How can there be a God that allows this to happen?

Question

My husband and I have been members of our church for 15 years. Recently my 13 year old daughter began acting strange, isolating, shunning her friends, and not wanting to go to church with us. We found out that the youth minister had seduced her and forced her to engage in sexual acts that she didn't understand. We called the police and they arrested the youth minister who also happens to be the pastor's oldest son, but he was released on bail. My husband went crazy when he was released and caught the man and beat him half to death. Now my husbands in jail for attempted murder, my daughter is in a psychiatric hospital, and the bank is ready to forclose on our home because we have no money due to all the medical and legal cost, my husbands not working, and now the pastor has turned other members of the church against us saying we are lying and making up stories about his son.
How can God allow this to happen? How can this be part of his plan?
I have lost my faith. There is no god.

Answer 1

Mary, I don't know what church you belong to, but it sounds as though it has never really taught you about Gods word and his plan for mankind. I am sure though, that you are well aware that God gave us free will and some will use this free will for the purposes of evil. Your pastor is as much to blame as his son, he is responsible for shepherding the congregation and should be offering you support at this time, regardless of his personal conflicts. God abhors such people and he will pay heavily when it is his turn to be judged. I think part of the problem, as someone has already said, is that you, like many others, confuse faith with religion. Organized religion tends to be manmade, with mens rules that allow individuals to exercise power over others. Satan loves these organizations because he is able to hide within them under the guise of good, remember that he is called an 'angel of light' in the scriptures (2 Corinthians 11:14). What he wants more than anything is to turn you against God, do not let him win. I used to be a JW, they completely dominate peoples lives and some do bad things, there are many who say they where sexually abused and I know first hand that some of them are liars, thieves and cheats as my son was a victim of them. I have had a terrible year, my mother was seriously ill in January; my twin brothers where almost killed in a house fire in February and one of my beloved sons was killed in March, this was topped by my youngest son being a victim of these unscrupulous JW's. All of these things made me question the organisation I was in and I left, however, I never questioned my faith in God, or God's purpose for us all. I could have, like you, thrown my hands up and said 'there is no God', but without God I would have taken my own life, for there where times when I could see no point to life. I know that God hates wickedness, he tells us so, and I know that he will not allow evil to reign for ever, he tells us that too. Pray to God to guide you and strenghten you in your pain and he will, and then find a group of Christians who have no rules or dogma that allows a man or a group to have power over others where evil lurks unseen. I did, I prayed to God and told him I still believed but I was never entering an organized religion again, He guided me to a wonderful, loving, truly Christian group who meet in someones home, no one leads, we take it in turns, and everyone cares. I will pray for you in your conflict and pain.

Answer 2

All of this atrocious pain and suffering you are all experiencing is the result of humans choosing to act poorly. Were it not possible for people to choose to sin, we'd have no free will and would be automatons with no identities. But the fact that we have this ability to choose how we act and teh fact that some people choose to hate others rather than love them doesn't mean there is no God or that he doesn't will what is best - rather, I think God hurts with us.

This is an insensitive answer, I realize. When you are in the throes of a crisis there can be no intellectual argument that brings you solace, and all of them will only seem to justify your pain. As Leslie D. Weatherhead said, if you haven't reached a point of security before the storm comes then there is very little that can be done to fix things while it is storming. In the long run I am not worried about your faith so much as your heart. There is love and goodness and beauty in the world, and it will find you and your family again.

Peace be with you.

Answer 3

In a sense God allows these things, but it is Satan who is causing these things to happen. God has given Satan free reign over the earth, which means he doesn't interfere with his actions. God does not perform miracles, if he did, good things would happen to his followers all the time. As a matter of fact Satans entire argument was that people were only loyal to God because he gave us everything. The bible says if we believe we will be persecuted by the non-believers. So I don't understand why people still have this notion that if something good or bad happens it is the work of God. God has given Satan 100% control over every act on this earth, that means everything that occurs is Satans work. We are only here to choose Satans way or Gods way. It is that simple. ;-)

Answer 4

Sounds like a rough time. There are two things I think you should know.

