Suffer: The Little Children

The question of suffering children is one that has been discussed for many centuries. Do we blame God, or do we blame men and women for this travesty? Yesterday the problem assaulted me all over again. First, in book club, there was writer John Updike on the video screen speaking of Dostoevesky's handling of the subject. The passage he referred to spoke of the character Ivan in The Brothers Karamotzov who was having a discussion with his brother Alyosha. After presenting numerous examples of the abuse of children by adults, Ivan concludes that, even if God offered him a free ticket into heaven, he could not accept it because of the suffering that children endure. The exact quote from Chapter 35 reads as follows: "And so I hasten to give back my entrance ticket, and if I am an honest man I am bound to give it back as soon as possible. And that I am doing. It's not God that I don't accept, Alyosha, only I most respectfully return him the ticket."

The second reminder of the injustices in our world that children endure every day arose when I saw the movie Volver in the afternoon. This impressive Almodovar film starring Penelope Cruz in her best role to date featured a character who bears her father's child.

The final assault upon me was perhaps the worst of all. One of the lead stories on Little Rock's CBS television affiliate told of a twenty-one month old baby boy whose eyes had been glued shut by super glue. The adult (evidently a boyfriend of the boy's mother) then used acetone, causing severe burns on the boy's face, to try to clear it up. He then took the baby to another house while he and the mother went out to dinner.

The question of the suffering of children at the hands of the people who are supposed to protect them is not a new one for me. As a victim myself of sexual abuse when I was three by a distant relative and when I was twelve by a middle-aged neighbor, I am used to wrestling with the idea of justice. Is it really God's fault because He allowed it, or must we simply blame the adults who actually do it?

My conclusion, after careful thought through the years, is the latter. After all, God gave humans free will to make their own decisions. Could we expect angelic beings after the fall in Eden? And I definitely see the fall as a descent, not an ascent as some would have us believe. I fail to see how the knowledge of evil can ever bring about good consequences. If humans inherited, as many theologians and believers testify, a sin nature, how can the world not be filled with evildoers?

Even after perhaps accepting the premise of my argument, what can we do to eliminate the suffering of the children? Very little I fear. Our only hope is for justice in eternity by a righteous God who Himself states in Mark 9: 42,"And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck (NIV). Until then the little children will continue to suffer.