If God Exists, Why Doesn’t He Stop Rapists From Raping or Murderers From Murdering?

Peter Guirguis Apologetics 43 Comments

If God exists, then how come He doesn’t stop rapists from raping?

Or why doesn’t He stop murderers from killing?

Or why doesn’t God stop fatal car accidents from happening?

These types of questions are excellent questions and they’re extremely common.

I asked these questions too when my family was going through an extremely difficult time in the past.

Why This Question is So Popular

Part of the reason this question is so common is because it’s tied to tragic events that happen in our lives.

If you’ve experienced tragedy in your past, then it can easily cause you to question whether God exists.

In fact, this question has many answers, and I’ve answered it in this blog post over here.

Today, I want to give you the answer that Ravi Zacharias gives.

If you’re not familiar with who Ravi is, he is a world-famous philosopher, apologist, and ministry leader.

Ravi is a sought-after speaker, and his videos have been viewed millions of times on Facebook and YouTube.

In fact, this video below has more than 10 million views on Facebook alone.

So now, here is Ravi’s answer to the question of, “If God exists, then why doesn’t He stop tragic events from happening in the world?”

After you watch it, please comment on the question below the video because your answer will help Christians and unbelievers get the answers they are searching for.

 

In your opinion, why do you think God doesn’t stop all the bad things from happening in our world today?

I trust #God with my Life... after all He gave it to me. Click To Tweet

 

In the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world

 

[x_author title=”About the Author”]

Comments 43

  1. Post
    Author

    I believe that God never says in the Bible that He is responsible for stopping all bad things from happening in the world. In fact, evil things that happen in our world today are a result of sin.

    But God does promise that He will work out all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. That includes God working out the bad things that happen to us that are a result of the fallen world we live in.

    1. I just now watched the video you posted on this blog and I heard about the attacks from Brussels from yesterday. I never actually thought about it honestly. I sometime wonder why is bad things happening in this world? Like ISIS for example. I sometime get angry whenever I hear the attacks and it breaks my heart at times and wondered “Why is this happening? Why isn’t God going to do something about the ISIS?” Truthfully I thought of that but to realize that maybe God is willing to work things out for good.
      Maybe this earth that we’re living in is really not our home.

      1. Post
        Author

        In relation to what you said, Anum, have you ever thought about this: that God cares for the salvation of those Isis terrorists? That’s what gets me. I get so angry and I have to say that I do not have any love for any Isis terrorists.

        Yet God’s Word says that God isn’t willing that anyone should perish but that all should come to repentance. That includes suicide bombers, terrorists, and other types of murderers. That just boggles my mind. God’s love is so deep and it’s beyond our understanding.

      2. As a belgian. these attacks were horrible yes. it brought despair..it brought pain and suffering.
        But it also brought fellowship.it brought Love,It showed people how tiny the veil between life and death is.
        It shook people up…to either think about what happens after death..or wonder where they have gone?
        God knows stuff we don’t.In the end its him who is right.
        The events of ISIS aren’t over yet.But i’m sure god knows what he is doing.
        Amen God bless

  2. This is a sinful world. This is not heaven on earth. Evil abounds. Heaven can be your home if u come to Jesus and ask to be cleansed of sin. For only He can cleanse. Ask.

    1. That is true since this all makes sense now to me and my perspective (I am still growing and also my faith so that’s why I wanted to say this in honest opinion.)

      1. Post
        Author
    2. Post
      Author
  3. This is a great video. I had an indepth talk with a good friend yesterday who is an athiest. I wish I was a little better at explaining things, but still even though it got a little heated, I think that we are both thinking about what the other person said.

    1. Post
      Author

      That’s great Robert. It’s wonderful to see you out there actively sharing your faith and trying to win your atheist friend for Christ.

      Please feel free to share your friend’s first name in the comments, and the Not Ashamed of the Gospel community will commit to praying for his salvation.

  4. I often lose sight of how much God loves us, especially when evil and hurtful events of the past week take place. This video brought into perspective for me Godly Love, as I realized that God allows us to make bad choices in order that we through our love can see the true value of His creation. Not sure if I got across my exact feelings to you all with these words, but God is a wise and wonderful Living Deity. It would be wise of us to lay aside our supposed human wisdom in the face of His wonderful provisions.
    .

    1. Post
      Author

      You came across with your comment just perfectly, Larry. I can relate to what you are saying because it’s also a part of my testimony. I’m sure you’re thankful that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

      God bless you Larry, And and I hope you have a blessed Easter.

  5. An awesome answer from Ravi Zacharias, a great teacher of the Word. It was a really help for me on this subject. Thank you so much for posting this video, Peter. God bless you!

