aristo
....faith and life....life and faces
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I am over 80, have seen it all, heard it all, done it all, - just don't remember it all.
Age: 82
Age: 82
Gender: M
Location: Canada
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Religion: reason for suffering?
Posted 8/23/2008 10:45:17 AM
Man's greatness and misery
Reason for suffering?
In spite of this, the Scriptures do make a connection between sin and suffering, without suffering having to be the consequence of personal sin. We already said earlier that the world becomes worse with every sin, that sin punishes itself. Not only is the human being affected by the tragedy of his NO to God, but so are all things that surround him, the whole world. God is the origin of all things and so His whole creation is touched by our NO to God.
We usually imagine creation without any connection and relation to man or even to God. This is why it is difficult for us to see that the NO of sin undermines all of creation, that the chain-reaction of sin and evil still continues in the material world. Man's sin destroys the order of the universe. As strange as such a thought may appear at first glance, did not our generation, in particular, get the feeling that the whole of creation was given into our hands, for better or for worse?
In spite of all this, we have to say that even the Bible does not say conclusively where suffering comes from and for what reason. However, the Bible makes the point that God does not want suffering and evil, but only good.
Christ also does not explain suffering. He never said: "you suffer, because..". In any case, nobody can be helped with an explanation for pain and suffering. But Jesus tried to help the suffering, and He entrusted them into the care of all men. He fought against suffering with all His might.
He Himself did not evade suffering, but accepted it. He asked God prior to His own suffering to take it away from Him, if possible. Like Job He rebelled against suffering and did not consider it as something that has to be.
When He had to suffer on the cross, the high point of all His misery and pain, He accused God: „My God, why have You forsaken me?" But like Job, He finally accepted His suffering and showed humanity that it is not suffering that has the last word, but God. Good Friday is followed by Easter, death by resurrection.
Suffering often makes God incomprehensible; however, without God, it is even more absurd. Although the Bible does not give an explanation for suffering and pain, it offers help for enduring it.
The faithfulness of God
The greatness and dignity given the human being by God brings us closer to Him. But we have distanced ourselves from God through sin and are unable to restore the closeness to God by ourselves. Help, salvation, liberation - we Christians call it redemption - come to us when we overcome this distance from God. God must help us in this and He does. He does not abandon humanity. He is faithful.
In the Old Testament we always find that immediately after a human fall (Paradise, Cain, the Tower of Babel, the Flood...) God promises never to forget mankind. And finally, God has come very close to man in Jesus Christ. Redemption, liberation, and renewal of man and the world began in Jesus Christ, in spite of contradictions and many setbacks. In Jesus lies the hope of mankind today and for the future.
Posted 8/23/2008 10:45:17 AM
Man's greatness and misery
Reason for suffering?
In spite of this, the Scriptures do make a connection between sin and suffering, without suffering having to be the consequence of personal sin. We already said earlier that the world becomes worse with every sin, that sin punishes itself. Not only is the human being affected by the tragedy of his NO to God, but so are all things that surround him, the whole world. God is the origin of all things and so His whole creation is touched by our NO to God.
We usually imagine creation without any connection and relation to man or even to God. This is why it is difficult for us to see that the NO of sin undermines all of creation, that the chain-reaction of sin and evil still continues in the material world. Man's sin destroys the order of the universe. As strange as such a thought may appear at first glance, did not our generation, in particular, get the feeling that the whole of creation was given into our hands, for better or for worse?
In spite of all this, we have to say that even the Bible does not say conclusively where suffering comes from and for what reason. However, the Bible makes the point that God does not want suffering and evil, but only good.
Christ also does not explain suffering. He never said: "you suffer, because..". In any case, nobody can be helped with an explanation for pain and suffering. But Jesus tried to help the suffering, and He entrusted them into the care of all men. He fought against suffering with all His might.
He Himself did not evade suffering, but accepted it. He asked God prior to His own suffering to take it away from Him, if possible. Like Job He rebelled against suffering and did not consider it as something that has to be.
When He had to suffer on the cross, the high point of all His misery and pain, He accused God: „My God, why have You forsaken me?" But like Job, He finally accepted His suffering and showed humanity that it is not suffering that has the last word, but God. Good Friday is followed by Easter, death by resurrection.
Suffering often makes God incomprehensible; however, without God, it is even more absurd. Although the Bible does not give an explanation for suffering and pain, it offers help for enduring it.
The faithfulness of God
The greatness and dignity given the human being by God brings us closer to Him. But we have distanced ourselves from God through sin and are unable to restore the closeness to God by ourselves. Help, salvation, liberation - we Christians call it redemption - come to us when we overcome this distance from God. God must help us in this and He does. He does not abandon humanity. He is faithful.
