Why does God let our loved ones die?

Death is the result of sin entering our world due to Adam and Eve’s sin and continuing with our own (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 5:12; cf. 3:23).  Because everyone sins, death is a part of life.  It’s been that way from the beginning.

Yet we should remember that while God allows us and our loved ones to die physically, He also allows us to live forever with Him beyond the physical if we choose to receive His grace.  He is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matt. 22:32).

Ecclesiastes 7:1-4 also gives some insight as to the spiritual value of mourning the death of loved ones, and thus gives another possible reason as to why God allows loved ones to pass on.  The reason “it is better to go to the house of mourning” is because it is a reminder to those who still live that death “is the end of all mankind.”  Hopefully “the living will lay it to heart,” i.e., be motivated to prepare themselves to face eternity by obeying the gospel.  Those who do such show how “the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning.”