In memory of the recent rape/murder of the 6 year old in downtown Kingston last week.

How Can God Allow Children to Suffer Such Crimes Against Them?

Question e-mailed to The Scripturist:

WHY do terrible nightmarish things have to happen to children? I do feel that God uses us to reach out to those in need and I do know that we can not know light without dark, but I can't imagine that His plan is for a 3 week old baby to be sodomized and raped! I can't understand that He would allow pedophiles to abuse children and monsters to torture and mutilate them while they are still breathing and aware, pleading for mercy- I can't believe He would create a demon so vile as to actually "get off" on the screams and anguished cries of His most defenseless children! I am consumed by this sadness about it. I am in tears just typing this. For some unknown reason I am drawn to these stories and I feel absolutely hopeless. Do you have any insight?

You have asked an excellent question that has plagued the minds of many, and which falls under the broader question of why, if God is completely good and all-powerful, do such horrible things happen that He has the power to prevent? The answer ultimately comes down to God having given man the freedom to choose whether he would submit to God or rebel against Him, and allowing the consequences of those choices to take their natural course.

Such evil as you described never would have existed had God made us as machine-like creatures programmed only to love and obey. He would say, "Do you love Me?" and we would say, "Yes." "Why?" He'd ask. "Because You're making us," we'd say politely, "and we don't know how to do otherwise." This kind of "love" has very little value to the one who gives or receives it.

But when we have freedom to choose whether we'll love Him or not, it makes our love and our relationship to Him infinitely more valuable, both to Him and to us. And--as a natural consequence, this freedom also opens up the option of rebelling against Him, which sets the stage for the kind of evil you have described.

You are correct in suggesting it's not part of God's plan for a three-week-old baby to be sodomized and raped. That is absolutely not what God wants to happen. It is a complete abomination to Him. So why doesn't He stop it? Well, first, there are probably times when He does, intervening in ways that do not negate man's free will (giving a would-be perpetrator a flat tire, for example). We only know about the times that such evil was not prevented.

Having said that, I'd guess it's likely that God allows such evil to happen most of the time that it's attempted. But even so, He is not to blame. The blame lies squarely on the shoulders of man, who has chosen to rebel. Had God's clear and wise instructions been followed and His will obeyed, these crimes would never have taken place. And for reasons God largely has yet to reveal to us, He has chosen to allow the natural consequences of man's rebellion to occur in most instances, even when the evil choices of one or some bring suffering upon others who are innocent, in often horrible ways.

So what comfort do we have when things like you've described happen? Well, it helps to know that it's only temporary. The fallen world in which we live, with all its injustices, will eventually be replaced by a glorified heaven and earth totally free of sin and suffering. Those who have rebelled against God without ever having repented and received His salvation will be eternally separated from those who have been pardoned because of their faith. Those among the lost who were perpetrators of the things you described will cease to harm others, and they will be "compensated" for their "contributions" to the world's pool of evil.

In the meantime, God has given Christians the responsibility of being salt and light for the world, persuading the lost to be saved and changed. Were we more serious about our task, there very well might be far fewer instances of the things you described taking place. He has also established the authority of government to punish those who commit crimes against society. As we press our leaders into being firm to this task, we will also reduce such crimes against the innocent.