Why Does God Allow Death & Suffering? A Teleological Response

In today’s skeptical age, the question of how a just and loving God could allow so much death and suffering arises frequently in discussions about Faith. Amid overwhelming pain and loss, critics contend that belief in a compassionate Creator appears incompatible with the harsh realities of our world. In this climate of skepticism, it is vital for Christians to equip themselves with thoughtful responses to such objections. But in order to do so, we must first consider the following criticism, which portrays God as either indifferent to suffering or unjust in His judgments:

Each year, nine million children die before reaching the age of five. Imagine a tsunami as devastating as the one in 2004, which claimed a quarter of a million lives, hitting every ten days—this time sparing none under five. That’s 24,000 children a day, a thousand every hour, roughly 17 per minute. Before I reach the end of this sentence, a few more children will likely have died in terror and agony. Consider, too, the parents of these children—men and women who believe in God and are praying, even now, for their children to be spared. And yet, their prayers go unanswered. But, according to Christianity, this is all part of God’s plan. A God who would allow millions of children to suffer and die, leaving parents in anguish, is either incapable of helping or simply doesn’t care. He is, therefore, either powerless or indifferent.

Worse still, according to Christians, many of these suffering people will ultimately go to Hell for praying to the wrong God. Just think about that: born into the wrong culture, taught the wrong beliefs, and thus denied salvation. Take India, with its 1.2 billion people, most of whom are Hindus and therefore polytheists. In the Christian worldview, no matter their character or good deeds, these people are doomed. Worshiping deities like Hanuman the Monkey god, they face eternal torture in Hell. And what’s the evidence for this? It’s simply written in passages like Mark 9, Matthew 13, and Revelation 14—texts that, on closer examination, hold no more authority than The Lord of the Rings' lore about elves going to Valinor.

So, according to Christianity, God created the cultural isolation of the Hindus, orchestrated their deaths without revelation, and devised the penalty for this ignorance—an eternity of conscious torment in fire. Meanwhile, a serial killer in America, after a lifetime of violence and depravity, need only accept Jesus on death row to secure a place in Heaven after a final meal of fried chicken. This worldview has nothing to do with moral accountability.

Observe the double standard used to shield God from responsibility. We’re assured that God is loving, kind, and just. But when evidence of God’s cruelty and indifference to innocent suffering is brought up—evidence on a scale that would shock even the most ambitious psychopath—we’re told that God is “mysterious.” “Who can comprehend His will?” Yet, it’s precisely this “human understanding” of God’s will that believers use to define His goodness in the first place. A Christian feels a moment of bliss while praying, or sees a positive change, and declares that God is good. But when thousands of children are torn from their parents and left to die, God’s will suddenly becomes unknowable. This is how to play tennis without a net... —Christopher Hitchens (modified for clarity and brevity)

So how do Christians respond to such a rabid critique of God’s character? And how can we effectively counter this bold challenge to the Christian worldview? In the following sections, we will address these objections one by one:

Why God Allows the Suffering & Death of So Many Innocent Lives

Why doesn't God intervene to prevent suffering? Especially, when the most vulnerable—children and infants—are involved? While it’s natural to feel outrage at such things and to wonder why God doesn’t stop the horrors we see all around us, we must consider a deeper perspective. Perhaps God sees a side of humanity that we cannot. What if, in His perfect knowledge, He understands that every human heart has a capacity for darkness that only His grace restrains? This means that God isn't obligated to always intervene, and yet He does, more often than we realize.

Consider this: when confronted with a nest of venomous snakes or a colony of destructive insects, do any of us hesitate to eradicate them? Of course not! Especially, if they are anywhere close to our homes or family members, since we understand their potential for harm. Now, imagine encountering two serial killers locked in a deadly struggle. Would anyone rush to save them? Hardly! Instead, we’d watch with grim relief, thinking, “Good riddance—the world doesn’t need their kind.” Similarly, God views humanity as a species capable of great evil, despite the sentimental value we place on each other. From His vantage, He sees the full depth of our sin and doesn’t always intervene, allowing us to experience the consequences of our fallen nature. And when we don’t face what we truly deserve, it’s only because of His unmerited love and mercy.

The fact that humans are naturally predisposed towards evil is obvious enough. History gives us plenty of evidence for this. In Natzi Germany, an entire nation participated in the extermination of a helpless minority—the Jews. Elsewhere, despots like Pol Pot and Stalin, systematically annihilated millions, and not without the help of their own countrymen. Since the beginning of time, humans have demonstrated a tremendous capacity for cruelty, violence, and destruction. And as a result, wars, genocides, and countless other atrocities paint a grim picture of humanity's potential for darkness.

