Greetings fellow species members, I was tinkering around with some thoughts in my head and followed a certain line of reasoning that, wouldn't ya know it, lead to the first original argument I had since becoming atheist (gotta start somewhere right?
). I don't know if it's original in the sense that I'm the first person to come up with it (I'd be astounded if I was, and a little worried too) but it was original to me in the sense that I didn't just see this point posted on a forum or in a book somewhere.
So I wanted to put it out there to the community and see how it would hold up under scrutiny. If at all possible I'd like at least one christian to respond to this. So with that out there, here's my thought:
All the time I hear of "God's plan" and how he puts hardships onto people for the good of their spiritual growth. This ranges from losing your car keys on the day of an interview to getting shot and becoming a paraplegic. Even death comes into the equation. If someone dies inexplicably, a christian can say that they're in heaven now and God sacrificed them for the good of the people still alive it would affect (one can argue about how God contradicts "free will" here but I want to bypass this and talk about a different point). This might help with the seemingly pointless deaths of adults but what about the little ones?
Every year around the globe, children and infants die due to disease, famine, war and some unpreventable causes. The U.S saw 24,000 infants die in 2011 alone, and we're a relatively safe place to live on the inside. What spiritual growth does this instill?
Let me answer this myself since I can already hear it. "The parents will be strengthened through their hardship knowing that when they die, their children will be waiting on the other side in heaven." And indeed I see this point frequently with parents who have lost a young child or miscarried. "My child was too young to comprehend the world and accept Jesus before he died but I received a vision from God telling me that my child is with him. Isn't God merciful?" The stance here being that the child couldn't make a decision due to the lack of proper mental faculties so God being a merciful and loving god gave them a free pass into heaven. So everything is roses and snickerdoodles, great.
If that's the case then what I want to propose is this: Should we kill our babies before they have a chance to understand having a choice? I mean think about it. They won't have to toil, they won't have to experience pain, they won't have to go through that awkward teenage puberty phase and they won't have the chance to doubt God and get themselves thrown in hell for all eternity. It might end up getting yourself thrown into hell in the end but wouldn't you do anything to guarantee the eternal bliss of your children? Heck, you might even get out of the whole hell bit if you truly repent and ask for forgiveness, win-win.
What say you? Why shouldn't we just kill our babies outright?
