Why do the innocent suffer?Rev 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Message text written by xxx
My response: There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, xxx You will probably get more than you expected in my response, however I have pondered your question for several days and hence my response... This is not an easy question, it has plagued theologians and philosophers for centuries, and is loved by atheists today. Neither is there an easy answer, in what follows I give a Christian response to your question. The other side of your question is why do the wicked (ie. the guilty) get away with their wickedness? Human freedom and responsibility In short, suffering (even innocent suffering) is the price for human freedom (ie. free will) as well as dignity and responsibility. Just because God does not intervene now, does not mean that he will not intervene in the future. In the meantime we should take responsibility for our (societies) actions and to reduce child cruelty. Much child cruelty is caused by the rich nations selling land mines to poorer nations and inflicting injury on children, the cause is simply greed. We can see God's attitude to child sacrifice in the OT.
If God is to allow free will to all humanity, there is always the chance that this free will would be abused by a minority and to cause innocent suffering on some people. Would God be right to restrict the free will of the majority to avoid abuses by a minority? As humans our solution is to incarcerate the minority who abuse their freedom. We do generally lock up those who indulge in child abuse. God generally works within societal structures to bring about change -- for example, the Christian, William Wilberforce fought for most of his life to abolish slavery in England. Hospitals and Orphanages were generally of Christian origin, started by people who were pained by human suffering, they did something about it. So your question, revolves about why doesn't God do something about it. I would suggest that God has given this task to mankind and that He expects His people (the Church) to take a leading role in:
God has instituted the civil authorities to maintain law and order i.e. he has given man the responsibility to maintain law and order. Much of the suffering is caused by authorities abusing this and using torture instead. In my reading of the OT I take it that God is concerned about oppression by the powerful, by child sacrifice and the like.
Rather than seeing yourself as helpless to do anything, and wondering why doesn't God do something. A better solution would be to ask what does God want me to do to help the poor, helpless and the oppressed. Sponsoring a poor child in the less developed world would be a meaningful and practical response. Lobbying against landmines might be another. Supporting Amnesty international. Supporting third world Christian outreach. What can you do to address the issues that concern you? I would suggest that switching off the TV is not a useful solution, rather use it to motivate you to DO something about the problem. Supporting a child is also a useful family exercise, to make them aware of the poor. ( I have visited the poorer nations and wish the rich people would do likewise - take a vacation in India rather than the Caribbean). What should God do to intervene? Firstly, He has done something. He gives children parents and relatives who are supposed to protect the children. He restrains sin through conscience, the Holy Spirit, the law, civil government, through the influence of good people on society and societal codes of conduct (most of us know how we ought to behave). Most of us know that child abuse is wrong. He also limits the amount of pain an individual can inflict by limiting the life of humans. Secondly, should He Zap us with a painful shock when we do wrong? By whose standards? If God's then we will be zapped all the time, if man's standards then God would be lowering His standard (can he do that?). Either way, being zapped would make life intolerable. Instead we have a conscience ( a minor zap). Zapping us would be treating us like dogs rather than humans, so zapping would be against human dignity. I suspect that zapping would also make it difficult for us to love and worship God. We are treated as being in the image of God (as men) and not as pets or robots. After all, God would visit us as a man. The problem is how should God restrain evil and still treat us as responsible beings having free will. Thirdly, if he terminated our life when we exceeded a certain degree of wickedness, most of us would not be here now. He restrains his judgement to give us a chance to repent. The fact is that God causes the sun to shine on the just and unjust. The goodness of God should lead us to repentance, I doubt if zapping would achieve this. Suffering is the price we pay for God's patience towards sinners. Fourthly, your question is limited to innocent suffering, and more specifically to child suffering. But why limit it, should God intervene in the case of rape or adultery? Fifthly, there are historic occasions when God did intervene, such as the flood, Sodom and Gomorah. Er and Onan (Gen 38.7-10), Herod, Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira. Would you want this to be the norm? Sixthly, Child abuse is also warning to those 'good' parents of; 'there but for the grace of God go I', it warns us of our human frailty. It tells us to keep ourselves in check so that we do not follow this example of wickedness. I should also point out that some child abuse is Satanic in origin. Satan delights in destroying those who are vulnerable. Satanic child sacrifice is the counterfeit to the sacrifice of God's son on the cross. The former is sadistic and evil, the latter leading to freedom, forgiveness, adoption as sons and eternal life. In permitting evil God also makes it possible for great good to be done. For example; a child might be abandoned by its parents, but this allows someone else to do good by adopting the orphan. This is relevant to the abortion debate, instead of terminating a child (read "murder") a child can be adopted by a family who "want" a child (not necessarily theirs). I should add, that just because we cannot see or understand why God permits innocent suffering, does not mean that God does not have a reason and a motive for such. Perhaps you can suggest a better way for God to intervene? God could have done it differently If we consider suffering in general, then why did God not kill off Satan when he sinned, or kill off Adam and Eve when they sinned and plunged the human race into a future of suffering? Instead God has postponed the judgement of Satan and his followers. Clearly in the mind of God today's suffering is worth the future he has in mind. But suffering will one day stop, it is temporary. It seems that God, having created the universe with its physical and moral laws, is committed to seeing it through to the end, with a minimum of divine intervention. The Calvinist would answer that if man had never sinned then God could not demonstrate his mercy on sinners or his justice on sinners. The attributes of God are magnified by the fall. Without sin, God's mercy, forgiveness, holiness, justice etc etc would not be fully manifested to all creation. Jesus an example: The prime example of innocent suffering is that of Jesus Christ.
