The Sandy Hook Massacre - Where Was God?

            What happened to God last Friday when Adam Lanza forced his way into the Sandy Hook School? Was he asleep or distracted? Did he miss what Lanza was about to do? Why didn’t he stop it? How could God allow such an unspeakable evil? I thought he was good and kind.

            Whenever there is a tragedy like the Sandy Hook massacre there are people who wonder, “How could God let this happen?” It is a difficult question that can lead to a crisis of faith. It is hard to believe in God in face of such unspeakable evil.

            The problem of reconciling the existence of evil with the Bible’s portrayal of an all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful God is not a new one. It has been called the Achilles’ heal of religion. Some say there is no way to reconcile these things and the only reasonable conclusion is that God does not exist. I've thought about these things for years and am going to take several posts here at Heart Matters to explore the question.

            For centuries thoughtful people have contemplated this issue and decided that either the Bible is wrong in the way it describes God or that God doesn’t exist. Their conclusion is that Christianity is a fraud and Christians are fools.  Even for those who continue to believe and embrace the Bible’s teachings about God this issue can cause serious obstacles resulting in serious doubts about his love and goodness.

Here’s the issue:

·         The Bible says that God knows all things; he is omniscient. The writer of Job said that God is “perfect in knowledge” (Job 37:16) and in the Psalms it says that God’s “understanding has no limit” (Psalm 147:5b), it is limitless. If it’s true that God’s knowledge is limitless and perfect, then that means that God is always aware when people suffer, he knows the depth of their pain and he knows how to prevent evil.

·         The Bible says that God is all-powerful; he is omnipotent. God said through the prophet Jeremiah, “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” implying that there isn’t anything too hard for him. And, in the same verse in Psalms where we’re told of God’s limitless knowledge, it says, “Great is our Lord and mighty in power” (Psalm 147:5a). If it’s true that God is mighty in power and that nothing is too hard for him, then that means that he is able to stop evil.

·         The Bible says that God is perfectly good; he is omnibenevolent. David wrote of God that he is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all that he has made” (Psalm 145:8-9).  The apostle John wrote that the reason people should love one another is because “God is love” (1 John 4:8). John did not just say that God loves, but that he is love. Love is the very essence of who he is. If it’s true that God is love, acts in love, is gracious, compassionate and good to all, then it follows that he would want to end evil and suffering.

But he doesn’t. Not only doesn’t he prevent evil when he could, he has created and sustains a world in which evil and suffering is often horrific. He could have stopped Adam Lanza at Sandy Hook. But he didn’t. How can anyone believe that God is loving, powerful and knowing when he stands by and does nothing while 20 little children and their teachers are slaughtered? Let’s explore this together. Check back in a few days for another post.