Pursuing Christianity

Thoughts on suffering part 2

by

carlr90s

Part 2 – Word Count – 789       Reading time – 3.5 minutes

Me – I want to focus on one point you made. Your refusal to believe in a God who does not intervene in the calamities and sufferings that befall humanity. This is a question that all Christians and, I imagine, any other persons who are intent on including a god or gods in their life, struggle with. I’ve chosen to accept the God of the Bible despite the many things I don’t yet understand. I trust intensely in His judgement and have minimal faith in the judgement of humans. Humanity, although brilliant at times, has generally proven to be untrustworthy when it comes to making good decisions, especially when there is a moral component.

I don’t think we have the ability to avoid suffering. To be sure, we can ignore it to varying degrees. And avoid a certain amount of it. But suffering happens. Our solar system is designed to be finely tuned so that it is possible for life to exist on planet earth. In order to maintain a habitable environment, there are certain truths / laws that exert control over the components (including creatures) of our world. The material world in which we live is dynamic and sometimes violent. Living with the constraints of the laws of nature can produce suffering and death. MDA, you and I have both endured suffering from our lack of respect for the laws of gravity as well as those governing velocity, not to mention the natural laws that come into play when velocity is terminated by solid objects. The laws that punish our lack of regard for them are the same ones that hold our quarks, molecules and atoms together. We need them, but if we disrespect them our fragile bodies pay the price. As humans we spend a lot of mental energy figuring out how to work with natural laws and how far we can push against them before we start to suffer. Progress, I think.

I don’t want to seem uncaring or cold hearted in regard to those of us who suffer because of the forces of nature. But for us to shake our fists at God in the midst of suffering is not always a fair response. God created nature and it is a normal response for humans to ask God why He created a planet that would cause all the tragedy and suffering we experience living here. It is clearly His fault for making such a defective and dangerous place.

 But Christians do not consider this planet our final destination. Much like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, we camp here for the time God determines. The Israelites endured the hardships presented by the desert because they resisted the things God was trying to teach them. Perhaps our reluctance to accept God and honor His edicts requires our stay to be prolonged.   

 I feel it is important for us to know how our planet works. I think we all should have a deep appreciation for the fact that this is the only planet in our universe that is capable of maintaining all the things required to keep us alive. Not just alive, but comfortable and thriving. All the stuff we use to create the lifestyle we currently enjoy, with its airconditioned homes, cellphones, amazing cuisine, cars, airplanes, leisure time, beer, hot running water and flush toilets, has been produced from resources found right here on good old planet earth, compliments of God. Much of the suffering we experience is the result of poor management of the resources God has given us. Pride, greed, self-centeredness and a lack of love, or even consideration for our fellow man drive us to make decisions that cause suffering. Factoring in the belief of Christians, that God is all-wise, we could conclude that our planet is exactly what we need, or maybe exactly what we deserve.

Some of the suffering we are subjected to through the acts of nature could be avoided with the application of common sense. We know how the earth behaves. If we persist in building homes and businesses in areas we know to be volatile, how can we blame God for our suffering when the inevitable happens? God created us with brains and the ability to reason. If we choose not to employ those attributes to our decision making, is it God’s fault? In my life there have been plenty of times that God’s intervention in my suffering would have deprived me of valuable lessons. I’ll add to that the notion that we really don’t know when God has intervened in our suffering. It’s usually impossible to know how much worse a situation could have been, and how much greater our suffering might have been without God’s intervention.

2 responses to “Thoughts on suffering part 2”

  1. hangdog921 Avatar
    hangdog921

    Ok I’m going to take this on in points of order to your response. First you said a God who doesn’t intervene. I would rather say a God who created said suffering to his end purpose. Master plan and all implies he controls the setting from the start. I see that as a point you might have missed in what I was trying to impart. Hence he would NOT act further in to muddle the outcome of the challenge poised. But. He creates, he watches the creatures with free will, he judges the outcome. Yet posed as a compassionate God, why would these issues be made, and or be allowed to play out to such ends? Why is the Suffering created, and having done so repeatedly in different scenarios, need to be inflicted over and over to find the basic nature of the subjects and their reactions. There’s a bell curve, but the results of that over time have been proven. Humans are as they are. The base core will do this, each end of the curve will show you the variables. Even science see’s this. But bottom line, why would he need to? Did he not make us as we are, and as such, imparted the choice absolutely knowing how these factors would play out? Infinite being, as such knowing all. Why test at all? It imparts the thought he created imperfectly plus choses no to correct, just so he can impart suffering to create a handful of correct beings while destroying the rest?