#1 is that the youth minister, the pastor, and the people of the church, are not God. It sounds like those people are being used by Satan to corrupt your faith and shatter your community. This is NOT part of God's plan. "For God only has plans to prospher you and not to harm you." This is how Satan works. He turns you away from God.

#2 is that it is O.K. to be angry. It's okay to be angry at the youth pastor, the church, the pastor, the police, and yes, even God. It is not a sin to be angry with God. If the same situation happened to me, I'd be angry at God to. So if you are angry at God, yell at him. Take it up with him. I challenge you to bring it up to God. Everything you have against him. do it three days in a row. and don't just yell at him, and stop. let him respond.

I know that it is easy for me to sit here miles away and not have to worry about it. But the truth is, God loves you. It isn't always easy to believe and I'm not saying that if you pray all your problems will cease to exist. All I know is that I have been through some rough times to0 (similar to what you are going through). and the only thing that saved me from killing myself was God. Sure I was mad at him, but in the end, he saw me through, just as he said he would.

Answer 5

I am sorry for what has happened but God didn't cause this ; man did that was given the choice to choose ; when you follow man and not God, then you subject yourself to the choices of man , good or evil; God and his son are the ones to follow , not a pastor or minister; in this land, we have laws and everyone is entitled to a trial; God is the only way to get out of this problem; anything can be overcome with God's help; the most important thing at this time is your family; start there to heal and move ahead and you will and can; keep God in your life and he will deliver you from these problems; I always taught my children that all people are subject to sin, pastors, ministers, teachers , every man ; trust in God and we should teach our children to follow God not man. I wish you and your family well. Look at Mary, she saw her son tortured and murdered and kept the faith; pray for your family. I will pray for her as well.

Answer 6

you think the members of your church have turned against you? really? How many of their children get to be alone with the youth minister now, not many I bet. I'm sure they have taken everything on board and probably had quite a gossip, there's been plenty of fuel for that lately and with your family being the subject it makes sense to withdraw from that gossip, awful stuff. I think your husband did what any father would do and your house is mmmm a loss but not anything like what your daughter has lost, as for God, he gave satan a certain length of time to see how many followers he could get, you're in those times now. Are you going to let him win

Answer 7

Wow, I'm so sorry this has happened to you. But above all things this is definitely not part of His plan. If it were then there wouldn't have been any need for a Savior. All of these things have happened as a result of some REALLY bad decisions and choices. I understand your feeling as though you have lost your faith, thankfully though, God hasn't lost you. You are in His arms at this very moment. Scream and cry out to Him. His shoulders are broad. He will withstand anything you could possibly say and when you are finished and exhausted God will simply say, I love you my child. Let go of your rage and anger and let Me take charge. May you feel God's unending love more than ever!

Answer 8

I read this and I cant begin to imagine how you must feel. You have been put in the situation where you are the one who has to keep everything together and I do feel sorry for you for having to do this.
Im afraid I dont believe in any religion, god, what have you.
I believe in fate. Everything happens for a reason.
Maybe god is testing you, to see how you can cope with this.

Im sorry I cant be any more help.
I hope that you can all come out alright through this, and I am sorry.
There are some terrible people in this world.

Answer 9

Your crisis of faith is unimportant.

Get your husband out of jail.
Help your daughter heal.
And if you still feel like doing God's work,
make life hell for the rapist.

Faith is not a magic shield that prevents bad things from happening, it is a commitment to doing the 'right' thing no matter what is happening.

Answer 10

I have never believed in God. But alot of people do and get a lot from it...what has happened to your family is just tragic.. I am so sorry that happened to you and its sad that you have also lost your faith that you must have got a lot of comfort from before this happened. All I can say to you is don't let them awful men win.. if you had a faith before this happened and it helped you, dont let them take everything away from you they have already taken so much.. and I'm sure your daughter needs u to be strong for her, and your husband, if you drew your strength from your religion then its really bad if you just lose your faith. Can't you join another church and talk to someone?