Last week, two bloodcurdling and infuriating incidents made news headlines. A teen received a life sentence for mass murder on March 19. Then just three days later, two more teens were arrested for first-degree murder. In both incidents, the victims were children or youth.

The heartlessness and apparent lack of remorse exhibited by the perpetrators is enough to make people question the sanity of raising children in this present wicked world.

In February last year, T.J. Lane, now 18, killed three teen students and injured three others with a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun in the Chardon High School cafeteria in Ohio. One of the injured is now paralyzed from the waist down.

After his arrest and initial hearings, Lane pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but was later found competent enough to stand trial. Last month he pleaded guilty to all charges against him, and was sentenced on March 19 to three life sentences without eligibility for parole. While in court, he displayed complete remorselessness with his chuckles, smirks, profane gestures and remarks, and by revealing an undershirt with the word “Killer” scribbled across it.

Prosecutor James Flaiz said he was “totally disgusted” by Lane’s actions, saying, “What we’re dealing with is a disgusting human being. … He still refuses to offer any explanation for why he did this. The only explanation I can offer the court is he is an evil person.”

In the other incident in Georgia, 17-year-old De’Marquis Elkins and his too-young-to-be-named accomplice were arrested on March 22 for shooting and killing a 13-month-old baby in his stroller the previous day. The criminals wanted to extort money from the baby’s mother. The mother told the mugger that she didn’t have any money, to which the older juvenile threatened, “Do you want me to kill your baby?”

For the mother, this was her second child lost to violence. Her 18-year-old son was stabbed to death five years ago. She told cnn: “This is the second child that people have taken from me in a tragic way. I’m so afraid to have any more babies now. I tried to raise really good kids in a wicked world.”

In the U.S. alone, there has been an average of four school shootings every year since 1980. Youth violence is the second-leading cause of death for young people between ages 15 and 24, and the third leading cause of death for those aged 1 to 4, according to 2010 stats. If adults are not killing children, it’s the children killing children.

As depressing as it can be to watch society destroy itself, there is hope. We are not doomed to perpetually raising children in such a wicked world.

The Bible prophesies about a soon-coming world where children will be raised in peace, safety and prosperity. People will live abundant physical lives in a world that has all but forgotten this kind of senseless violence. If you want to be inspired by the great hope contained in the pages of your Bible, read our free booklet The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like.