Questions About God After a School Shooting

A pastoral and biblical reflection

After violence, many people carry questions about God that feel dangerous to say out loud. Some sound like doubt. Some sound like anger. Some sound like grief. Scripture makes room for all of them. You do not have to protect God from your questions.

Where was God when this happened?

The Bible does not offer a single answer, but it is clear about this: God is never absent from human suffering.

Scripture tells us that God is near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18), that God hears the cry of the afflicted (Exodus 3:7), and that even Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

God is present in the terror and the grief, in bodies and minds still trying to make sense of what happened. God is with those who were harmed. Know this: God does not align with the harm.

Why didn’t God stop it?

This is one of the oldest questions in Scripture. It is asked in the Psalms. It is shouted by the prophets. It is wept at the foot of the cross.

The Bible names human agency, broken systems, and the reality of evil. God’s power is not shown in relentless presence, truth-telling, and the refusal to abandon creation to despair.

God doesn’t promise is this: violence won’t ever have the final word.

Is this part of God’s plan?

No part of the Gospel suggests that the death or terror of children is something God desires or designs.

Jesus consistently responds to suffering with compassion, healing, and protest against injustice. When people tried to assign blame or divine purpose to tragedy, Jesus refused that logic (Luke 13:1–5). Instead, he turned people toward repentance, care, and responsibility for how we live together.

God’s will in the acts of courage, care, truth, and solidarity that follow.

What does God expect of us now?

Many people default to a script that misunderstands the scriptures. They pressure the grieving to offer quick forgiveness, silence, or spiritual bypassing. I do not find this in the scriptures, nor do I hear it from God. I believe that we are, instead, called to truth, care, and action.

God invites us to:

• Mourn honestly (Ecclesiastes 3:4)
• Care for the wounded (Luke 10:33–34)
• Speak truth without fear (Micah 6:8)
• Refuse numbness and despair (Romans 12:15)

You do not need to have the right answers when there aren’t any. That’s not faith. Faith is choosing love, presence, and justice even when the ground feels unsteady. 

Do I Have to Forgive the Perpetrator?

This is a question many people ask in moments like this, especially when forgiveness is part of the Christian language we know so well.

Forgiveness, in the Christian tradition, can’t be manufactured or rushed. You cannot force yourself to forgive simply because you believe it’s required.

Forgiveness is something that arrives as an act of grace from God. But God cannot be commanded. Which means that we can’t schedule grace. Rather, grace arrives when God wills to deliver it. 

Right now, the work before us is honesty about what has happened.
It is tending to fear, grief, anger, and shock.
It is protecting life.
It is telling the truth and caring for one another.

Scripture gives us room for this. The Psalms are full of prayer that comes long before forgiveness. Instead of rushing people past their pain, Jesus stays with them in it. 

When forgiveness joins your journey one day, it will come as a gift given freely. It will come in its own time.

For now, it is enough to grieve.
It is enough to be angry.
It is enough to ask God your hardest questions.

God is not asking you to resolve this today.
God is already near to you in it.

Is it okay to be angry at God?

It might surprise you to hear this, but the short answer is: of course. 

Anger is part of the biblical prayer language. The Psalms are full of protest, accusation, and grief. Job argues with God. The prophets demand answers. Some of Jesus’ last words on the cross were my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? He had other words to say after this. But he still said them. Which means: when you ask the same question, you actually are quoting Jesus. What a gift Jesus gave us for such a time as this. 

God can bear your anger. God already knows it. Opening up that conversation is a holy act of faith. 

Where is hope in all of this?

Christian hope is the conviction that death, terror, and hatred do not get the last word. Hope is the belief that God remains committed to life, to justice, and to the healing of what has been broken. It is the quiet courage to keep showing up, to keep loving, and to keep protecting the vulnerable.

The resurrection reveals that the wounds are not the end. It will get better.