Biblical Solutions to Heaven’s Reward Fallacy

When someone participates in SFT Awareness training, one of the skills he will learn is how to become an accurate thinker.  There are sixteen thinking errors on the list that is covered in this training.  The fifteenth thinking error is called Heaven’s Reward Fallacy, which states, “bad things do not happen to good people.”  Another way to look at this error is when someone thinks if he can accomplish enough good, then bad things will not happen to him.  This is a common lie that distorts the way people see negative events that happen in life.  Thankfully, the Bible has answers that can clear up any misconceptions about this error, answers that can give a person peace of mind when facing some of life’s tough issues in regard to this error.

First, no one is good.  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23), and anyone who says he has not sinned is a liar (1Jn 1:10).  One must also be careful not to combine the number two error on the list, Jumping to Conclusions, with Heaven’s Reward Fallacy.  This is done by thinking that a person is good because of what is seen of him in public, but people do not see his secrets that he is ashamed of in himself.  This is also true of a person who seems to be bad, but the good he does goes unnoticed.

Second, bad things happen to everybody.  Jesus pointed out on the Sermon on the Mount how the sun shines and the rain pours on the just and unjust (Matt 5:45).  People can sometimes see someone who is wicked and is wealthy and think, “It is not fair that this person has everything so great while I suffer and I am good.”  The second thinking error comes into play here again by assuming this evil person has it good in life.  It’s difficult to see the bad things that are happening behind a person’s closed doors.  To sum up the point, people have to go through tough things in life.  This world was not meant for us to want to stay; otherwise we could have nothing to hope for (Rom 8:18-24).

Third, God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34).  Imagine a student in a class room comes early and cleans the chalk board, arranges the chairs, and brings the teacher an apple every day.  The teacher automatically gives him an A while everyone else gets an F.  This is not fair to all the other students since that makes the teacher a respecter of persons.  If people do not like other people being a respecter of persons, then what is the logic in expecting God to be one?  This is a major layer of the foundation for Heaven’s Reward Fallacy.

The bottom line is people are going to experience painful events in life.  No one has to like these events, but that does not give an excuse to use distorted thinking about unwanted events.  Thinking errors, in the end, only make the event feel worse.  Heaven’s Reward Fallacy is no exception to the rule and is a good example of how the Bible gives answers to may of life’s issues.  If only God’s people will study and learn, then many nonbelievers can be convinced of the greatness of God.