The question as worded questions the idea that God is loving and in control of the situation. If He was in control, then He wouldn’t allow them to suffer, the premise goes. This argument is beloved by atheists because it cleverly attempts to hide truths that open the door to faith in Christ.
Any question that begins with “If God is love…” has already gone off the tracks. God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). But He’s is so much more than that. You too can love. But you can hate as well, or feel empathy, or jealousy, and so on. God is not one-dimensional, in other words. He has other attributes. And all of them are flavored with love.
Suppose we reword the question as, “If all people are sinners, and God is a just judge, then how could He allow them to suffer?” Yet in the end, God doesn’t want us to suffer, does He?
This question is more accurate and, as a bonus, is easier to answer. All of us have sinned and merit His wrath. But He wants to rescue us from wrath and satisfy His justice too, bringing us into a right relationship with Him. His solution is the crucifixion of Christ. On the cross, Christ bore the penalty of death in our place, satisfying His justice. At the same time, God satisfies His love by redirecting His wrath from us to another. The door the atheists holds closed with its argument swings wide open, and we see the love of God to sinners. God so loved the world that He gave His Son to die in our place, that all who believe in Him, apart from doing any good deeds, will receive eternal life.
Yet, some will protest, “How could a loving father give his son (or child) to die for another?” We can answer that in two ways. (Keep in mind that Jesus was not a child.)
First, parents are already giving up their sons and daughters to lay down their lives in the line of duty, whether in law enforcement, the military, the protection of the President, or other life-threatening occupation. They live in peril every day. Second, God the Father giving up His Son on the cross brings benefits to the Father, the Son, and to us. How can that be?
It benefits the Father because the wrath of a holy Judge has been satisfied (Isa 53:10). He is not judging us for our sins at present (John 5:22). All “God damn you’s” fall on deaf ears in heaven. Today is the age of grace and mercy, not wrath and judgment.
God also benefits because He got His Son back. Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day, according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Meaning that God planned His resurrection in advance.
We must be careful here. The eternal Son’s incarnation was a powerful humbling of Himself, beyond what we can grasp (Philippians 2:6-8). The Son was a spirit who had no dimensions; He suddenly found Himself bound by flesh in a mother’s womb.
He who created all things became one of the created. He who ruled over all with the Father, having all power, humbled Himself to be a servant of men and die for them.
Yet the Son benefits because He perfectly represented the Father on earth (Hebrews 1:3 and John 14:9-10). It was His privilege to show the world the love of God. This privilege belongs to all His born-again followers. Through His life and death, He showed us the truth of God’s nature toward us.
Jesus benefits in another way from this plan of salvation. From eternity past, He has always experienced the love of the Father and the Spirit in the trinity. The sinners who respond to the plan of salvation will result in innumerable transformed worshipers who will love Him for eternity to come. It pleases the Lord to call us brothers (Hebrews 2:11-12). It pleases the Father to give all these worshipers to the Son as a bride (Matthew 9:15, Revelation 21:9).
And we benefit from Christ’s sacrificial atonement for our sins. We who will be or have been separated from believing parents because of death will be reunited at the resurrection of the just. Death and separation will be no more.
We will be able to praise this Savior with nothing hindering us. With new bodies, death and pain will be relics of the past. Guilty memories will not hinder us. Love to God and man will flow freely.
At the Great White Throne judgment, all evil will be judged (Revelation 20:11-15). God has set a day on His calendar when He will judge the world in righteousness. We think in terms of our own lifetimes, but God has a longer time frame in view. We don’t see judgment in our day, so we think it’s unfair that God doesn’t do something now. As we have seen in our courts, sometimes the wheels of justice grind slowly. But every case will reviewed before God in His time.
God allows suffering for the present so man can see what life is like apart from God as we act out our sinful impulses (Romans 1:20-32). Without God, we know what we’re capable of.
And His servants learn what they’re capable of with the power of the Holy Spirit inside to give them power over sin. “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). Their triumphs whet their appetite for the hope of resurrection and the righteous kingdom to come.
He sends these servants around the world with a message to all: God so loved the world that He gave His Son; if we believe in Him, we will receive eternal life; if not, eternal damnation and separation (John 3:16). Jesus freely accepted the assignment to lay down His life for us (the words of Jesus in Hebrews 10:9); it was not forced.
He endured the shame of the cross (Hebrews 12:2) by keeping in view the joy ahead. God’s wrath will be satisfied, once and for all. The Son’s love will have been shown in His obedience to the Father’s will (John 14). Many believers will throng Him in love in His coming kingdom.
Christ even now offers eternal life as a free gift to all who believe in Him. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
This is my response to the man who asked the above question during an evangelical outreach, but who walked away before this answer could be given. All of you who took time to read to the end: thank you.
