I think you raise a very very valid point. Volunteering at various houses for people with learning disabilities was something which really made me question my Christian faith. Many people with learning disabilities - especially profound ones live in hell already considering the horrendous abuse they suffer (including being rejected sometimes by their parents and despite this phrase being in the community actually leading a very ghettoised and patronised existence) What have they in particular done to deserve this rather than me or you? Although their lives are made worse by the abuse of other human beings that in no sense cancels out the fact that God allowed the profound learning disabilities to happen to them in the first place. I think what the honest Christians say is that they really don't know the answer to this (I admire Christians who admit their ignorance on many topics rather than give glib McDonalds answers or try and switch round the goal posts and talk about something else. I think Christian and atheist alike we should all be saying "I don't know" a lot more often especially bigoted fundamentalist Christians and atheists) Christians can have this "It will all be explained in the schoolroom in the sky" type attitude. It is their right to have that attitude but to me it is not good enough. There is a Christian called James Jones who says that some people can't become Christians and others won't. There is a strong element of truth to this. But it is also true with God. Why did God not stop people being born with profound learning disabilities (or indeed children with bone cancer) is it because he can't - or because he won't. My take is that if he can't he is not all powerful and if he won't he is not all loving) Some people could say that people with profound learning disabilities automatically go up to heaven perhaps with all the still born babies or those who die at the age of two, This strikes me as rather unfair too. Perhaps if they had lived longer and had a non profoundly learning disabled mind they would have disregarded the Christian faith and ended up in the eternal barbeque instead. Christians can claim that it is all worked out and they would have chosen God anyway. This to me is just speculation. It says nothing like this in the Bible and if it really is all neatly planned out like this then the Bible really does need to say something about it - not as vague poetry but a very very deliberate statement. To me life is incredibly random and some people through no divine plan are dealt a much much better hand than others. We are all free to choose. But not all from the same menus. Some peoples menus are a lot posher and have far more course options than others. Still it is random rather than unfair and the brutish randomness makes people seek spiritual explanations because they are more comforting. As a species we often prefer a clumsy or bad explanation than the trauma of admitting we don't have an explanation at all. Having said that we all have our unequal hand of cards which we must play as generously and lovingly as we can and treat other people in the same way we want to be treated ourselves. Yes yes this is what Jesus said. I know that. But Confucius said it two hundred years before Jesus and the Buddha said it two hundred years before Confucius.