Why Does God Let African Babies Starve?
The problem of human suffering has often been used by atheists and skeptics as an argument against God. If God is “good,” if God is “loving,” why is there so much evil and suffering in the world? We’ve all seen pictures of innocent African children, emaciated, ribs protruding, flies all over their faces—why does God allow this? Such a question is often sufficient to convince people that either God doesn’t exist, or He doesn’t care. It is worth exploring.
First, I certainly don’t know why God does, or doesn’t do, everything He does (or doesn’t do), any more than I know why humans do (or don’t do) what they do/don’t do (I’m not even sure I always understand why I do what I do). Pick up a grain of sand. Compare it to the entire universe. The grain of sand is your knowledge. The universe is God’s. We know virtually nothing compared to God, so no one can give a definitive answer about God’s ways and doings. An infinite God’s ways are “unsearchable” for finite humanity.
With such in mind, let me make the following observations.
1. God certainly could, if He wished, stop all human suffering immediately. With a moment’s thought, He could obliterate the entire universe and that would be that. No more evil and suffering. Most of us would probably prefer He not do that, and He hasn’t done it yet, so obviously it isn’t something in Him immediate plan. But He could do it. And suffering/evil would cease.
2. Barring point one, God could end all suffering and evil by constant intervention in the natural laws He established to govern the universe and/or by denying man freedom of will. That would involve miraculous activity by God (something skeptics don’t believe in) and not give us the choice to live our lives as we wish. Why even create a universe if He is going to do that? Virtue isn’t virtue, evil isn’t evil, if it isn’t voluntary. I can see no reason for God to even create an existence where freedom of choice and natural law do not exist, unless He just wants to play with dolls. Yes, he could have done that, but He didn’t. I don’t know why, but that’s what He did.
Freedom of choice means people will do evil. Natural law means babies will starve. Yes, God could intervene in both, but do we really want Him to? I guarantee you skeptics and atheist do not.
I’ll make a deal with an atheist. I’ll ask God to intervene and feed the starving babies in Africa and end tornados and such, if you will ask God to intervene and stop women from murdering their unborn babies. And prevent doctors from mutilating children in the name of transgender perversion. And stop Joe Biden from lying (Joe would never open his mouth again). Deal?
I seriously doubt the skeptic would agree to this. Atheists, etc., only want God to do what they want Him to do, not what I want Him to do. So, He has to feed the starving babies, but let women kill their own. Who decides when God intervenes and when He doesn’t? I’ll tell you who does—God decides. Just like the skeptic decides what he/she thinks is best for humanity, God decides what He thinks is best for humanity. The skeptic doesn’t always like what God decides, and I’m pretty sure God doesn’t always like what they decide, either. Tit for tat. The difference is, He is loving enough to let them choose. They spit at Him. Justice will be served eventually, but while there is life, there is hope that every man will repent and respond to God’s love. Most don’t, but...that is their choice that God gives them. And they want that choice. But they can’t demand the right to decide what they think is best and then deny God the same right. More hypocrisy.
If these skeptics are so concerned about starving babies in Africa (and, yes, we all should be), I suggest the skeptic quit complaining about what God isn’t doing, get off his lazy butt, and go over to Africa and feed those children himself. That might be the tool God uses to do what the skeptic wants done. Natural law. Freedom of choice.
The bottom line to all of this, of course, is that atheists don’t want to do what God says, i.e., live a righteous, holy, self-denying life of service to Him and man. They want to live as they want to live, and then they want to demand that God do what they tell Him to do. That is more hypocrisy gone to seed.
I don’t know why God does what He does, except for what He told me in His book. And part of what He told me is “the just shall live by faith.” Just like I trusted my parents when I was a child though I did not always understand why they did the things they did, I must trust a heavenly Father Who has far greater knowledge and wisdom than I can even imagine. A grain of sand compared to the entire universe.