Yet, we often think of children as innocent and vulnerable, and to some extent, they are. But even children can display violent tendencies, sometimes in disturbing ways. Stories of children inflicting deadly violence against each other or bullying others mercilessly on the playground are a common feature of our daily news. Such behaviors reveal that the seeds of aggression and cruelty appear early, not only as isolated incidents but as tendencies within the human heart. In fact, studies indicate that as much as one-third of child sexual abuse is committed by other children, often targeting younger, more vulnerable peers (Allardyce and Yates, 2018, cited in Yates and Allardyce, 2021). These patterns, evident from a young age, underscore humanity’s deep-rooted struggle with sin and brokenness.

The Bible teaches that it’s God’s prevenient grace—His universal influence—that holds back our worst impulses, operating through our God-given conscience. Left unchecked, our hearts would act on desires as destructive as those we detest. Like a garment, His grace covers us, preventing our basest intentions from fully manifesting. Apart from God's grace, the human heart is just as the prophet Jeremiah declared it, "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it...." (Jer. 17:9). So while seemingly harmless now, every human harbors the potential for causing deadly harm to those around them. This means there's no consequential difference between the perpetrator and victim, which makes the verdict of Scripture an accurate one: "...there is none good but one, that is, God. ...For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God'' (Mk. 10:18; Rom. 3:23).

The violence we witness in society, and even the entertainment we create around conflict, reveals how deeply sin has marred us. In permitting suffering, God allows us to see humanity’s grim potential and the depth of our brokenness. Yet, despite the fact that we deserve to experience the fruit of our own destructiveness, God’s grace intervenes continually in ways we rarely see or understand. Were God to remove every consequence of human depravity, would we ever come face to face with our need for redemption—our urgent need for a cure for this condition that lies within all of us?

Although we often question why He doesn't act, we don’t account for His prevenient grace or the moral law written on our hearts that continually restrains us. Jesus identified the Holy Spirit as the One responsible for convicting the world “of sin, righteousness, and judgment” (Jn. 16:8), guiding us toward truth and giving society its underlying order. Like a vigilant police officer, the Holy Spirit holds back humanity’s impulses for violence and cruelty, maintaining a semblance of peace whenever darker urges threaten to erupt.

The evil we see and experience is not God’s doing; it's a result of humanity’s rebellion against Him, and it underscores our deep, unrelenting need for His grace. If God withdrew this grace, we would be engulfed in chaos. So, rather than wondering why God doesn’t do more, perhaps we ought to consider how much worse the world would be without His constant, unseen intervention. And in allowing us to see these realities, God ultimately points us to the only answer—Himself.

Note: Another striking example of human depravity is the Milgram experiment, a psychological study conducted in the 1960s by Stanley Milgram. This experiment revealed the unsettling willingness of people to obey authority, even when instructed to harm others. Participants believed they were administering increasingly severe electric shocks to a stranger whenever he answered a question incorrectly. Though the "shocks" were fake, the participants thought they were real—and yet over 60% were willing to inflict pain up to the highest voltage (the lethal amount), simply because they were told to do so by a figure in authority. While the majority of participants were not regarded as sadistic, they demonstrated an alarming readiness to harm other humans simply because someone in authority directed them to. Milgram's study demonstrated how easily our moral convictions can crumble under certain influences.

Love Cannot Exist Apart from Human Freewill in a Naturalistic World

The often-raised question, “Why doesn’t God stop violence, suffering, or injustice?” is one that we already addressed. But let's review it from a different angle. If God stepped in to prevent every evil act, why stop there? Should He also prevent every mistake, every misstep, every potential danger? Should He rewrite every human choice to ensure nothing ever goes wrong? Such a world would strip away what it means to be human, and reduce us to mere robots with programmed behaviour and actions.

If God were to stop every bad thing from happening, what would be left of love? Love, at its core, must be freely given and freely received. Without choice, love loses its meaning. It becomes an empty gesture or a mechanical response with no heart, no depth, and no value.

True love cannot be forced. Imagine being compelled to care for someone without any say in the matter. That wouldn't be love—it would be compliance. Love thrives only in freedom. The beauty of love lies in the choice to put someone else above yourself, to seek their good even when it costs you. If God were to eliminate our ability to make decisions—both good and bad—He would also eliminate the possibility of real love. A world where no one could do wrong would be a world where no one could truly love.