In the Old Testament we always find that immediately after a human fall (Paradise, Cain, the Tower of Babel, the Flood...) God promises never to forget mankind. And finally, God has come very close to man in Jesus Christ. Redemption, liberation, and renewal of man and the world began in Jesus Christ, in spite of contradictions and many setbacks. In Jesus lies the hope of mankind today and for the future.
Religion: Undeserved suffering
Posted 8/13/2008 4:08:20 PM
Christians cannot "explain" suffering either. However, they are able to trust God and know that suffering is not God's declaration of bankruptcy and the end of His love. How is this possible?
We try to reflect: suffering can purify. Without a heavy blow, life may remain too superficial. Often, suffering permits us to look behind the facade of things. According to E. Bloch, "Misery teaches us to think". And K. Jaspers said: "Suffering finally wakes up the human being." Suffering can make man more mature. It also can break him. We take off our hats in admiration for some people who have gone through suffering. The French thinker Gide said: "I believe that there are certain gates that only
illness can open."
Suffering can have a warning function. Physical pain may indicate a dangerous disease and thus may help to advance life. Suffering can teach us to pray ... but also to swear! We must always try to give suffering a purpose. But the question remains: Could there not be another way? Does purification, maturity, and warning have to hurt so much? Reflecting this way, we do not find a real answer to the question whether suffering makes sense.
Does the Bible give an answer?
Many people spontaneously connect suffering with a penalty for sin. In fact, this view is predominant in many parts of the Bible, especially in the Old Testament: Suffering as penalty, for guilt which may be hidden and unconscious. But this is not the only tenet of the Old Testament. In Job - one book of the Old Testament is named after him - a man is presented who revolts against incomprehensible suffering and argues with God. He is not the "enduring, tolerating Job" who is wrongly referred to time and again, but the Job who rebels and rises up against God.
Job shows that the suffering human being does not have to be silent, that God does not resent his accusation. Quarreling with God does not mean being an atheist. It is finally in the middle of his suffering that this complaining Job experiences his God. His friends, who tried to give Job many explanations for his suffering and who scolded him for incessantly accusing God, are reproved by God in the end.
It is Jesus who does away with the one-sided declaration that suffering is a penalty for sin. When His disciples see a blind man and ask "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered: "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be manifest in him" (John 9,2). The connection between sin and suffering cannot have been so obvious after all.
Posted 8/13/2008 4:08:20 PM
Christians cannot "explain" suffering either. However, they are able to trust God and know that suffering is not God's declaration of bankruptcy and the end of His love. How is this possible?
We try to reflect: suffering can purify. Without a heavy blow, life may remain too superficial. Often, suffering permits us to look behind the facade of things. According to E. Bloch, "Misery teaches us to think". And K. Jaspers said: "Suffering finally wakes up the human being." Suffering can make man more mature. It also can break him. We take off our hats in admiration for some people who have gone through suffering. The French thinker Gide said: "I believe that there are certain gates that only
illness can open."
Suffering can have a warning function. Physical pain may indicate a dangerous disease and thus may help to advance life. Suffering can teach us to pray ... but also to swear! We must always try to give suffering a purpose. But the question remains: Could there not be another way? Does purification, maturity, and warning have to hurt so much? Reflecting this way, we do not find a real answer to the question whether suffering makes sense.
Does the Bible give an answer?
Many people spontaneously connect suffering with a penalty for sin. In fact, this view is predominant in many parts of the Bible, especially in the Old Testament: Suffering as penalty, for guilt which may be hidden and unconscious. But this is not the only tenet of the Old Testament. In Job - one book of the Old Testament is named after him - a man is presented who revolts against incomprehensible suffering and argues with God. He is not the "enduring, tolerating Job" who is wrongly referred to time and again, but the Job who rebels and rises up against God.
Job shows that the suffering human being does not have to be silent, that God does not resent his accusation. Quarreling with God does not mean being an atheist. It is finally in the middle of his suffering that this complaining Job experiences his God. His friends, who tried to give Job many explanations for his suffering and who scolded him for incessantly accusing God, are reproved by God in the end.
It is Jesus who does away with the one-sided declaration that suffering is a penalty for sin. When His disciples see a blind man and ask "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered: "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be manifest in him" (John 9,2). The connection between sin and suffering cannot have been so obvious after all.
FeedBack
magicalmysterytour
8/23/2008 10:48:30 AM
hi your blog seems really interesting. I've always looked into this kind of thing.
aristo
5/14/2008 8:03:51 PM
... you too, Constance !
8/23/2008 10:48:30 AM
hi your blog seems really interesting. I've always looked into this kind of thing.
aristo
5/14/2008 8:03:51 PM
... you too, Constance !
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