    1. Post
      Author
  6. God has a plan and purpose for each and everyone of us. Only He can foresee the end results of the multiple choices we make each and every moment of our existence. To Him be the Glory.

    1. Post
      Author

      I like the way you said that, Don, that we all have “multiple choices.” What you just said reminds me of that verse in Romans 8:29. It’s so cool how the Lord causes all of our “multiple choices” to work together for our good.

      Thanks Don for your remarkable insight!

    1. Post
      Author
  7. Great ? Peter… Just as God gave Adam and eve a choice in the garden of eden, he give us that same choice. Without free will we would be nothing more than robots… puppets on a string! Thank God for his eternal love and grace. Happy Good Friday, all Praise and Honor to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…

    1. Post
      Author
  8. Peter. Great post! Its so easy to try and make sense out of the senseless evils that sometimes abound but as Ravi so simply and honestly says “what do I know about these things”. The older I get the more peace I have in saying that God IS love and all is well. He is the creator and I trust!!!

  9. Pingback: 5 Ways the Christian God is Different Than Zeus, Thor, Shiva, and Other Dumb gods

  10. I THANK GOD, FOR BEING A FORGIVING GOD, WHAT WOULD I BE WITHOUT IS LOVE, I AM A SINNER AND KNOW IT, TO KNOW THAT GOD CONTINUES TO LOVE AND FORGIVE MY PAST, IT TOOK A BLINK OF A EYE TO FORGIVE ME AND GIVE ME NEW LIFE, FOR THOSE WHO QUESTION IF GOD IS REAL, WHY DON’T KNEEL DOWN IN FAITH AND REPENT FOR THERE UNBELIEF , AND SEE WHAT A GREAT GOD HE IS, THEY HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN, I’M GLAD I DID THANK YOU GOD FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO FOR ME AND MY FAMILY.

    1. Post
      Author
  11. This isn’t deep or insightful in anyway. It’s the mysterious ways argument. Its the theological equivalent of shrugging your shoulders and hoping the subject gets changed.

    God causing the trigger of a gun to malfunction doesn’t interfere with the murderers freewill. He lost nothing but the reliability of his gun, everything else is the same as it was prior to him making his choice. If that IS in fact an example of god declining someone their freewill, then god has not only done it before but he even gives examples of him doing so in the bible. Jonah chose with his freewill not to go to Nineveh, but god physically prevented him from getting what he wanted.

    And why would a omnipotent, omniscience, omnipresent, loving god use “evil” (everything from a stumped toe, to genocide, to a hurricane) to bring about a good? That means that the ends justify the means. And he chooses to use those means that cause harm.

    1. Post
      Author

      Okay Daniel, so here is my opinion on the example that you gave in your comment. God causing the trigger of a gun to malfunction does not interfere with that man’s free will. It’s just simply an example of that man exercising his free will and God also exercising His free will to do something about it.

      Does God stop all people that are about to shoot other people? No, He doesn’t. In some cases, God may decide to interfere and in some cases, He may not for reasons of His own.

      This is what’s called God’s sovereign will. God’s sovereign will is something that is secret and cannot be known in advance.

      As for something good coming out of something evil, you might be familiar with the Bible verse in Romans 8:28 that promises that God will do that. However, that promise is only for believers and not for unbelievers.

  12. What about defenceless babies who go through the pains of rape and molestation?how does god feel when those babies ache with rape pains…how is that supposed to work for good.

    What about the grieving parents who had babies which should be gifts and then they are taken away…

    1. Post
      Author
      1. I hope you aren’t seriously doubting that defenseless babies are molested. Yes, sadly, they are. Is that the extent of your response to the poster’s question? It was just deflection and ignorance.

        1. Post
          Author

          Kar, I was not deflecting. I had a serious question to Jade. Molestation is not the same thing as rape and so I honestly have never heard of a baby being raped. Now a baby being molested, yes, I have heard of that but that is a different thing.

  13. Peter, you say that God promises to work things for the good of His believers. Really? Because I went through a very long time in an abusive situation and I was a believer. That was 13 years ago and still maintain that not one good thing came from the abuse. I also have watched several believers, including an 11-year-old child, die horrific deaths even though they believed in Him and many believers prayed for them. I know a beautiful family of believers who lost literally everything they own in Hurricane Harvey. So…where is the supposed good that came from those situations? And I do not accept the argument that His plan is beyond our understanding, so we should not question it when tragedies occur because they are part of that plan. Really? If God’s plan depends on a beautiful 11-year-old child dying an excruciating, long death, then His plan is devoid of love and completely self-serving. I can no longer trust Him to take care of me or my loved ones because quite frankly, He has yet to do so in many instances.

