Why does God not stop abuse by people claiming to serve him?
By Will Bourne · Question 77
The direct answer
I do not know why God does not prevent a particular act of abuse. Saying the abuser misrepresented God names the abuser’s responsibility; it does not answer why a God able to intervene allowed it. Both questions deserve attention.
Fuller explanation
The objection has special force when someone trusted a setting because it claimed to represent God. The harm may involve the abuse itself, a betrayal of trust, and a later account saying that God could have stopped it but chose not to. A response must not make the harmed person defend God before they can describe what happened.
Christians often appeal to human freedom. That explains why the abuser is responsible for a choice. It does not establish why preventing this act would have made meaningful freedom impossible. People regularly restrain harmful conduct without eliminating every choice a person has.
Christianity also contains warnings about religious hypocrisy and judgment of those who do harm. Those passages can support accountability and challenge the assumption that religious office proves God’s approval. Future judgment still does not explain the absence of protection in the moment.
The claim that God brings good from evil must not become a claim that abuse was necessary for the survivor’s growth or ministry. We do not have grounds to assign that purpose. A person who later finds meaning does not owe the institution a reassuring interpretation of the harm.
Whatever theological question remains, human obligations are clear: stop enabling harm, hear the account fairly, support protection, and accept appropriate scrutiny. Prayer and theological discussion cannot substitute for action. The harmed person should not have to return, forgive publicly, or become an advocate for Christianity to receive care.
The objection we still need to face
If God could stop it and did not why should I call him good?
That is a serious objection to the Christian account of God, not merely a misunderstanding about church behavior. Christians point to Jesus and the promise of justice as reasons to trust God amid unanswered questions. Those reasons still need evaluation; they should not be offered as though the moral difficulty has disappeared.
Scripture and its use
Matthew 7:15–23; Matthew 18:6; Ezekiel 34:1–10; Psalm 10.
Read these passages in their surrounding chapters alongside the explanation.