The existence of bad actions, of suffering, isn’t a sign of God's absence or neglect. Instead, it’s a testament to the incredible freedom we’ve been given to choose. If God stopped every evil action, intervening in every moment of potential harm, He would remove the very thing that makes love possible—our free will. We can choose to love or to hate, to build or to destroy. For love to mean something, it must come with risk. The risk that people may choose selfishness, cruelty, or harm. Without that risk, love would be reduced to an illusion—a mere function of control.

In a world where God forced every outcome, there would be no room for growth, for sacrifice, or for love. Love requires that we make the choice ourselves—to love Him in the midst of brokenness, to trust His wisdom even when we don’t understand, and to choose what is good over what is easy or practical.

Suffering Prepares Us for Heaven

When Satan led a third of the angels in rebellion against God, they were cast out of heaven permanently (Is 14:12; Lk 10:18; Rev 12:3-9). Jude 1:6 alludes to this event, referring to the angels who "kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation."

These fallen angels had never experienced suffering, death, or anything less than perfection in heaven. Their lack of experience with anything unpleasant caused them to take their privileged existence for granted, ultimately leading to their dissatisfaction with heaven and rebellion against God. It's possible that God created humans to one day replenish heaven and fill the void left by the fallen angels. However, to prevent the potential for a second rebellion, God permits humans to first experience sin's consequences, including pain, sorrow, and ultimately, death. 

In His divine wisdom, God employs suffering not only to inoculate humanity from future rebellion but also to prepare His people for the unparalleled blessings of heaven. The experience of pain enhances the depth of joy, and the awareness of mortality renders eternal life that much more precious. By experiencing these contrasts, humans can more fully appreciate the sublime perfection of everlasting life in God's presence much more profoundly than the angels. 

Suffering Reminds Us of Our Need for a Better Place

Those who suffer are naturally detached from the things of this world. In fact, it is this very sense of detachment that God uses to remind us of our need for something greater, stirring within us a longing for Him and for the promise of a better place. Sadly, when people lose hope, they often fall prey to satan's lies, seeking relief through suicide, instead of turning to the One who offers true fulfillment and peace.

Yet, suffering opens a powerful opportunity for Christians to share the hope of the Gospel. In the midst of pain, we can point a hurting world to the promise of eternal life in heaven, a gift available to all who place their trust in the Lord Jesus. ​

Suffering: the Shaper of Men’s Characters

The Bible teaches that suffering is a tool God uses to shape and refine our character (Rom 5:3-5). Some of the most compassionate and empathetic individuals are those who have walked through hardship and pain. Studies reveal that people with limited financial means often display greater generosity than those with abundance, their compassion fueled by personal experience with hardship and deprivation. In contrast, financial wealth tends to breed selfishness and detachment from the struggles of others. Those living in comfort may find it easier to insulate themselves from the world's pain. Yet, it is through the enduring of trials that our character is forged and strengthened, as Scripture reminds us: “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

Suffering: A Tester of Men’s Hearts

One of the reasons God allows suffering is to test our hearts and reveal the depth of our love for Him (Job 23:10; Mk 9:49; Jas 5:10-11; Rev 21:7). In moments of pain and sacrifice, we face the ultimate test of our devotion. It is easy to claim love for God when life is comfortable, but true love is proven when we endure hardship for His sake. Do we genuinely love Him, even when it costs us? This question challenges us to examine the sincerity of our Faith during life’s most trying times.

Why Did God Command Genocide and Annihilation in the Old Testament?

Biblical instances where the Israelites are commanded to annihilate their enemies, including women and children, are often cited as evidence of God's cruelty (e.g., Deut. 7:2; 1 Sam. 15:3). However, as mentioned previously, the way in which we view children differs greatly from how God views them. He sees the potentiality for evil even at the early stage of infancy. God's omniscience allows Him to see beyond the infant Hitler lying in his stroller to the adult monster he would later become. So in His divine wisdom, God sought to eliminate the spread of evil, much like He did during the great flood, when humanity's wickedness reached a saturation point so great that it prompted His judgment: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5).