    1. Post
      Author

      Hi Kar, I think the questions that you have in your comment are good ones and that they are some things that many people struggle with. So instead of addressing all of the different scenarios that you talked about, let’s just take one at a time. Let’s start off with you first, since that is the first scenario that you mentioned.

      Are you able to share more about your abusive situation? I would need more information about what happened, how did you get into the situation, etc., before I can make a reply. If you don’t want to share publicly, please feel free to message me privately. You can message me through the contact link in the main website navigation.

    2. I agree with you, Kar. I’m tired of hearing how “We just don’t know why God does allow some things and not others” or “God works in mysterious ways”. These are non-answers. If God is love, if God is just and fair, then certainly children would not die horrific deaths or be molested, raped, etc…..What good can possibly come out of such things? I feel that these non-answers are platitudes most believers throw out there when they can’t give you a good solid answer. Because there isn’t one. It simply isn’t logical that a loving God would allow such evil. Given that it isn’t logical, believers will then say it’s all about faith, not logic. Well, again, who would have faith in an entity that would allow such evil? Basically, what these preachers are saying is, “Maybe God will protect you and maybe He won’t. I just don’t know. God is mysterious.” So, basically, it’s all a big gamble? No thanks.

      1. Post
        Author

        I can understand your frustration, Bella. I thought the very same things myself.at several points in my life.

        I think a good starting point that will help with putting things in perspective is whether you believe that there is an afterlife. So may I please ask you if you believe that there is an afterlife? Do you believe that there are a heaven and a hell?

  14. Hi, maybe this is a late reply and i just want to share my one cent worth of thought..for me it is just like saying that why does God did not interfere when eve was about to eat the fruit?..first of all, what is happening on earth is all made by human..corruption is a human’s invention, incest is a human’s activity and war is human’s ingenuity and God cannot interfere on earth because He gave us (HUMANS) the authority and dominion to rule the earth…The problem is we are not exercising that authority and power that Jesus gave us back, He gave us back our dominion 2,000 yrs ago and the church never taught us how? (even Ravi is not quoting the bible when he explains it,..he is just telling us it is love, freewill, etc. etc.pls answer from the bible)) God will not interfere on earth if we will not let Him,( i forgot he name, but one pastor said WITH-OUT GOD MAN CANNOT..AND WITH OUT MAN GOD WILL NOT) that is why we have an activity we call PRAYER or PETITION, prayer is not a religious activity or some kind of rituals it is a legal trans-action between heaven and earth or human and God..Jesus said what He can do we can do also, if he can summon 12 legions of angels to fight for Him we can do it also (that’s exercising our authority and power) remember 1 angel killed 185,000 assyrians..that’s why our house is safe, our children are safe.. we have this big guys around us…the problem is we don’t instruct them..they are ministering spirits who do the bidding (instructions) of the saints.

    There will always be bad people or elements that wants to hurt us because we live in a fallen world but if we just know the governing authority of God (w/c is inside us) then we will be safe..that’s why im praying that the church taught us how (or maybe they don’t know how also) to live victoriously in this earth and not just keep telling us on how to go to heaven (we are from heaven and God just put us here…and we will come back here on earth..read your bible!) forgive me for this long comment 🙂 i just got carried away..by the way i’m not a pastor or preacher it just happen that God gave me this revelation knowledge, i struggling right now coz i know the will and purpose of God but i’am still in this old self of mine (i still drink a lot…a cuss…i still sin) but i thank Jesus for what He did on the cross for me i was made righteous to God because of Him

  15. This world is not Kingdom of God, instead this world is kingdom of man. When God made man , He blessed man and give this kingdom to him Genesis 1;28 : God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” God also gave free will to human and guided him clearly and informed him about sin and result of sin. Now it is our duty to chose right path and submit our will to His will but instead that we human are claiming that God does not exist even. Human himself has became God of this world that why there are pains and sufferings.Pains can only be removed if all human turn back to God or Pains can only be removed if corrupt human is removed from the earth but God loves us and He bear pains with us and has opened the door of His Grace through our Lord Jesus Christ who gave His life for all of us .

  16. I believe God exists. I just don’t get how a “Father” can see a child getting raped and do nothing. Say an 8 year old girl. She is still considered innocent, right? How can you not blame God for not stopping that Himself? How is that fine? A girl of that age does not deserve that. If no one is around to stop that from happening or even ef someone did not listen to God and stopped it. God should stop it Himself.

