How can God permit "tragedy" to happen to a child?! read more?

Question

On 12/26/06, my 9 & 10 yrs old daughters were injured in a house fire at their grandparents house. The grandfather died on 1/26/07. My 9 yrs old jumped out of a window and suffered 3rd degree burns on her arms & back. She has a lifelong of memories from that day due to her physical scarring. I believe in God; but WHY did such a horrible thing have to happen to such a LITTLE GIRL? I just don't understand how God could let this happen. WHY O WHY??!!

Answer 1

Before I answer, let me say, I am so terribly sorry for you and your little girls. My heart goes out to them.

The biggest reason that tragedies happen is because...we live in a fallen world. Cancer happens. Children starve. Babies are born with crippling disease. This is no Garden of Eden - it's the imperfect fallen world of mankind. Sometimes there is no obvious reason for bad things other than the fact that we live in the ever flawed world.

But sometimes the things that "just happen" don't just happen. Sometimes we can't see God's divine purpose in life. I can imagine that as Mary watched her first Son, her special child Jesus being beaten and spat upon, and nailed to a cross to die, she would have every cause to say "WHY are you allowing this God?" The pain of a mother watching her child going through a trauma is no different today. However, she had no way of knowing that this was God's perfect plan of salvation for mankind. Now coming back to your question... God may very well have a reason for permitting pain and suffering that we can't currently see. The one thing I am completely sure of is that, if you keep your eyes on God and trust in Him, he has promised that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose." (Romans 8:28)

I will close by saying...your girls' lives didn't end in that fire. Circumstances could have been ever so slightly different to cause them to not come out of the fire alive. Perhaps it was that God spared them. I am so sorry to hear of the death of their grandfather. I know how painful that is. We do live in the fallen world where death is inevitable, although it doesn't soften the grief we feel when faced with it. Perhaps your girls will realize how very precious and brief live is, and make every blessed moment count. Perhaps they will come to realize how good God was to let them escape the fire and use this second-lease-on-life to do great things! I know it's hard to see beyond the here-and-now, but believe me, every bit of this terrible experience can be turned into good.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your daughters.

Answer 2

God probably has little to do with what goes on. I don't subscribe to the theory that God planned for that fire and made it happen. That is was predestined. I can't precieve that a Good God would do that purposefully.

God left us on our own in a hostile world far from the safety and security of Eden. This is our destiny due to the actions of Adam and Eve, according to our belief system, unless you chose not to believe further.

We are in a hostile world and have the FREE will to be good or bad.

Your kids were not bad. They are kids. If the fire was spontanious then NO ONE is really to blame except MAN for deciding to live in houses instead of CAVES.

They could have died in that fire, so maybe God saved them.

Maybe the guardian Angels helped them out.

You didn't tell us what the CAUSE of the FIRE as determined by the FIRE DEPARTMENT was! What DID the FIRE department, who is usually very accurate in their assement, say caused the fire.

My old apartment burnt down. The electric clock plugged into the wall socket caused a short which set the wall on fire. That wall was behind my head and would have happened 30 minutes before my alarm clock went off had I been there. I was not there. Had I been there I might have died or at the very least been HOMELESS. Had my mother been there she WOULD have died in that fire or from the smoke. I was 3,000 miles away working with a young girl on a project who induced me to come out and help her. My mother was in a nursing home recovering from Pnumonia.

Maybe GOD saved us BOTH.

We can't BLAME God for things. God can't DO things against us nor SAVE all of us.

It is said things happen for a reason. That reason may as yet be unclear, but if anything God chose to keep your girls alive.

Isn't that enough help.

Answer 3

I'm so sorry to hear about your tragedy.

But please understand that bad things happen to people at the same statistical rate regardless of whether or not they believe in God, and regardless of whether or not they pray.

The reason is that God doesn't exist. I know it's scandalous to even consider such an idea, because God has been ingrained in our minds since birth. It's what most of us are raised to believe without question. Even though thousands of questions exist, none of which can be rationally answered, until you accept the fact that it's all a lie.

Again, I express sympathy for your loss and your daughter's suffering.

