For God So Loved the World Even though I was only a small child, I remember the cold, fall day that I accompanied my father to a nearby cemetery. As we stood above three tiny graves, I recall the tears streaming down my fathers face and the anguish in his eyes. My father was reluctant to explain why we were there for fear that I was just too young and innocent to understand the horrid circumstances involved. He didnt have to explain. I knew exactly why we were there. Word had already spread at my elementary school that a woman in our community had murdered her three small children just days before. It was also rumored that the oldest of the three boys was found under a pile of clothes in a coat closet inside of their small suburban home. It was speculated that he had witnessed the horrific deaths of his two younger brothers so he retreated to the closet to escape. His mother found him there and he too fell victim to such a horrific fate. Why did this have to happen? I thought God loved all little children and he was supposed to protect them. How could he allow this among such innocent little creatures? All of these thoughts raced through my head and I finally got the courage to ask my father these questions. His only reply was that they must have been very special children and God needed them in Heaven. Not satisfied with his answer, this experience haunted me for much of my childhood. Would God allow this to happen to me? I spent many years searching for answers.I recently read Richard Swinburnes The Problem of Evil and realized that he confirmed the answers that I had found throughout the years. He argues that God created us as free agents in an imperfect world where we can learn right from wrong and build moral character from our experiences. Swinburne says, It is not logically possible for an agent to make another agent such that necessarily he freely does only good actions. Hence if God creates a free agent, he ...
