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Lil' Bessie Would Assit Providence

 

            After reading this selection, it was easy to see the one of the two underlying questions that Mark Twain was proposing to the readers: why do bad things happen to good people? I have decided to take the challenge and answer this question, being a Christian who is quite familiar with the Word of God.
             In this short story, Twain first used the example of Billy Norris to propose the question: why do bad things happen to good people? It is evidenced by the tone and voice in this poem that Twain was quite unfamiliar with the Spirit of the Living God and the discernment that comes along with knowing Him. Jesus, in the Gospel of Mark, plainly stated that, "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God" (Mark 10:18). It was not necessary that I answer the question, for Jesus did. All are as filthy rags and sinners until repentance is found and life is fully dedicated to Christ. Bad things do not happen to good people for there are none good but God. Bad things happen to people for a lack of spiritual knowledge, as evidenced by the scripture: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge- (Hosea 4:6).
             In addition to the Biblical concept that none are good and people are destroyed for a lack of spiritual knowledge, God lets it be known that because those who are professing to be Christians are eating and drinking damnation unto themselves because they are not discerning the Lord's body. "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many [are] weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (die)," (1 Corinthians 11:29-30). .
             The question that Twain proposed has a simple answer that, apparently, he did not know or research the answer to. It is true that Twain proposed an interesting question that would cause many, lacking in spiritual knowledge, to ponder and arrive at an answer independent of God.


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