Answer 4

Sorry to hear about all those awful things happening in your family. I'm not going to give you something from the bible to help ease your pain because honestly, there isn't anything in there that will do that. Bad things happen to good people everyday. Is it fair? Probably not but, life isn't fair. I'm not sure why God allows things like this to happen. I think we've all wondered why. Some will say it's a test from God but I happen to think that we all have our fair share of bad things in life. That's just the way it is. Believing in God doesn't exempt you from bad things happening. Again, probably not fair but that's the way it is.

The only bit of advice I can give you is to be thankful that your children didn't die in the fire. Keep the memory of your grandfather alive and cherish your memories of him. Get your children into some thearpy to deal with this event because they're obviously not over it. Just do your best to move on from this and try not let it make you bitter or cynical. You could even start volunteering at your local children's hospital to help kids who have been through traumatic events. Try to turn something bad that happened into something worthwhile by helping others that you can relate to.

Answer 5

Have you seen picts of the napalm bombing with the little naked girl running down the street ?. The only reason she was naked is bacause the burning was so bad she tore off her clothes to try to escape it and she was only 9. She was pronounced dead and put in the morgue after the photographer did the best he could to help her. Her mother realized she was alive when her family picked her body up for burial. God is written in a book. So are faries and gnomes.i wish you and yours strength with this. My little one fell out of a second story window at 4. just before her 5th birthday She landed on an exposed tree root and peeled her head like an orange for her brain to be totally exposed,. Hopefully she will not have too much pain thru her healing process. Wish you well.

Answer 6

I'm sorry this happened to your family. It's a definite tragedy that I wouldn't like to see anyone go through.

I think that you do not understand that God warned Adam and Eve, they didn't listen. I know that I am going Waaay back, but that's part of what Adam was going to put us through. We only see today, now. And I'm sure Adam couldn't see the future, otherwise he would have not eaten the fruit. He had ONE THING that he wasn't supposed to do, and he did it anyway.

Allow this expereince to let you know how serious this all his. It was so serious that God Himself came off the throne in heaven to provide us with a way back to Him. It was that serious.

So for those who would say that God is love, they are right. But it is not all about God to know that he is love. He is also judgement. And the curse that we inherited sticks with us, even us that are 'trusters' of him.

So stand up a little straighter, and defy the circumstance. God is with you, you will be here only a little longer. You just keep your focus on Jesus. Damn the circumstances that would make you doubt him.

Answer 7

I am very, very sorry for what happened. I think no answer would give you comfort now however, if as you say you believe in God then you already know the answer. God doesn't not want tragedy to happen to anyone! It hurts Him probably even MORE that a child of his is hurt. There are so many things I could say, none would probably give you the answer you want to hear.

I just hope that you don't lose your Faith and that you draw nearer to Him....He will comfort you; but you must allow Him! He will heal your children....lead your children to Him.

Answer 8

Bad things happen to good people,it's just part of life God had nothing to do with the fire,you are grieving and the only thing you can do is blame the one being that shouldn't be blamed.Many times I've heard people say that their trials made them better persons,no one knows why little children have to suffer but I believe that God doesn't abandon us in times like these,we tend to abandon him. I think you should pray to Him to help you understand and heal.

Answer 9

If God were to save everyone or keep people from hurting them selves it would take away our free agency. It would also keep us from learning true values and how to over come trials that will in fact help us after we receive our perfect body's upon the Resurrection. He also know that our time upon this earth is just a split second in his time which will be our time someday also. It would be like a parent watching their child get a pin prick for a blood test which could help to heal them from a sickness. Yes he cares but he can see the big picture.

Answer 10

God didn't do this. I know a lot of people of faith want to say "It's part of God's plan," but the truth is, that's actually a very cruel comment. It asks you to accept that the God you place your faith in decided to make your children suffer.

I am not a Christian (I believe every faith is true--and that God appears to each person in the manner in which he / she can best accept). I was raised Christian, though. My understanding is that God granted us free will. That means that things happen based on decisions that we and others have made. God doesn't interfere with our lives.

This was not God's fault. It was not your fault. It was not anyone's fault. It's horrible, and I hope that you and your little girl will find the faith and strength to cope with this and overcome this tragedy.