Why does my God allow children to die? Is he evil?

[Brickjectivity]

Late to the party, but I've read about 75% of the posts.

I had a nephew prematurely born & brain-damaged with problems breathing. He could never speak or feed himself, and he died when he was four. His mother and father mourned him along with his surviving siblings. They tell me he is in heaven, and they're going to see him again.

For me this seemed evidence that God is impersonal. As a person, I cannot imagine caring for a child and doing nothing while they suffer. Its not the only reason I think that way, but its a big reason.

 

[Copernicus]

Close.I am saying the ones who blame God for evil don't usually believe in God nor understand him.They seem to look at death as something evil instead of a cacoon in which we turn into something way more beautiful.

It isn't just about death, but suffering. Nobody can deny that what happened to those children in Newtown was the very definition of evil. And the agony it caused the parents is unimaginable to me. If God is the cause of their deaths and that agony, then it seems that he is the ultimate source of the evil. I'm not trying to understand this from God's perspective, which I am told is impossible, in any case. I am looking at it from a purely human perspective. How can one possibly find solace in a religion that prescribes worship of the cause of the evil it purports to disavow? It seems that we have no logical choice other than to consider such a God evil here.

 

[Desert Snake]

I am looking at it from a purely human perspective. How can one possibly find solace in a religion that prescribes worship of the cause of the evil it purports to disavow? It seems that we have no logical choice other than to consider such a God evil here.

Then it answers the question of the OP. My question is why is she still a Christian??

 

[oldbadger]

Somebody help me. I know nothing.
Question:- Does a child 'become' at birth, or at 'conception'?
Does anybody know?

 

[Desert Snake]

^Wrong thread

 

[LuisDantas]

Major controversy matter, oldbadger.

Personally, I think it is probably somewhere in between, say around the time the brain cells diferentiate.

 

[Lady B]

How can the depravity be all of mans fault when god is choosing ahead of time who is bound for damnation?

Well both pre-destination and free will do co-exist according to the scriptures, God Is not culpable for the will of man which is sinful. Let me attempt again to show you pre-ordainment. Pre-ordain, means God does choose his elect, has chosen them from before creation. He gave all men the ability to choose him, but they will not do so. Men in their sin nature hate God and therefore God himself must choose men or none will be saved. That is about the best I can do right now after giving much thought how to put this into words that are not in scripture.

As far as the Genesis record, God for his own Glory chose before he even created earth, his people, He knew ahead of time his created would sin, Christ's sacrifice was already ordained. So despite what God knew would happen, He chose this way to bring glory to himself. As far as the individual sins of his created, God did not cause Adam and eve to sin, they did have a choice, they did disobey God there by sin entered the world thru one man. This inherent sin spoken of is not Biblical, It is Inherent sin nature, not responsibility of our fathers sin. Scripture tells us we are not punished for our fathers sin but that of our own, period.Once that apple was eaten, men were cursed with the sin nature, no man is Good, no not one. This is my belief and I believe this is what the Bible teaches us.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Close.I am saying the ones who blame God for evil don't usually believe in God nor understand him.They seem to look at death as something evil instead of a cacoon in which we turn into something way more beautiful.

So you consider Adam Lanza a hero, then? After all, what you just said implies that he gave those children a wonderful gift.

 

[oldbadger]

Major controversy matter, oldbadger.

Personally, I think it is probably somewhere in between, say around the time the brain cells diferentiate.

I guess......

I think that's a good answer, though.

 

[oldbadger]

^Wrong thread

That's what you say. This thread is about children..........?

 

[Lady B]

Late to the party, but I've read about 75% of the posts.

I had a nephew prematurely born & brain-damaged with problems breathing. He could never speak or feed himself, and he died when he was four. His mother and father mourned him along with his surviving siblings. They tell me he is in heaven, and they're going to see him again.

For me this seemed evidence that God is impersonal. As a person, I cannot imagine caring for a child and doing nothing while they suffer. Its not the only reason I think that way, but its a big reason.

Ok but If you ask those parents if they wish he were never born what would they say? They experienced love and the child did also, I am willing to bet they did not regret their child so why are you saying it is evil for their child to have existed? I have suffered the loss of babies also and I also believe they are in heaven and we will meet again, would I have preferred not to have been pregnant? No I would not. I thank God that he used me to pro-create life and that life is eternal. By the way if It comforts you at all, the parents of your nephew also believe he is made whole and has no infirmities in heaven, no sufferings. It does give comfort to those in mourning, I would say you have more anguish over this then they do If they are believers.

 

[Lady B]

That's what you say. This thread is about children..........?

