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But why does God allow children to suffer? I've struggled with this question for so long and I haven't been able to find an answer. I am agnostic only because of this issue. I really want to believe.

Adults have free will but children don't. They're at the whim of the adults around them. I can't understand how God can see innocent, young children being murdered and not do anything to stop it. They can't defend themselves, so shouldn't God do it for them?

I'm not trying to challenge anyone's beliefs. I really want to know why this happens and I'm hoping that someone can give me an answer. As I said earlier, I've been struggling with this for years.

Adults have free will but children don't. I used to teach Sunday School to 4th grade boys and girls. Every year, I asked them how old they were when their parents taught them how to lie. Their answer was always: "They didn't teach me how to lie, I always have lied." (Free will) It shows up very early. We realize very early on in life that we're going to die early or not so early. Judeo-Christianity says it's a result of "original sin." Why does a child suffer: It rains on the just and the unjust. Science can explain statistically how many children will die of what; actuarians can predict exactly when a person will die within 6-18 months if they have the vital statistics. Often if someone is ill, they can be accurate within days. God set up the system to work the way that it does.

"But why does God allow children to suffer?"

I can't give you a good answer to this, there is a big catholic doctrine about suffering in this world, rather than the next.

And I would recommend you take a look at post #9 on this thread.

But I think the real point is that we live in a fallen world, and the most we can do to make this world a good place for the innocent children in it is a good thing. A Blessing, a mitzvah.

That is all we can do, for now.

I think that your quest is completely valid, as I am an ex-athiest, I wondered my self.

I can only say that there is no easy answers, only speculation, but that is where faith comes in.

Why do we have faith? We have faith because we believe that the men who wrote the bible over the course of hundreds of years where honest and credible men.

How do we know they were credible? Well we know because of the fruit they bore.

Matthew 7:15-20
“Be careful of false prophets. They come to you looking gentle like sheep, but they are really dangerous like wolves. You will know these people by what they do. Grapes don’t come from thornbushes, and figs don’t come from thorny weeds. In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. In the same way, you will know these false prophets by what they do." (NCV)

I suggest reading the first 5 chapters of the new testament called the gospel, and honestly see if you can prove to your self (not disprove) what is written.
you just might see things from a different perspective :)

I certainly am no theologian and not even much of a churchgoer. But this is what I believe:

That life is a stage -- a passing stage. When God said "Let's create man in Our image" He did not mean to create man in the way He looks exactly. God is a spirit and therefore, we are, in our very basic nature, spirits. Life in this world is only a transition. We are here because He wanted us here and the best way to live life is to live it according to His purpose.

The best relationship that we can have in this world is our relationship with God. And the best relationship we can have with HIm, as with anybody, is to do as He wants us to do, not because we fear punishment but because it will please Him.

Jesus said that there are no commandments greater than these: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

What, in this world, will make you break these?

Will seeing injustice and suffering make you lose your faith? Will it make you stop believing that there is a life after this world? When somebody does you wrong, will you then learn to hate?

I think, to keep those two greatest commandments takes a difficult mixture of love and faith. Love for humanity, that we may in ourselves be just and compassionate to people around us, and a faith in God, that we may accept that when things don't work out the way we think they should or that in spite of all the suffering we see, we understand that He is not to blame, we accept that there is a reason for everything.