Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Question

 

Dear Gramps,

In the news a while ago a little boy fed his little brother windex through a bottle. I know that free agency is there but why does the Lord allow people to hurt his children. My Dad told me that the Lord takes them away quick so that they don’t feel anything, but what about the parents that have to deal with the loss of one child to death and another to jail?

Sarah

 

Answer

 

Dear Sarah,

You just answered your own question. You can’t have it both ways. Since God has granted us free agency-which, by the way, is the opposite of what Satan desired for us to receive, things contrary to the will of God will occur.

But the seeming inequities that we see all around us are generally perceived as such because we don’t know the whole story. There is much more to life than this rather instant “vale of tears” we call mortality. God is not only a just God, but He is also kind and merciful. We are all His children and He loves each of us with a perfect love of which only our Father in Heaven is capable. Let us never doubt that He is in control, and that little children who die are not denied of any blessing that they would have received had they been permitted to tarry, but they are saved as heirs of the celestial kingdom, and live with all the blessings of the gospel in the presence of their Father in Heaven. President Joseph F. Smith said the following:

“Our beloved friends who are now deprived of their little ones have great cause for joy and rejoicing, even in the midst of the deep sorrow that they feel at the loss of their little one for a time. They know he is all right; they have the assurance that their little one has passed away without sin. Such children are in the bosom of the Father. They will inherit their glory and their exaltation, and they will not be deprived of the blessings that belong to them; for, in the economy of heaven, and in the wisdom of the Father, who doeth all things well, those who are cut down as little children are without any responsibility for their taking off, they, themselves, not having the intelligence and wisdom to take care of themselves and to understand the laws of life; and, in the wisdom and mercy and economy of God our Heavenly Father, all that could have been obtained and enjoyed by them if they had been permitted to live in the flesh will be provided for them hereafter. They will lose nothing by being taken away from us in this way. (Collected Discourses, Vol. 4, Funeral Services for Daniel Wells Grant, March 12, 1895).

Between 1869 and 1898 President Joseph F. Smith buried nine little children of his own.

 

Gramps

 

 

 

Copyright © 2024 Ask Gramps - Q and A about Mormon Doctrine. All Rights Reserved.
This website is not owned by or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormon or LDS Church). The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. The views expressed by individual users are the responsibility of those users and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. For the official Church websites, please visit churchofjesuschrist.org or comeuntochrist.org.

Pin It on Pinterest