In a way, yes, feel free...
This is indeed a contraversial topic,mainly because of miscarriage and abortion. I am not sure if you are asking what the Bible says regarding it, But I can show you If you like?

 

[Desert Snake]

As far as the Genesis record, God for his own Glory chose before he even created earth, his people, He knew ahead of time his created would sin,

Uh, o.k.....why tell Adam and Eve to not eat of the forbidden fruit then

 

[Lady B]

Uh, o.k.....why tell Adam and Eve to not eat of the forbidden fruit then

For his own Glory, so that grace may abound and that God's mercy can be seen. That is all I have for you, It is not the answer you can understand outside of being a believer, It is one of those mysteries that will forever go unanswered between men. We all even believers struggle with why God put the darned forbidden tree there to begin with, and It is something I have never heard an answer for other then the one I have given you.

 

[LuisDantas]

Well both pre-destination and free will do co-exist according to the scriptures, God Is not culpable for the will of man which is sinful.

That is something that many people say. I wonder if there are people who actually make some sense of it. I certainly do not.

It does seem to be an explanation of some sort at first glance. But it really isn't. Any meaningful definition of "free will" would deny predestination.

I suppose people have to have some sort of explanation for the contradictions of belief in predestination, but this goes no further than recognizing that the concept is problematic and tossing the name "free will" as if an explanation it were.

 

[Lady B]

This thread isn't about what I believe, I was answering the question in the context of Biblical scripture.

Well actually that is not scriptural, we did not inherit the punishment, we inherited the nature of sin, being that by Adam's sin, sin entered the world. Using Adam as our fall guy for the sins we do is completely not scriptural, It is written we are not judged by the sins of our fathers, we are judged for our own. Those who use this doctrine give the Atheist precept of innocent men going to hell more justification don't you think?

 

[Lady B]

That is something that many people say. I wonder if there are people who actually make some sense of it. I certainly do not.

It does seem to be an explanation of some sort at first glance. But it really isn't. Any meaningful definition of "free will" would deny predestination.

I suppose people have to have some sort of explanation for the contradictions of belief in predestination, but this goes no further than recognizing that the concept is problematic and tossing the name "free will" as if an explanation it were.

I don't agree. Believing men have no free will to sin, would indeed mean God sins, that is absolute blasphemy and a contradiction of the entirety of scripture. So Given we know what is written, Pre-destination,the depravity of men and God's sinless nature,these are absolutes according to scripture, so therefore whether they seem contradicting to you because of the lack of definition found in scripture, they cannot be so.

 

[9Westy9]

The problem here is, you who have the fear of the concept of eternal hell, don't have the fear of God to avoid it. I do not have this fear, I know that God created man for his own Glory, not for mans Glory, I Can understand that He made me, He can kill me, he can punish me for not giving him his due respect for his creation. You see that you are Good, God gave us ways to measure Good so that it is not relative morality or subjective speculations, and he has told us that no man is Good, no man deserves heaven, it is a gift by grace and not by works. So I am sorry there is no good Buddhist in the scriptures, there is no good Christian ,there is no good Muslim, Christ alone was Good . Not preaching here, just saying my belief.

1) So then God should be able to explain why children who curse against their parents should be killed and why homosexuals who lie with other homosexuals should be killed. etc.

2) How is God's morality any less relative than secular morality?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

For his own Glory, so that grace may abound and that God's mercy can be seen.

That's the same logic as a parent leaving the knives out so that after the kids get into them, he can bandage their wounds, kiss them better, and be considered a hero. :sarcastic

That is all I have for you, It is not the answer you can understand outside of being a believer, It is one of those mysteries that will forever go unanswered between men. We all even believers struggle with why God put the darned forbidden tree there to begin with, and It is something I have never heard an answer for other then the one I have given you.

There's an obvious answer: God wanted humanity to sin. It's the foreseeable consequence of putting the tree there, and it wouldn't make any sense to say that an all-powerful God couldn't have put it somewhere else if he had wanted to.

This implies that he didn't want to, and that the foreseeable consequence of that decision is what he actually wanted. Sin is God's will.

I'd be interested for you to show me the scripture that contradicts this conclusion.

 

[LuisDantas]

I don't agree. Believing men have no free will to sin, would indeed mean God sins, that is absolute blasphemy and a contradiction of the entirety of scripture.

That is a fairly good explanation of why the idea of predestination is problematic, but it doesn't do much to explain why free will to sin would make any sense.

It really looks like the concept was created as a placeholder to contain the contradictions of that belief and never given a second thought after that. It may well turn out to be useless if ever clearly defined.