During that earlier judgment, the world was purged of evil, but this time, God chose to act locally, using the Israelites to eradicate the gross immorality infecting the land. The Canaanite nations had begun sacrificing their children to Moloch and Baal, among other false deities. Their practices were violent, murderous, and deeply immoral, and God had seen enough. By commanding Israel to confront this evil, He aimed to halt its spread and protect His chosen people from its corrupting influence. Had He spared the children of these nations, the generational ties and spiritual bonds would have eventually led to their negative influence on the Israelites. Thus, God commanded even the infants to be killed, affirming that, as the Creator and supreme judge of the universe, He has the authority to revoke life when necessary.

Ironically, the very skeptics who accuse God of ruthlessly killing babies are often the same individuals who advocate for a woman’s right to choose abortion. So why is it acceptable for humans to terminate the lives of innocent babies in the womb while condemning God for doing so? This glaring double standard raises profound questions about human sincerity.

God's Actions Don't Always Make Sense Right Away Until Viewed in Hindsight

As is often the case, we think we know much more than we actually do. To illustrate this, there's a story told in Middle Eastern folklore about a man who lost his horse. The horse ran away, and when it did, the man's neighbor came to him and said, “What bad luck, your horse is gone!” The man replied, “What do I know about these things?”

A few days later, the horse returned with twenty other wild horses. The neighbor came again and said, “Amazing! It’s not bad luck, it's good luck—you’ve gained twenty more horses!” The man said again, “What do I know about these things?”

Later, the man’s young son was taming one of the wild horses when the horse kicked him, breaking his leg. The neighbor came and said, “Terrible, isn’t it? Bad luck that your son’s leg is broken because of these horses.” The father replied, “What do I know about good luck or bad luck?”

A few days later, a gang came through the village looking for young recruits. They wanted all the able-bodied young men but ignored the man’s son because his leg was broken. The neighbor came once more and said, “Good luck, isn't it? Your son's injury saved him from being taken by the gang.”

In just a single series of events, it's easy to appreciate our limited perception of what lies ahead. Why not wait until we stand before God face to face? Only then will we understand why He chose not to stop certain actions or prevent particular atrocities. One day, as we enter the celestial city, like in Pilgrim’s Progress, we will fully witness the heinousness of evil and the majesty of love and goodness.

How Is It Just for People Who’ve Never Heard of the God of the Bible to Face Eternal Punishment?

This question often arises from the false assumption that God would send someone to hell without giving them a fair chance to know Him. Yet, countless testimonies from both Hindu and Muslim communities describe supernatural encounters—visions of an angel or even of Jesus Himself—where the Gospel is shared with those who had never previously heard it (see here and here). These testimonies mirror the exact experience of the Apostle Paul, who encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus (Act 9:3-6).

Here again, the Scriptures affirm God’s fairness and mercy in these matters. James 4:17 tells us, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Hebrews 10:26 further add to this, "If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment.” Nowhere does the Bible teach that God condemns people merely for lack of exposure to the Gospel. Instead, it affirms that He is committed to reaching any who earnestly seek Him.

God, in His justice, seeks out the hearts of those genuinely yearning to know their Creator, revealing Himself in ways we may not fully comprehend. But for those He knows are indifferent or resistant to the truth, He will rightly judge.

Note: The author of this blog does not maintain the view of eternal conscious torment in hell. To explore the alternative position of conditional immortality, also known as annihilation, please click here.

Conclusion

In confronting questions of suffering, evil, and God’s justice, we come to see that our perspectives are limited by our finite minds. God’s ways, though often mysterious, serve a purpose we may not always grasp on this side of eternity. Suffering, death, and loss are undeniably painful and sometimes inexplicable, yet they remind us of our need for God, a need that draws us to hope beyond this life. Through hardship, we develop resilience, compassion, and a longing for the perfection of Heaven.

God’s allowance of suffering is not an act of indifference but a means of refining and shaping us. It prepares us for a higher purpose—an existence that values love, choice, and dependence on God. In the face of tragedy, we cling to the promise of a future without pain, a place where every tear is wiped away and every injustice is set right (Rev. 21:4). While we may not find full answers to every question, we are invited to trust a God who walks with us through suffering and offers redemption through Christ—a promise of eternal peace beyond this world’s suffering. In the end, our faith is not in a neatly packaged explanation, but in the One who holds all things together, working for the good of those who love Him.

Note: To learn more about why the Bible can be trusted as a reliable historical record, rather than a book full of fables please click here and here.

Important: This is a companion article and should be read in conjunction with the broader treatment of this issue and the relevance of the cross of Christ in the following article: GOD'S LOVE AMIDST DEATH & SUFFERING.