Why God, Why?

So many people ask, "If prayer is supposed to be so good then why are there people who have been raped, why are there kids who have been molested, why do people die, why does "God" allow children to get terminally ill and die, etc? " 

I remember wondering the same thing many years ago. It is a very tough thing to watch a child in pain from an illness or from another persons actions. 

I wanted to respond from my personal beliefs as a Christian. I am not expecting anyone else to agree with what I say but I am just giving my stand point and my beliefs. 

To the first part of the question, the part about rape and molestation, God gives us free will. The same free will that allows one person to choose whether or not to even believe in God is the same free will that allows a person to choose whether or not to sin. We can't expect God to give free will for things we want and not for others. There are still laws in place to correct things and God will lash out His wrath on those who did terrible thing, who seemed to get away with no concequences.

To the second part of the question, the part about death and illness. I believe that since the "fall of man", for nonbelievers this is when Adam and Eve first sinned and were seperated from God, our bodies and spirits are dying from the first breath we take.. sadly sometimes even before. This was a recourse for an action to choose to sin. Jesus came to the earth to bring eternal life. Our bodies will still continue to die until His return but our spirits will not continue to be seperated from God. The Bible refers this to the decaying.

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

2 Corinthians 4:16 "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day."

Romans 8:20-27 "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God."