Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Death, Babies and God

Babies die. Why?

Doesn't it seem like a loving, all powerful God would keep them from dieing?

Yes, from our human perspective it does. We certainly would if we could.

But we don't have an eternal perspective. We cant see everything.



Why is there death in the universe? The Bible clearly says it is because of Adam's sin. Adam chose to disobey God and the punishment was the curse of death on the universe. All living beings are subject to death and disease. Sadly, this means babies too.

Couldn't God have stopped Adam from sinning?

He could, but to do so would take away his- and our- free will. It would have made us no more than robots.

God created us in His emotional image and for the purpose of loving Him.

Is love really love if there is no choice?

No:-(

If my parents had kidnapped my Hubby when he was a one year old and kept him in a closet so the only human he ever saw was me, his "I love you" would be totally meaningless. Because he has the choice to not love me, his love is real love.

For us to truly love God we must have the choice to not love Him. This means we must have the choice to sin. Sin causes death.

Oh, I don't mean a baby who dies before birth has sinned. Not at all. In fact, I believe wholeheartedly a baby who dies will go to Heaven for eternity.

But it is Adam's and all adult's sin that has brought death into the universe, and thus to the child.

Death makes God sad, just like it does us. He doesn't intervene because He is letting us have a choice, but it still makes Him sad.

 (For anyone from twitter coming here for an answer, I don't have a smart phone and do have a busy life. For goodness sakes! don't assume there is no answer just because I chose to feed my family, sleep, clean house and teach my children before I got back to you. Sheesh)

2 comments:

  1. You blame Adam for still-born babies? What was Adam's crime? Eating a fruit that he and Eve were convinced to eat by a talking snake? Surely no parent deserves to be put through that because a person ate a fruit?

    Your world view is that an omnipotent, omniscient god is in control. He put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden *knowing* in advance that Adam and Eve would eat from it. Your god created the serpent knowing in advance that the serpent would convince Adam and Eve to eat from the tree.

    If that god you believe in is omnipotent and omniscient then we are carrying out the plan he has put into place. He knows in advance what will happen and every death is his responsibility.

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    Replies
    1. Adam's sin is the one and only sin- rebellion. He chose to disobey God (note: Adam was not fooled by the snake. Eve was. Eve was punished, but not blamed for the fall of humanity. Adam chose to knowingly and willfully disobey. And how hard was obedience, really? To enjoy apples, oranges, mangos, bananas, and all the hundreds of other fruits for all of eternity and just ignore one tree?)

      All humans have at one time or another chosen to rebel against God.

      There is another aspect, though, that we humans tend to forget. Though I whole heartedly believe God mourns every death (even the death of a 103 year old woman), I also know He sees beyond death. He knows what the pre-born child will face if she lives. He knows if life would be horrible for that child, and chooses, sometimes, to allow that child to die instead of face that life. He knows if the parents would grieve more at the rebellion against God their child might choose than the death of that child early on.

      And death is not the end. That baby and the believer that dies goes to the arms of God. She gets the glory of Heaven without the pain of life. And if her parents are believers, they will get to see her someday. Not as soon as they want, of course, but that day will come when they will never have to part from her again.

      God wanted a people who would love Him. We are created in His image so we can fulfill this desire in Him. That image means that it isn't really love unless it is a choice. God, in order to achieve His goals, had to give us a choice. We chose to rebel. The penalty for that rebellion is death in order to express the seriousness of rebellion.

      But God, in His great love, provided a way out of that punishment. He put on a robe of flesh and died the most torturous method of execution humankind has ever invented. He (who did not deserve to die) paid the price of our rebellion.

      But no gift does any good unless it is accepted. We must accept this gift of Salvation. If we do, we get to go to Heaven and see those beautiful babies, and faithful old people who love the Lord. I believe there will be no such thing as age, really, in Heaven, so the 4 month preemie and the 103 year old lady will both be able to play kickball, chase butterflies, eat ice cream, etc. It will be, well, Heaven! :-)

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