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God Jet healthy lí ttle children
die?
Overwhelmed and emotionally
dis t raught, perhaps even on the
verge of a nger a nd bitterness
because of a heartrending accident
simi lar to Kristen's, . sorne people
lash out in harshness at God:
" 1
can't
believe in a God who would Jet that
happen!" Or,
" 1
can't worship a God
who allows such accidents!"
One of the biggest barriers to
people
real/y believing
in an eter–
nal, everl iving, all-wise, al l-know–
ing God is the simple fact that
pain ful sutfering, death and other
evi ls have been inflicted on inno–
cent little chi ldren-not only now,
but throughout recorded human
history.
r
was personally sickened inside
when news of Kristen's accident, so
near where we live, reached me.
Such t ragedies are never easy to
take. But before we blame God for
that accident or for any of the mul–
t itude of terrible tragedies affii ct–
ing people worldwide, we need to
s top and understand. There are
explanations for accidents. There
are reasons why God allows sad
events and sutfering to occur.
Whose Fault?
We must admit any number of fac–
tors cause accidents. Faulty equip–
ment, carelessness, human miscal–
culations, lack of training, d runk–
e nness. How many fir es occur
becaus e chi ld ren play wit h
matches? How many small chil–
dren die, drinking caustic, deadly
solutions negl igently left within
their little reach? Thousands.
Harm ful toys, loaded g uns,
unguarded swimming pools and
you can name others, claim chi l–
dren's lives almost daily. Parents,
often, are either careless or fail to
teach child ren proper precautions.
Sadly, almost every day, as in the
case of little Kristen, we read about
a small chi ld killed or injured upon
darting into the path of an oncom–
ing vehicle.
If you have small children, by all
means teach them and discipl ine
them. Don' t allow them to cross the
street without permission a nd
supervision . Especially teach them
not to dart into the s treet. Impress
the seriousness of your teaching on
their developing little minds.
November/ December
1982
Teach and Discipline Your
Chlldren
Do teach your chi1dren. Be aware
where they are and what they are
doing. lnstruction pays off even for
older chi ldren. Learn to properly
discipline your children for disobe–
dience (Prov. 19: 18). God expects
parents to fulfill this responsibility.
If
you heed this sound biblical
advice you' ll not on1y help save
your chi ld's life, but save yourself
unnecessary heartache.
But getting back to the basic
point: Can we b1ame God for Kris–
ten's tragic accident or for other
similar heartrending occurrences?
S h a ll we human s ass ume no
responsioilities?
A Series of Wrong Choices
Since the beginning of human
experience God has given humans
freedom of choice- freedom to act
rightly, act wrongly or not act at
all .
Our problems began in the gar–
den of Eden-and so it is there that
we must go to find the fundamental
answers to the basic dilemmas of
humanity. The biblical narrative
reveals that God created Adam and
Eve in bis very own image. He
imparted mind power to our first
parents- limi ted abil ity to think,
plan, reason and create- and, most
important, ability to exerci:;e deci–
sion-making powers.
The first two humans were given
a choice. Instead of choosing to do
things God' s way they chose to do
things their way. God advised them
to take of the t ree of life, which
represented God's way of doing
things, obedience to his authority,
an acceptance of his revealed
knowledge, leading eventually to
eterna! life.
He warned them against choos–
ing the other way, portrayed by the
tree of the knowledge of good and
evil- representing reasoning apart
from God, acquiring knowledge by
trial and error, and, in fact, living
life in outright rejection of God's
revealed way of 1ife.
A wrong c hoice, God warned,
would lead to unhappiness and death
for the whole human family. " And
the Lord God commanded the man,
saying, Of every tree of the garden
thou mayest freely eat: but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the
day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die" (Gen. 2: 16- 17).
They chose wrong! They rejected
God and his way! They rejected his
having any authority in their lives!
That's why all this suffering and
hardships we see today. That's why
mankind has suffered throughout
history. Mankind as a whole has
chosen to reject God and God's
way of life! God did not force
father Adam and mother Eve to
choose correctly. He hasn' t forced
mankind since. And he doesn't
force us today. We're not robots.
God has always given humans free–
doro of choice.
And except for a very select few,
whom God has called out and to
whom he has revealed his truth,
humanity has rejected right knowl–
edge on how to live in harmony and
peace- that right knowledge dis–
seminated by God's law and spelled
out in God's Ten Commandments.
The first four show us how to !ove
God and the last six teach us how
to !ove each other. Instead humans
have c hosen to live contrary to
God: cheating, lying, stealing, ki ll–
ing, coveting, fornicating and living
selfishly for the most part.
l s it any wonder, then, why we
have unhappiness, sufferi ng and
war, so many terrible heartrending
personal and world ills?
God Can lntervene
lt's not that God can't intervene in
the world's atfai rs. And it's not that
God can' t save children , or adul ts
for that matter, from death or
injury in accidents. He can! God
can intervene and God does inter–
vene to help and protect t hose
choosing to live life bis way.
Jesus, the very personi fication of
God, lived li fe on this earth exactly.
as God the Father would have, had
the Father become human. " He
that hath seen me hath seen the
Father" (John 14:9), Jesus said.
J esus openly showed ·bis !ove for
children. God the Father !oves chi l–
dren, too!
"Suffer [allow or Jet ] little chil–
dren, and forbid them not, to come
unto me" (Matt. 19: 14), said J esus.
He opened his arms to little children,
put his hands on them and prayed for
them, verse 13. Jesus, who is at the
13