    You said: “I think we all should have a deep appreciation for the fact that this is the only planet in our universe that is capable of maintaining all the things required to keep us alive. Not just alive, but comfortable and thriving. All the stuff we use to create the lifestyle we currently enjoy, with its airconditioned homes, cellphones, amazing cuisine, cars, airplanes, leisure time, beer, hot running water and flush toilets, has been produced from resources found right here on good old planet earth, compliments of God.”

    That was a part of what I was eluding to when referring to the lyrics on appreciation of what’s given. Not looking at from where…. Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability To lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here…. So on a level I’ve already agreed with this point. But you presume a level of knowledge you can’t prove. In all this universe the only planet?? Really. Bold statement from someone I think I respect enough to know better. Point being we don’t know and can’t prove that yet. Your going of Faith again. https://genius.com/18530229/Tool-right-in-two/Repugnant-is-a-creature-who-would-squander-the-ability-to-lift-an-eye-to-heaven-conscious-of-his-fleeting-time-here The end poit on this section of Suffering I’ll concede is that Suffering makes us grow. Not always in the correct direction though. Some grow bitter, and then feed of that to justify the reasoning for acts against another. It’s a tool to create change, but as a directed tool it can create vary different results. Again making me seriously question a God who gives fre choice, has infinite knowledge of the outcome and then allows it to fester in some to disastrous degrees. Where I could go with this alone could take a book to compile. Not barring the question of why (oh no) would a God allow other religions who use heinous acts against fellow humans in the name of another God. I am the one God, a jealous God (of what)? Of infinite knowledge yet uses suffering, allows other false religions to attack his followers, and tests them in other ways while infinitely knowing the outcome. As such here we come to the crux of my issues with a GOD. God must do all these things to a purpose even knowing the outcome. But being all knowing, has to know other ways to achieve the same results. But choses this path. Causing a challenge to give an undying level of faith. I’m getting to far off track. Time to stop, back up, rethink the current issue of question prior to further comments altogether. And I’m sober, hell.

    Insanity Rampages on, but unfortunately decadence reigns.

    Sent with Proton Mail secure email.

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    1. carlr90s Avatar
      carlr90s

      Hangdog, thanks for your comments. Here are a couple of thoughts. I don’t see suffering as something that God wants to happen. I believe that humans possess an everlasting spirit. I know this is a point where we differ fundamentally since it is my understanding from past conversations that you believe that once we’re dead everything about us ceases. I think everything we do on this planet serves to educate and form the part of us that moves on after physical death. I also believe that God has a purpose for us after physical death and the education and character building that takes place during our material lifetime is to prepare our spirit being for future tasks and adventures. To me, there is a yin and yang component to learning. There needs to be an incentive for us to follow the direction God wants us to take in our process of learning to do what He wants us to do in the afterlife (and maybe in this life as well). It may be that in terms of learning, suffering is the most effective way to incentivize humans to pay attention and make the right choices. This is easier to understand and accept if one has chosen to follow God. I fought the proposition that God is boss for a long time. However, my life improved noticeably once I submitted to that idea. I can only speak for myself, and am not saying that I do not suffer. But my self induced suffering diminished significantly.
      Additionally, I attribute a lot of suffering to the presence of true evil. I’m not sure why evil exists. Maybe it is a necessary contrast to God’s good or maybe it is a runaway lab experiment. In any case. I am convinced it exists and we need to exercise our free will and strive to choose good over evil. And although evil exists in a supernatural form, it spreads through the choices of humans. My take is that although evil may exist outside the character of man, it is through man’s choices that evil become pervasive and spreads like cancer.
      Regarding my comment that ours is the only planet that supports life; you may be right, perhaps my statement was a little broad. I will admit that there is an absence of definitive proof. I should have said it is the only KNOWN planet that will support life. I am ok with that, but need to point out that there is also no proof that it isn’t the only planet in the universe that supports life.
      Again, thank you for your comments and thoughts about the blog. I also thank you for your civility in your thoughtful responses.

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