Why Karma Stinks

This is the third post I've had on why bad things happen, (with this post focusing on why it happens to good people), but I had a thought the other day I thought worth putting down.

Why does crap happen? Because we aren't mature enough to handle it. If God always rewarded those who did good, and punished or at least did not do good to those did evil, then the whole purpose of free choice is ruined. Sure we could still choose to do good or to do bad, but our motivation would be skewed. In the end, the purpose of free choice seems to me to get us to be Christ-like; that is, we start from an ugly mess and work our way choice by choice to where we love other people more than ourselves. However, if we knew that if karma was the rule, and that if I did good to others, then God would do good to me here, then I am becoming no more Christ-like then an investor who gives his savings to a company with the expectations of dividends and capital gains. Every good deed would become a profit, and so by making selfish choices, we become more selfish people, and by making good choices, we also are becoming more selfish people. Here's a silly example. I see a wallet lying on the floor in a store. In our world, I could keep it with the consequences of enriching myself and worsening my character, or I could return it with the consequences of getting no monetary gain but becoming more Christ-like and focused on other people. By returning it I would be more inclined to do the right thing the next time I am in a similar scenario. However, in a world ruled by karma, if I return it, I am doing it because I know that by doing so, God will heal my sick relative, or give me that job I wanted. My focus is all on myself and my desires either way.

So I conclude that a world ruled by karma would lead to the failure of God's plan for us, and would turn us all into selfish wretches. So obviously this is not our world, as good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to very good people. While my whole life I've thought of this as unfair, I now realize how impossible life would be if it were any other way. Maybe God is wiser than me, after all.