So, I was going through my morning news feeds and found this:
During an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, the comedian, 78, opened up about how losing his longtime Pacific Palisades home in the January 2025 wildfires and the death of his close friend Rob Reiner greatly impacted his faith.
Crystal was asked whether he had been speaking with God after the painful losses. The actor referenced his previous one-man show, “700 Sundays,” in which he described conversations with God, before offering a stark response.
Billy Crystal says he no longer trusts God after a year of loss.
Billy Crystal is opening up about how a devastating year changed his relationship with God.
“No, ’cause I don’t trust Him,” Crystal said.
“Too many bad things have happened,” he added. “The Earth is in bad shape. This is a weird, scary time. So no, not anymore.”
I honestly just shook my head.
There are so many in our culture that tie their material well-being to their faith. If times are good, then God is good but if times are bad then God is bad. It’s shallow and wrong-headed theology and shows a complete lack of Biblical knowledge.
The Bible is a book of trauma – every Bible character we know goes through some traumatic event from Adam and Eve to Jesus and the apostles. The Book of Job is a perfect example that Billy Crystal should read – a guy has everything taken from him and even though he rants about it he remains faithful and is rewarded for his faith.
Trust in God isn’t – or at least shouldn’t be – based on whether life is good or bad. Trust in God is based on God being God and having faith in his attributes:
Incommunicable Attributes (Belonging to God Alone)
- Omnipotence: God is all-powerful and able to accomplish His will without restriction.
- Omniscience: God possesses infinite knowledge, knowing all things past, present, and future.
- Omnipresence: God is present everywhere in the universe at the same time.
- Immutability (Changelessness): God never changes in His character, purpose, or essence.
- Eternality: God has no beginning and no end; He exists outside of human time.
- Independence (Aseity): God is self-existent and does not need anything or anyone outside of Himself.
- Sovereignty: God holds supreme authority and control over all creation.
Communicable Attributes (Shared Analogously with Humans)
- Holiness: God is completely pure, sacred, and separated from all moral evil.
- Love: God’s nature is inherently loving, sacrificial, and unconditional toward His creation.
- Goodness: God is inherently kind, generous, and desires to bless His creation.
- Justice and Righteousness: God acts with perfect fairness, truth, and moral rectitude.
- Mercy and Grace: God withholds deserved punishment (mercy) and bestows unearned blessings (grace).
- Faithfulness: God is completely trustworthy and always keeps His promises.
I get being mad at God – wrestling with God is Biblical and encouraged (Come let us reason together – Isaiah 1:18). But saying you don’t trust God because a fire burned your house down and your old friend died really says you didn’t have a true relationship with Him in the first place.
It would be like me having a friend who likes to give me gifts and then unfriending them when they stop giving me stuff. Friendships are not based on what the other person can do for you. Friends are not vending machines, and neither is our God. Scripture tells us the rain falls on the righteous and unrighteous alike (Matthew 5:45) – even as believers we’re going to have rainy seasons, desert seasons, and downright hard seasons.
Why? The earth is fallen; we are fallen. When you live in a world where Satan is the prince (John 14:30; 2 Corinthians 4:4), expect Satan and his demons are going to be on the attack constantly!
As for Crystal, losing his home is terrible. You lose your memories and all your stuff. But a natural disaster is just that – a natural disaster. My wife and I live in an area where there are fires. We’ve had to evacuate once and have been under threat several times. But honestly, it’s just a house and stuff. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like my stuff! But at the end of the day, it just stuff and it doesn’t define me. I can always get more stuff even if I lose all the memorabilia that I have. If God allowed my house to burn down, then we praise God because He is good no matter the circumstances and we trust in Him as we rebuild.
As for Rob Reiner, what a horrible thing to have a friend and his wife murdered by their son. But read your Bible – there is a reason “Thou Shall Not Murder” is in there – we are depraved little creatures who due to rage or mental illness break this rule constantly. God did not condone the murder of Reiner and his wife. He abhors murder. Yet God allows us to have free will to make decisions – even ones that go against His own commands.
If anything, Crystal should be running toward God to help him process all the pain he has instead of turning against God as if that will work out better for him.
So, Billy, we’re sorry for all your loss but it’s not God’s fault. We live in a fallen creation where horrible things happen. And when they do, God is there to comfort us. Please read your Bible – I know that you’re a Jew but go ahead and read the Tanakh and see how people kept their faith through their suffering. Read Isaiah 53 to learn about Jesus. Then read the Book of Revelation – if you think it’s bad now it’s going to get worse! Okay, if you don’t want to read about Jesus then just read Daniel and Ezekiel.
If the Bible tells us anything it tells us life is hard. Jesus told us we would have trouble in this world but to take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). When life hits us hard, we need to run to Jesus not run away from Him. He will be our rock in the storm, our protector, the one who gives us provision, and our friend who will walk us through the hard times.
Billy, go ahead and talk with God – He’s eager to hear from you.
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