The fact is that God in Jesus has endured human suffering himself and has been subjected to human wickedness by death on the cross. The innocent died for the wicked to bring us to God. Why did Jesus have to endure unjust suffering? Why did he have to suffer the worst that man and Satan could throw at him. Why did God not intervene? It was so that God could bring about the salvation of billions. It was not justice that Jesus died for the guilty, it was not justice that he should be punished instead of us, but it results in mercy on us. I accept that Jesus suffering was voluntary, while that of children is not. In fact most of suffering is involuntary. The best answer that I can think of is that the day of judgement will bring about justice. Indeed, one of the worse things about atheism is that the wicked 'get away' with their crimes. God will put an end to suffering: Some complain why doesn't God do something about it, or the skeptic would say "If I were God I would have done it differently" or "I would have acted sooner". The problem is that if God really decided to finish once and for all innocent suffering, we would not be here on earth to complain and grumble against God. In the light of eternity we are living in a short period of history when God permits human freedom and innocent suffering. Just because God has not yet put an end to innocent suffering, do not mean that he will not deal with it in the future. Innocent suffering will not continue forever. There will come a day when those who are the cause of suffering will be judged and punished so that justice will be seen to be done. There will also be a new heaven and new earth in which righteousness will reign. There will be no more sin and no more suffering.
Another reason that God permits suffering is so that we can see the consequences of our own, and other peoples, actions and to learn from ours, and others, mistakes. If we mention the recent school killings, and ask why God allowed it. The answer is that God is not allowed in schools. We reap what we sow. Ultimately the innocent suffering of which you speak is caused by human wickedness, which is the result of the fall. Why did some people catch AIDS from contaminated blood? Why do innocent children suffer? We are all affected by the collective sin of the human race, including the innocent and the good. However one day, on the great day of judgement the wicked will be repaid for their wickedness and justice will be publicly displayed. You ask why doesn't God intervene NOW. But one day he will intervene permanently and put a final end to innocent suffering. This part of the Christian hope, we do not see it now but we wait for it patiently. I also I believe that God allows human freedom so that men have the time to repent. God is sometimes patient and merciful to child killers, mass murders etc. Once we were also enemies of God. He delays his judgement upon us so that we have time to repent. I also believe that Jesus died to make bad men good. God has given men i.e. the church the job of persuading bad men to repent from evil and to do good. As well as the offer of forgiveness. The church can do much to improve child suffering by giving alms, for example supporting a child or child feeding programs etc. If the rich Christians in the West gave a dollar a day then most child poverty would be eliminated. The church should be part of the solution not the problem as well as an example in the times we live.
The suffering of the innocent will either drive men away from God or to God. It serves to demonstrate the wickedness of the human heart. I know of at least one person who was troubled by the wickedness in the world shortly before becoming a Christian. I believe that if we ask God why he does not intervene in innocent suffering He would answer "Consider the suffering of my Son", which is likely the best answer this side of eternity. We should pray "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." A few final thoughts on the problem of evil. This earth with its present natural suffering is not permanent but will be destroyed and God will create a new heaven and new earth and there will be no sea. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away, Rev 21:1-4. The problem of evil people will be dealt with in the future with the day of judgement and then evil people will be quarantined in hell. If we ask why God allows innocent children to die, we should also note that God allowed His innocent Son to die at the hands of evil men. Hope this helps rgds Ross PS. I am sure that amazon has books on why the innocent suffer.
Books:
Theodicy is the enterprise of showing that appearances are misleading: that evils of the kind and quantity we find on Earth are neither incompatible with nor render improbable the existence of God. Richard Swinburne, the Evidential Argument from Evil, Ed Daniel Howard-Snyder, p 30. Gregory A Boyd presents six theses in his book Satan & the Problem of Evil: Constructing a Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy.
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