Question: 

I have searched the Q&A’s and have not found an answer to this question. Is there a resource or an answer that you have to the following: If the point of us being on earth is to give us the opportunity to choose God, and suffering causes us to become more like Christ(simplified for space)then why do babies die? They never get the chance to choose God. We all believe that children make up the kingdom of heaven … so wouldn’t it better if everyone just died as a baby and  got to go straight to heaven? It seems to be an inconsistency. Answer: This is a good question (and thanks for searching first).  I will try to provide some sort of reasonable response, but to be honest I think that up to a point, there is no logical response.  On some level we need to trust in the goodness of God on this.  God gave us this human life because he loves us and wants the best for us, even if we cannot fully understand the logic of it all. First of all, you make a good point.  If we assume that death is not evil and if we assume that children, being innocent, are not judged, then perhaps it would be better if none of us ever became adults.  I think we all subliminally know that this cannot be a logical argument, but it seems hard to refute at first. My response is that if this logic is correct, it would be better if we were never born at all.  Yet, God says (Genesis 1:36) that all his creation, even the creation of human beings, is very good.  God could have created spiritual beings who skipped the entire birth/death/judgment thing and simply be created to occupy heaven.   It is hard to argue with this, but for reasons which it is difficult for us to fully plumb, God chose to give us life in a physical body so that we would have a choice.  God wants us to love him and he wants to love us.  I cannot do anything to make this all "logical."  However, the thing which holds it all together in my mind is that, from a human perspective, love is the key.  Love requires choice.  Therefore God gave us a choice.  Babies do not choose to love God or not to love God.  Therefore, if an infant is born and dies, this does not fit into what seeems to have been God’s plan in creating us–which is to give us the chance in this life to receive and to return God’s love.  I am not saying that a baby dying contradicts this will of God, but that it does not seem to be God’s principle intent in creating us as human beings.  So, yes, it is "better" for God’s creations to become adults and to have a chance to choose God, but it is not a contradition when babies die. One additional practical point (which is really not part of the argument, but deserves mention) is that physically, we cannot have babies without having mommies and daddies.  So, the baby-only world does not make sense, at least from the point of view of the physical world we live in.  Of course, God can and will do whatever he pleases, but this "solution" to the problem of getting older, sinning, and possibly being separated from God forever is not really a solution, at least in the universe we live in! A thought-provoking question! John Oakes