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The Orthodox Pages
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Why does god take young children and why are some born with disabilities....has it got to do with the sins of there parents or has it got to do with something else??
Answer to Question 23.
If as we often say everything is done according to the will of God, then why does he allow a baby to die before he can even experience what it means to live, why was that person born with an illness or a handicap and why did that person get cancer at such a young age? We cannot put the blame on God or blame the parents that it was because of their sins. God did not create death, it is a consequence of the fall and being separated from God and eternal life. God did not create these illnesses, God did not create anything evil. These are just the fruits of death; they are ways in which death acts on the human body. Human nature deteriorates, and as it does so, this deterioration is expressed with various illnesses and diseases. Thus we shouldn’t blame God for these evils: they do not come from God. If we are to blame anyone it must be man himself because they are the results and consequences of the fall. We don’t know all the answers in life but we can look for an answer in God’s providence. God knows the future and it is possible that if he allowed the child to live that he would live such an evil life that he would not find salvation and come to a bad end. By allowing the child to die God prevents him from reaching this bad end. With human logic we see the death of a child as a tragic event, but in the light of God’s providence it is an act of love and charity. It doesn’t matter if someone lives a day or a hundred years. This life is temporary and death will come to all of us at some point. What is important is the state of our soul at the time of death. The infant who is taken from this life is not deprived of any of the future blessings and is spared the possibility of eternal hell. But now we may ask “Why does God make a distinction in his choice? Why does he take the one and leave the other? Why is one automatically saved while the other grows and becomes so bad that people would wish he had never been born? Why does he take a baby and leave the father who lives in a drunken and sinful state? These are questions we cannot answer because they are mysteries beyond man’s understanding and reasoning. But however God arranges things it is not without reason or purpose. In his wisdom he permits things differently for each of us because he has a better end in view.
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