How can God care when there's so much hurt in the world?

This is a question that's often asked and no matter how people may answer it, unfortunately for me it never seems to make sense. My daughter recently said to me that God cannot be there or care, cause he allows so much hurt. She recently took part in a memorial event about the holocaust and the horrors of this had a profound affect on her and myself too.

I can understand why she would think this about God. I've really struggled with it myself and I guess for now anyway, there's only one answer that can attempt to make sense of it. I go back to what my daughter said, "allows" so much hurt.
I do not believe that God causes hurt, that when disasters happen that it's God's will. I believe that God allows things to freely happen, that he does not interfere. In his love for us he truly allows us to be free. I believe he allowed the universe to come into being (freely) and was not hands on in it's formation.
This suggests a distant God, a God who's not involved. I don't believe this. I see it that God is in all things and makes up all things. Just as energy becomes matter, the universe coming into being. We're told that Jesus said that whatever we do to one another, we do to him.
It's not that God's distant and not involved when terrible disasters happen or when people suffer at the hands of other people. It's that God is completely involved, is actually present through everyone of us and everything. When we suffer, he suffers with us. He experiences it all.

If it all goes back to God and he's present in all things why doesn't he stop bad things happening then?
If God really did and does allow it all to be free, would he suddenly interfere?
Can you give free will and then take it away when it doesn't suit?

In my capacity as a Father I want to protect my children, but I also need to allow them to live. This can be very challenging.
I need to allow them to make their own choices too. As they grow into adulthood I really need to let them go. They are then old enough to make up their own minds and live their own life. If I allow them to do this, even if it means them doing things wrong, is it wrong of me as a parent? Does this mean I don't love them? Their behaviour can still hurt me, but they are free to be. I need to allow them to make their own free choices, even if I know that as a result of this that they can/will hurt others.

Doesn't the same apply to love? I despair when I hear people saying that they love someone because they do this or that. What happens if the person does not come up to standard? The love stops? I really struggle with this being love, it doesn't talk of love to me. I don't believe in conditional love. To me, love can only be unconditional.
Some people talk of not deserving love. To me, if love is given only because it's deserved, then it's not love. Love cannot be earned or lost. There's nothing that my children could do to either gain love from me or lose my love. It's a given. This is not just restricted to my children, but I will only use this example now.

I believe that God in his unconditional love for us, would allow us to be free. That just as I will try and guide my children on being loving and caring, God reveals to us through the heart on the best way to be. He still sets us free to be though. Just as a parent sets their children free when they become adults, even though in doing this they know that we can/will hurt one another and experiences first hand all the hurt too.

As soon as my first child was born, I held them in my arms and experienced such incredible love for them.

They were my child, a part of me, created in love. I knew that no matter what, I would ALWAYS love them. That I would give my life for them, in a heartbeat.
So as a Father, I gained real insight into a Father's love for their child and the unconditional love that the child is held in.

I believe that through this experience, it revealed a little of the depth of love that I'm held in by God. That here I was, given the incredible privilege of creating life. Experiencing a part of me, becoming life itself. Just as I believe happens with our Father, God.

Until I experienced becoming a Father, I did not understand this.
It's my heart's desire to always be close to my child. I would always want them to be in my life. To let absolutely nothing stand in the way of this.
I believe this reveals the reality with God too, that this would be his desire too.
I cannot express in words the depth of love and care that I have for my children, no words could do it justice. To me, no words would do the love and care of God, justice either.

Sometimes my daughter will say to me, “you love me Daddy, even when I've not been good eh?”
I tell her that I ALWAYS love her, this never changes, no matter what she might do. I will say that I might not like what she does, but this could never, ever, have any affect on the love I hold her in. I think at times her little mind can struggle to get around this idea, as mine certainly did when I was growing up, especially.

I tell her that although at times she might think I won't love her if she's been naughty, that I still do! That no matter what she might think, what her little mind might tell her, it has no bearing on my love for her.

When I was growing up, I shouldn't say “growing up,” as this suggest past tense and that I've done all the growing I'll ever do, when in reality I believe (and hope) I'm growing in understanding everyday. Anyway, when I was younger, I believed love had to be earned, that if I was good that maybe God would love me. I was always trying to earn love. Love can never be earned, if love's not given freely then it's not love. This is my experience and have so far never been convinced otherwise.

It's my heart that reveals this. My heart that shows me through experience the reality of love and the true nature of God.

When growing up I became aware of my parent's natures. My Mum would say to me, "you take that side of your personality from your Dad," and I would be aware of sharing real similarities with my Mum's nature too.
I never really understood my Dad when I was growing up, but after I had children of my own I started to understand him more. Even though he's been dead for a few years now, I still find things coming up in me that are similar to my Dad. I see him in my children too at times.
It's strange, that even though he's gone am still learning about him from within and still seeing him in my children.
I guess this adds to what I spoke about earlier, that despite the frightening things I'd been taught about God when I was young, something within me revealed it not to be true.
That just as my Dad being a part of me, revealed more and more about him, within me. I understood him more and more and am still learning about him. That God being my true Father and being within me too, (through the heart I believe) reveales the truth about his true nature. Not just being told about God and going with this, but actually experiencing God within me through the heart and what love truly reveales. People may have thought they knew my Dad and maybe in some ways they did, they may tell me stories about when he was young etc and the things he did, but I KNOW HIM from within.
Just as I see my Dad in my children, I believe I see God in others too and experience him in their loving actions. My Dad's dead and gone, I don't see him anymore, but I still experience him in myself and my kids, he lives on through me and my children. I don't expect others to see this in my children, nor in me, but I see it and sometimes my family see it too.
I don't need evidence to prove that my Dad is dead, I was with him when he died, but I know he lives on through myself and my kids and will continue to live on through their kids should they have any, as I will through them too.
It's not difficult for me to take on that although I can't see God in the literal sense, that I believe that he is real and is constantly revealed through love and the shared experience of people.
Sometimes people will tell me that they experience God from me, maybe in me reaching out to them through love. They know, just as I know about my Dad. They recognise through their hearts, the reality of God too and they may glimse him in me as I may in them.

I was encouraged and helped by a very good friend of mine to do this blog, thanks.
I named the blog God Does Not Care after viewing a similar blog that had attracted hurting people and my heart really went out to them.
I hope through this blog to share my thoughts about whether God cares or not and why.
The first things I'll say is that I don't really want to get into the argument here of whether God exists or not. Although this is an argument I find very interesting, will leave that for another blog.
Will just stick with the belief that God does exist and share the way I believe him to be.
I believe that God's true nature is found in love and only revealed in love, through the heart.

Will give a little background. I was raised as a Christian and because of my nature and the stuff I was taught, I grew up believing that God was a very scary character. A dictator, who was always watching me, keeping note of any mistakes I made, anything I did wrong and would punish me in this life for this and forever in the next life. I really grew up in fear!
It's strange though that another part of me, despite the horrible way I'd been taught about God as a child knew this was not true. Another part of me just knew this was not the reality.
I believe this awareness came through the heart. I had such an awareness of love even from a very early age. It has remained with me all my life and I believed it to be God revealed within me.
It's very easy to look around in the world and believe that God doesn't care. I've struggled/struggle with this myself. This does not work with love though, as love does care.
So in my own little way I hope to reveal through my blog how despite some of the horrible things that take place, that I can still hold to the belief that God does care and why.
Will see how it goes, if people read it and it's positive then I'll continue it.