Help me understand the Christian God?

Question

Why would God allow a child to be born who would one day grow up and murder an innocent father with 6 children and whose widow as a result would grow hard and turn away from Christianity?

Knowing God could cause a miscarriage or the child not to be conceived at all.

HotCocoPuff ... this post is fictitious. I'm trying to understand some things.

Answer 1

God allows suffering in the world for many reasons. We cannot understand all the reasons for these things, for an infinite God is, after all, knowable only in a limited sense by our finite minds. Nevertheless, we can determine some of the reasons why God would allow suffering.

First suffering can be a test of faith such as described in

1Pe 1:7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Second, suffering can be a sanctifying experience. Joseph saw how an apparent evil towards him was meant for a greater good by God:

Gen 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Third, suffering could be a chastisement as the result of sin in a person’s life. Chastisement does not mean complete and total rejection by God, only that our souls may be cleansed from the malady of sin. Paul spoke of this chastisement:

1Co 11:29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
1Co 11:30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
1Co 11:31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Yet, not all illnesses or sickness is the result of sin. Christ clearly said as much:

Joh 9:1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
Joh 9:2 And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
Joh 9:3 Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Jesus did not imply that the man or his parents had not sinned. He meant that the man’s blindness was not a direct result of sin in their lives. God had allowed this man to be born blind in order that the man might become a means of displaying the mighty works of God. Before the man was born, the Lord Jesus knew He would give sight to those blind eyes.

Fourth, suffering can sometimes be considered a means by which we display the sympathy of Christ in a practical manner, thus proving our faith through works. The Apostle Paul notes:

Col 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

The afflictions endured by Paul in his flesh were for the sake of Christ's body, namely, the church. The sufferings of non-believing people are, in one sense, purposeless. There is no high dignity attached to these sufferings. They are only a foretaste of the torment of hell to be endured forever. But the suffering of the believer is not the same. When believers suffer for Christ, Christ in a very real way suffers with them.

Fifth, suffering can be a means by which we are tempered (strengthened) for the eventualities to come. Christ, when speaking to Peter of his eventual death stated:

Joh 21:18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.

Like the old saying, “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”, suffering can build us up so that we are better prepared for the future and its travails.

Sixth, suffering can be used as a witness to others of God’s unmerited grace. Our attitude towards an illness, accident, etc. and our reception of the same speak volumes when our spoken testimony is rejected.

Seventh, suffering is sometimes a means of weaning us from the things of this world to cause us to draw nearer to God. Suffering should be a means of educating us to the prospect of heaven. This earthly world is not the home of the believer. We are pilgrims and strangers whose citizenship is in another place. Our minds should be focused on things invisible and not in the temporal things of this life.

We must remember that with the fall of mankind in Eden sin entered the world, corrupting earth and all its inhabitants. Thus we have sin directly causing suffering when sinful people commit sinful acts. We have sin causing suffering indirectly by the deteriorating earth and all its natural disasters.

Some people argue that since God made everything, He made evil too. But an omnipotent God could not have created a morally free creature incapable of choosing evil. That does not mean God made evil. Yes, God is the author of everything in the created universe.

But evil is not a thing or a substance; it is a privation or lack in things (blindness is lack of sight, pain is lack of health, hate or murder is lack of love). Therefore God did not create evil.

Christ told us that we would suffer in this world:
Joh 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

But why doesn’t God just stop evil actions that cause innocent people to suffer?


Jer 12:1 Righteous are you, O LORD, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
Jer 12:2 You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit; you are near in their mouth and far from their heart.

Why doesn’t God intervene to stop evil if He is all-loving and all-powerful? Why doesn’t He stop the drunk driver’s car that is going to crash into a bus? Why doesn’t He deflect the murderer’s bullets? The person asking doesn’t really want God to stop all their evil actions. They don’t want to be invisibly gagged every time they’re about to say something hurtful; they don’t want to stub their toe when they try to kick the dog. They just think it would be good if God stopped certain evil acts or just the evil acts of others. But that would make life impossible. There would be no freedoms, no regularity and no personal responsibility.

Having said that, never forget that God is not indifferent to our sufferings. God restrains sin and sinners so that we can appreciate mercy and unmerited grace in light of sin. If He did not our streets would be running with blood drawn by the lost, hell bound, and sin bent.

Answer 2

One explanation, God started it all, kept a hand in the beginning to give us some guidlines and help get things rolling, then stepped back to see where it would all lead. So we're an experiment.
For another explanation, read God, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams. Actually, read the whole 7 book trilogy of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Don't watch the movie, it's nothing like the books and tons is left out.

Answer 3

Look, the woman needs some assistance, so rather than pointing fingers, why don't you help her take care of her 6 kids and let her worry about her own spiritual struggles? You waste time looking to place blame, use that energy to help this poor woman, let God work through you. You may find you can answer your own questions. And, there is no Christian God versus any other God, there is only one God. I don't know if you think that if the family were of a different faith to begin with, they would not have had the tragedies that have fallen on them? Is that what you mean? I hope not. Cause that is really ignorant. Cheers. And Happy Easter!

Answer 4

God gave the species now known as "homo sapiens" ("man wise", can you believe it?) a great gift when they were created. He gave them a mind and will all of their own, the ability to make choices, whether good or bad.

Having given that gift, God will not forcibly remove it from any of us. We humans have freely chosen to sin, and he has allowed us the terrible responsibility and consequences that come with those choices.

Why doesn't God just kill off children that will grow up to be sinners? Liars, cheaters, moochers, adulterers, murderers, rapists?

Because WE WOULD ALL DIE BEFORE WE WERE BORN.

We all deserve to die for our sins, and more, for what we are: a sinning species. However, God has given us a new choice: the choice to accept new life through His son, Jesus Christ. THIS CHOICE offers us a chance at life. Before this choice appeared, the only option we all had was eternal death.

Answer 5

If a child grew up and murder someone is not what God would want. That was what the child chose to do. Everyone gets one chance and if you fail that chance you go to hell. But, if you do the right thing and use that chance to please God and to talk about God in a good way and save people's souls, then your soul will be saved as well and you will go to paradise with God. Once you are in paradise you will feel no pain and you will never be hungry or hurt. Everything will be perfect. There is nothing better than going to paradise and having your soul saved.

Answer 6

The christian God teaches the basic concept of "love thy neighbor". That God does not have the power to kill a future murderer just as it doesn't have the power to create the universe in seven days.
Those who believe otherwise are extremists.

Answer 7

The choice that child made was entirely his own; God has nothing to do with it. He gave him a free will and he exercised it in an awful way.

Answer 8

I almost had an older brother but he was miscarried a few months before birth. I pretty much became hard toward christianity when i realized (not then but years later) that there is no mysterious ways, life happends and death happends almost as fast..

Answer 9

God does not dictate to you what you will do, he gave free will so you can make that decision for yourself. The events that you described are terrible, but these were the acts and decisions of people.

Answer 10

Maybe there's nothing to understand about that god, because that god does not exist. Such a creature is unworthy of worship, except for worship by the selfish who only care about their own souls.

Answer 11

i think lack of right guidence.... and knowledge..

its not a Problem of Christian God or something.. every religion makes us Good human first... teaches humanity..

2ndly .. it depends.. on the condition whr that child gona take training of practical life. ...

if a child sees.. good moral behaviour from the family specially from mother.. then it would result in Good guys or good youngsters..

so we should look after conditions......

try to teach your child knowledge to differentiate himself from Evil and Good... and for this we have to change ourselves.. first .. coz we are living not like a human but like animals.. whr no1 cares for others..

if a child would be govern in such conditions.. no doubt he will definitely be Bad man for society..