Our love for children

Two weeks ago I ran into a cunning quote while reading a book for class that didn't really have much to do with God.

"The death of a child is the greatest reason to doubt the existence of God." ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

This attack on God is really nothing new, but just a stem of an old-age argument that questions how a gracious and loving God can allow so much evil to go on in this world.

But I want to focus on this question particularly. Children. They are wonderful little people. I love picking up my various nieces and nephews, making them laugh, teasing them and simply watching them smile over the little joys. There definitely is something sacred about children, but I wonder how it is that we understand and agree on this. Where did we get the notion that children are special? How did it come about?

Say that a child dies, and this proves in your heart that God cannot exist. God cannot exist because all of these ugly things are happening. Ask yourself next, if there is no God, then who are we? Why is our life so precious if God isn't there? Why is the life of a child even more precious than mine without God?

Without God, we are nothing but a very convenient accident in a very lonely universe. Without God, the only "moral" standard is whatever standard that pushes forward survival. Think about it. If God doesn't exist, there really is little basis to believe a child is all that valuable. Sure a child will grow up to further existence of the human race, but there is nothing so tragic about a child dying as long as there are enough people to keep a society alive. Yes. That is a very cruel and bitter view of life. But we cannot pretend that life means much more than that if God doesn't exist. Suddently, the existentialist is a valiant philosopher. We are just an accident. So the taking away of life is nothing more than an accident in reverse.

The Bible, on the contrary, gives a tremendous amount of appreciation for children.

But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Luke 18:16)

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. (Philippians 2:14-15)

Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion. (Isaiah 8:18)

Children are both a gift from God and a sign of the joy we ought to manifest in praising God. The question then becomes, if children are in fact so valuable to God, then why would he take their lives, even today, in such brutal manners.

I think I'm going to leave that question up for discussion for now. I may comment on that later on in this blog. But one thing is for sure, the very idea that we find children so beautiful and valuable is because God exists.