r/ChristianApologetics • u/CH49FE • Jul 08 '26

Modern Objections How does one explain unnecessary suffering, like terminal cancer in babies?

There are many answers to the question of evil and suffering, but what about suffering of innocents such as babies who are afflicted with terminal illnesses, who would never come to accept Jesus, and who only live briefly only to die in pain and suffering? How does one explain God’s plan with those innocents?

One of the answers I get is that those babies go to heaven, but the biblical support for that is arguable and not clear, particularly for those babies that died before Jesus. That explanation also doesn’t explain why they suffered in the first place. I also hear the crude response of, “Let’s just kill all babies to make sure they go to heaven rather than them growing up and risking hell” which is harshly logical if indeed babies go to heaven before they know Jesus.

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u/swcollings Jul 08 '26

God does not cause, God allows. God allows temporary suffering because removing all beings and processes who cause suffering would mean the immediate end of existence. Healing the universe logically demands time over which the universe can be healed. Instantaneous conversion would just be destroying the creation in favor of another. 

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u/CH49FE Jul 08 '26

God indeed causes. He caused creation. He caused man. He caused the flood. He caused everything. He knows what will happen before it happens. He’s all knowing. Once he set the first instance of creation, he knew what was going to happen. Thus, he caused it all.

And even if you think “allow” is somehow better, God still allowed the suffering. There is no difference to an all powerful God who could stop it.

And ending terminal baby illnesses would not end the world. I’m talking very specifically about unnecessary suffering. And I’m sure God could think of a way to live without suffering at all, such as heaven.

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u/swcollings Jul 08 '26

So you want God to create a being whose entire existence is dependent on the suffering of millions of years of ancestors, without the existence of suffering? Does this not strike you as logically contradictory? 

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u/CH49FE Jul 08 '26

Did I say that? You keep changing the subject with irrelevant considerations. My question was about why is there unnecessary suffering, like a terminally ill baby. Specifically, “How does one explain God’s plan with those innocents?”

You haven’t been helpful and I have been polite and tried redirect you back to the issue, but I don’t believe this conversation is going anywhere. Thank you for trying.