There is an old attack that critics of the Bible/God like to hurl, regarding the Lord’s occasional willingness to kill (or condone the killing of) children. During the flood, an untold number of children died in the waters. It happened in the Exodus account, when God sent a plague of death specifically to kill the firstborn sons of the land. It happened also in the Israelite conquest of Canaan, during which the Lord ordered the deaths of every pagan man, woman, and child. Babylon’s invasion of Judah certainly featured plenty of infanticide and that invasion was directed by the providential hand of God.
There’s no question that many Biblical accounts feature the deaths of babies and/or young children.
How are Christians okay with this? How do Christians continue to serve a God that allows this? How can Christians say He is a God of love when He orders the execution of scores of innocent babies?
These are the challenges. What is the answer?
I doubt I can give a complete response in a thousand words or less, so I won’t try, but I will try to give a simple response, one that hopefully puts into perspective God’s (and, therefore, His people’s) view of life in this world.
First of all, God alone wields the power of life and death. Even in such cases where capital punishment is administered, it is done in accordance with the Law of God, or at the very least by authority delegated from God. In other words, setting aside what is perceived as “excessive” or “morally wrong” (by human standards), the fact remains God has the right to take a life, and under some circumstances, He delegates that right to various world powers or people. YOU can’t take a life without God’s permission. God doesn’t need anyone’s permission: He is the Maker and Taker of life.
Second, death isn’t the worst possible outcome to happen to someone, and many of the criticisms against God in this topic are made from the standpoint that dying is a bad thing. It isn’t, per se. When Canaan was conquered and the pagans were killed, that was God’s justice being carried out. You may not agree with His justice, but I’m sorry to deflate your ego: God isn’t losing sleep over whether or not you agree with His justice (see point one in the previous paragraph). Those pagan adults were guilty of sin and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:24). As for their children, they are innocent, but that doesn’t make their death a bad thing. From the perspective of God, it makes it an escape from the world. Those pagan parents died and will be punished for their sins. Those children of the pagans died and will rest with God forevermore.
Now, to that, someone will argue: Then why don’t we just kill all the babies! There have indeed been some demented serial killers in history who believed that by killing innocent people they were doing God’s will, sparing their victims from the horrors of the world. The problem is: God did not give those killers the right to take a life. God alone wields the power of life and death (again, see the first point). Anyone upset at God taking the life of a guilty person fails to appreciate God’s role as Judge. Anyone upset at God taking the life of an innocent person fails to appreciate God’s role as Creator. We are His.
Recall the circumstances of Enoch (Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5), who, though he did not die, was instead translated from life to after-life. He didn’t die, per se, but as far as his family and friends were concerned, he might as well have. Did they mourn his loss? Certainly. Was God “morally wrong” for taking him? Certainly not. Enoch belonged to God, and I suspect Enoch was more than happy to go home with Him.
Third, God is not removed from the pain of death. His own innocent Son was killed on the cross, remember. In the end, through the death of Jesus, death itself will be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15). The dead will rise and all saved and innocent ones will live with God forevermore (children included). If that’s not good enough for you, then your perspective is too worldly. To those with a heavenly perspective, death is a release to long for, not a trauma to avoid.
I’m not ignorant of the pain that comes with death. Separation brings heartache. I don’t want to lose my loved ones either, but I have to keep in mind that this world and this physical life is not the end-all/be-all. There is a “far better” life waiting for me on the other side of the veil of death (Philippians 1:23). I think it’s easy to get into an argument about topics like this, and we end up arguing in the proverbial weeds, when really the root of the argument needs to be addressed. An atheist arguing this topic is going to take the position that God doesn’t have the right to take a life (on the contrary, He does), or that God is morally wrong for doing so (on the contrary, He defines morality). Ethically, we might look at a child dying and say “they didn’t deserve that” but who are we to define the meaning of the word “deserve”? Are we God?
The Lord is Lord. He reigns over life and death. The guilty are punished with death and are removed from God forevermore with it. The innocent are released by death and are cradled in God’s care forevermore with it.
~ Matthew