My 11yo asked me why God allows bad things to happen

5d ago·1 min read

We were driving home from his baseball game and he asked me why God lets people get sick and die if He loves them. Caught me completely off guard. I gave him some answer about free will and suffering bringing us closer to God but I don't think I explained it well. He seemed satisfied but I'm bothered by it. How do you guys handle these deep faith questions from your kids when you're not totally sure of the answer yourself? Definitely praying about this one.

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Comments(3)

DDerekRegular4d ago

These conversations are tough but also kind of beautiful. My 12yo asked me something similar after his grandpa got sick. I didn't have all the answers so I just told him the truth - that it's okay to not understand everything and that's where faith comes in. Might be worth exploring what prompted the question too, sounds like something specific happened.

SStevenRegular4d ago

Man, that's a heavy question. I've gotten asked versions of this by my two and honestly there's no perfect answer. I usually go with something like God gives us free will and sometimes bad things happen because of that, or just bad luck. Then I ask him what he thinks. Sometimes our kids have better wisdom than we give them credit for.

KKevin M.New Dad5d ago

I think about this stuff a lot actually. What I've landed on with my kids is that asking the hard questions means they're thinking deeply about the world. That's a good thing. As for the answer, I usually say that God doesn't promise us a life without pain, just that he's there in the pain. Your son's lucky he feels comfortable asking you about this.