    1. Post
      Author
      1. Peter Guirguis, thank you for being the facilitator on this page, but instead of asking questions to questions as if it were a one-on-one exchange (I know that is what Jesus did), could you please try an answer to these insanely difficult questions? I am trying to answer the same question that a teenage girl has, but the question remains: why is the free will of the rapist more important than the victim? I am hopelessly stumped. The video has a good point, but it can not answer the victim’s pain.

  17. When God casted Satan out of heaven, Satan told God that he would interfere with his work in building his own kingdom in Hell. God told Satan that he would give people free will. That means he would allow people to choose their own path and he would not interfere with what way they choose. So, even though rape is something evil that is done to another person, God will not break his promise.

  18. There may be some in ISIS predestined to adoption as sons, but I’m not content with the answers I’m getting. If that be the case, then I cannot shoot a home intruder. I cannot shoot someone threatening my life, despite having a conceal-carry license. After all, God loves them! So here’s the great stumbling block in my mind- if a man intended to rape my daughters, I would kill them, and I would be justified in doing so. When I was in Bible college long ago, a girl was in our class who probably was autistic. She was kidnapped, raped, and shot dead with a shotgun blast to her stomach. Two Christian girls in Africa were on the prayer email. Ransom was paid for them to be reunited with their family. They were raped before being allowed to go to their family. God could have killed the rapists, but He did not. Why not? What good could possibly come from this? I have prayed and prayed for understanding, but I have zero peace about this.

  19. God doesn’t stop sinners from sinning before they do something. That would be pre judgment.
    I knew you were going to rape someone so I stopped you… means they never did it. And it also means that when God was going to actually judge them, He couldn’t, because they never did the crime.

    As a Christian I have seen many Christians who see the bible and God in a very strange and unrealistic way. They hear and believe that God is love, God loves us, God only cares about us, God never does any bad, Jesus is kind, He will never let anything happen to you etc etc etc.
    These kind of teachings are not real. They are religious teachings only. God is not religion.

    The reality is something very very different and hard to understand.

    God created all things to be ruled over by His laws. He isn’t sitting up in heaven personally pulling all the strings.

    Go jump off a building and then tell me that God will not let anything bad happen to you. Trust me. You will hit the ground, and that will teach you not to do it again. The law of gravity has been put in place to do it’s work. God is not going to stop you from jumping.

    God created all things to work towards the Kingdom of God. A place where there is free will and there is no evil. A place where Gods enemies are under His feet.

    This period now is for that to grow into being. It is for testing.

    In Isaiah it says that God created created evil. Why??? To test. To separate the good from the bad.
    First the angels were tested.
    And now man is being tested.

    All things are to test you to see which way you will choose.
    We are all being sifted and separated. Every single day.

    All of the comments I have read are all questioning why would God allow this and allow that.

    And the answer is that God has judged that sinner and that sin as soon as the sin is committed. Not before and not after, and that judgment will come.

    But He is not going to stop it before it happens. And while these things are happening they are testing you and me. To see what you are made of. It is doing two jobs with the one action.

    But Gods judgment does not work how you want it to work. Instantly.
    It works like faith.

    In the gospels there are two conflicting stories where Jesus walked past a tree and saw it had no fruit, so he cursed it.
    In one gospel it says the tree withered up instantly.
    In another gospel it says the tree had withered up days after when they were coming in and out of the city.

    The difference between those two gospels is that to God it withered instantly because it will happen, but in reality it takes time to show itself.

    God’s judgement is the same. If someone does something bad. The second it happens judgement has already been made, but how that comes to pass is another matter. And that can take time.

    There are bad things in the world and sinners, but you will not feel the same way about it when you are sitting in the Kingdom of God and they are not.

    God doesn’t care if you live or die, because death is defeated. It can’t hurt you permanently.
    Jesus was on the cross and cried out to The Father “Why have you forsaken me”.
    God didn’t save him from it. He let him go through it. Because it was achieving His goal.

    And now we are actually eternal beings.

    If something bad happens. Forgive. Why??? Because it is one of Gods laws. That you must forgive in order to be forgiven.
    You won’t even care about it a billion years from now.

    If someone dies. Honestly. They are only asleep. God is not sitting up in Heaven stressing about it. We will all rise again. The first death is defeated.

    But fear the second death.

    Gods eyes are on the Kingdom of God. Where the unrighteous are thrown into the lake of fire which is the real death, and where the righteous will have eternal life and live forever.

    We are shut up in sin to test us. To see of what type we are. Gods or satans.

    Saying now, why does God allow this to happen? is very very short sighted. He is not allowing it to happen. The act itself is sorting that person into a pile. Either good, or bad. The good will go to life. The bad will go to hell. Their action just came upon themselves a million times over in death. They just got judged by their own actions.

    When you are standing in life and they are not, you will understand judgement on that day. I promise you.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.