, death represents an irrevocable transition from being "of people” to the realm of "not people." Those who have had a near death experience understand and know that this lifetime is simply one short phase of an infinite lifetime. Once past this material plane, they have come to realize that they are still "of people" but not material.
When 'bad things" happen to us it is not an indication that God is angry with us. God is perfect. God is loving and in perfect love there is no anger. Simply assigning the responsibility for all bad things that occur in the world to God is a child-like way of resolving the situation and a result of lazy thinking. Nonetheless, suffering does occur. People do get hurt, either physically, emotionally, mentally, socially, or any other number of results from "bad things. Many, but not all, people have become distant in their relationship to God because they were taught that God created the painful events and situations that affect them personally. This single mistaken belief has led believers to think of God as having two natures. To them, God simultaneously is a mean and hurtful being, yet a loving, kind, and forgiving benefactor. This raises questions about God's nature. What is God's true nature, good guy or bad guy? People with this fallacious concept of God wouldn't know from one minute to the next which of God's natures they were dealing with. When people think of God as having two or more natures, they have anthropomorphized God and they come to distrust God.
"Bad things" due to acts of nature. Concerning acts of nature, nature is a place of gravity, rocks, water, weather, trees, and other growing things. Acts of nature include all aspects of nature not capable of self-will. The physical laws of nature we are acquainted with have been in place for billions of years, and are mechanical and not subject to amendment with any predictability. The travesties of nature that befall us are like the rain. They fall upon the good and the bad alike, without malice or deference.
For instance, imagine that you are on vacation driving along a highway under a steep, rocky embankment, pulling a travel-trailer behind your car. Suddenly a large boulder crashes down onto the trailer. That is a "bad thing" as most all of us would agree that occurred as an act of nature. Nothing personal about it — it just happened. Though God set into motion the creation of the world including its rocks and the laws of gravity, God didn't actively cause the rock to fall down and ruin your vacation. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nothing personal about it. Had you passed earlier or later, the boulder would have merely cratered the highway rather than your trailer. Remember, it wasn't a premeditated act of God to harm you.
On the other hand, although God didn't actively cause the accident, God also didn't keep you from harm, either. You might ask, "Why didn't God save our trailer from that act of nature that destroyed it? The answer is this: As we saw earlier, since God is all-wise, there is no need to change the initial decisions made on how reality, including nature, should work. Once set in motion, it does what it is supposed to do, even when we get in the way. If God intervened in the events of our lives, we would come to expect God to do so, and we would abandon our quest for personal growth and maturity. We would not be challenged by life. Life would become easy and we would become lazy, uncreative, unchallenged, uninventive, and so on. Further, we would feel that our lives were being controlled and we would resent being pawns of God. Intervention by God in our lives to prevent harm works against our need to grow, mature, develop values, and pursue the ennobling qualities of our humanity.
If we prayed for a successful trip on our vacation and our trailer was hit by a boulder that does not mean that God either caused the boulder to hit the trailer or that God did not prevent it from hitting the trailer. It simply means that it was an act of nature. For myself, I would give great thanks to God that the boulder did not hit the car and kill or injure us! Was our prayer answered or not?
"Bad things" due to human decisions. Of the two categories of "bad things," the most complicated involves "bad things" that are caused by people. Considering that decisions and actions can be intentional or unintentional, personal or impersonal, "bad things” caused by human behavior can get complicated.
However, in none of these cases does God cause the "bad things." "Bad things'' caused by people are products of independent will. God created us with free will, and God will not (God wills not to) interfere with our decisions — or anybody's decisions of any sort — after having given us the right to make our own decisions using our own free will. Remember, God is not capricious, fickle, or inconstant. God is constant and perfect. God doesn't change Its mind.
God does not and will not intervene in the self-willed decisions of people to either cause or prevent the tragedies of life, which come to us from our own decisions and actions, or from the decisions and actions of others. In any of these cases, personal self-will operates: ALWAYS. Self-will is sovereign within each of us. God has not, does not, and wills not to intervene in any of our decisions even when they are contrary to God's will.
Let us examine the most tragic, intentional human-decision catastrophe that has ever taken place — the Holocaust of World War II, where six million Jews were intentionally exterminated by Hitler's Nazi regime. The question that theologians, ministers, priests, and anguished believers have asked thousands of times is, "Why didn't God intervene in this tragedy that took place over a period of many years?” The question assumes that God didn't, but neither learned church scholars nor believers know if God did or didn't intervene without their awareness.
The answer is a refrain of the above statements: Individuals have self-will, not groups of people. Individuals determine the course of their life by every decision, whether significant or insignificant. The Holocaust look place over a period of many years because hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people of Germany and other countries individually-agreed with that policy of extermination by their commission or omission to act. On the other hand, courageous individuals as Schindler (Schindler's List) saw that a higher choice was available, made a decision, and took action to save Jews who would certainly have become ashes in the ovens of Nazi death camps.
Where was God?! Ever present in the hearts and minds of those courageous individuals, just as God's Fragment was present in the minds of those who chose and acted to kill innocent Jews. God's Divine Fragment was present — waiting for the individual to invite God to aid his or her decision for loving-action. God's participation is not a dance of marionettes, but a co-creative dance of two living, willing partners — The Creator and each one of us. To realize God's Presence inside us is an act of will. God won't force Itself into our awareness! We have to make the effort. It is solely our decision to make — God has already made the decision to be in relationship with us.
Do you see how relevant this is to you, you personally, today? It is relevant to each of us every day in every decision we make. Decisions are made by individuals, not societies. God does not intervene whether ten, ten thousand, or ten billion people err. God's influence is not fickle or capricious but always consistent and subtle, allowing for the individual to will the course of his or her life into being. In this regard, the course of nations is determined by the decisions and actions of individuals, whether they lead or follow, whether they decide to act or not, or ignore to decide! God is present with the individual, acting in concert with the invitation of the individual. The Holocaust is a good example of God demonstrating complete respect for the sovereign will of the individual. The tragedies of societies are always, first, tragedies of individuals whether they are victims or persecutors. What could be more damning to a soul's infinite existence than a person's conscious will-decision to terminate the life course of one or hundreds of thousands of innocent victims?