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QUESTION 115:
It is being said that God is cruel and wrong in destroying people, especially small children, who have never heard of Jesus and the gospel?

ANSWER:
Let us use one Bible illustration. In the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah there were most certainly children that perish in the fire. Man looks at this and then at God and concluded that God must be wrong in such a terrible judgements. The problem man has he uses the wrong premise for his argument. He should first look at who God is and then at what God has done. Not look at the judgment as the premise, but at God, An angel said, “And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments” Revelation 17:7. This was a result of a terrible judgment where all rivers were turned into blood. The message from heaven was that God was true (sincere) and righteous (just) in what He had done. This is the premise from which we should seek to understand things. If God is right in what He does, then man must be terrible wrong.

So in the case of Sodom God could foresee that all innocent children would grow up into that very sin and it would spread like a virus in the world, so He nipped it in the bud, and destroyed the cities. Now as to the innocent children, He saved them from developing in that sinful society and because of their innocence, they would have died and gone to heaven. So actually He did them a favour in taking them away.

Those not innocent would know from creation that there was a God (Romans 1:20) and by their conscience (Romans 2:14) So they are without excuse (Romans 1:20c)

God is just in all His ways, but He takes no pleasure in the judgment on the wicked. Ezekiel 33:11, "...As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?’

Let us not blame God for His justice because man will not repent of their sins and turn to Him through Christ. We have America full of people who have heard about the Saviour and still neglect or reject Him so what can a true and righteous God do but eventually judge them?

What about you?
Is it heaven or hell?

All comments and questions to: Harold Smith

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Updated July 2009, by Shelly Allen