Question: My desire to reach and share the amazing, good news gospel of Jesus with the unsaved has been increasing more and more every time I go out. As I encounter more people one of the questions I have been asked is why does God allow children to suffer terrible heinous crimes, and get murdered?
Answer: I can agree with you that many people have this question. It is easy to look at the world and see all the heinous things that happen to innocent people. You don’t have to look very far to find someone who had something terrible happen to them. Here are some clear truths to consider when asked this question.
- God created the world without any defect or malfunction. It was harmonious and it was good. (Genesis 1:31)
- Spiritual death, the sin nature, and a curse upon the Earth all resulted from Adam and Eve’s disobedience of God’s command. (Genesis 3:13-19)
- The sin nature of mankind is brutal. (Romans 3:10-19, Jeremiah 17:9)
- Mankind is responsible to God for all the wickedness they commit. (Revelation 20:11-13)
- God uses the wickedness of man for good. (Genesis 50:19-20)
God did not create sin and He does not endorse it. God is not the one who causes these horrible crimes to happen to children. Instead, mankind is the culprit of these crimes. The heinous crimes committed are a natural result of the rebellious nature in man. Our job is to trust that God will use these things for good and to accomplish His will. If I may be blunt, I do not think it is for us to know why these things happen. We need to be careful that we do not put God on trial. He is the judge of all the Earth, and He will do what is right (Genesis 10:25).
Also, God has done what no law or society created by man can do… He paid the price of sin. All the evil and filth of man’s sin was laid on Jesus… and paid in full. God intervened in a way that no one else could intervene. I usually like to bring the answer to this question to the gospel because THAT is what people need to hear.
Yes, men are wicked, the world is terrible, and bad things happen to good people. Would you like to hear what God did about all that?