The idea of suffering is a relative subject. I propose that hardly a person who ever lived and considered the existence of God has wondered how suffering can exist if God is merciful and all knowing. I have considered this myself many times and will share my understanding of this worldly anomaly.
When observed from the point of view that our lives are not meant to be “all about us”, but to serve others, it is easier to see how God’s plan works. If one were to reason that all of the accomplishments of mankind were intended for the good of all mankind and not just a means to an end, then we may be able to recognize the concept that God has laid out for us. Do you suppose that all of the accumulation of knowledge that we gain over the course of a lifetime dies with us? Many people spend years learning at the university level, for what purpose? Do we not learn to improve our circumstances and thus benefit those of us that follow the same path? It’s no happenstance that the word university is derived from the Latin word ūniversitās meaning the whole. A whole universe of knowledge gathered together to advance the whole universe.
In spiritual terms, if we look at the greatest commandment as stated by Jesus, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40, we know that love of our neighbor is a priority. So our arrival here on earth is, by all means, for the benefit of others. The major portion of our disconcertion is our application of our own manmade logic to God’s system. We can wrestle in our minds to try and make these two agree but you will eventually reach the point at which you realize that it doesn’t work. Again, this is a part of faith—acceptance of things unknown. Remember Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Now if we apply these ideas to the subject of suffering, we can see that our perception of suffering can be witnessed as one’s service to humanity. Is it fair? Not to us in this world. Does it make us that may be more fortunate feel guilty? Absolutely; but know that guilt separates us from the Holy Spirit. Is it necessary? Yes, as a service to man and thus to God. Just as a soldier sacrifices his or her life for our protection and freedom, the unexplained suffering innocent human beings are our spiritual soldiers. We owe them gratitude.
This is not an easy concept, yet it is a crucial one. There is a passage in the bible in which Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:14 about the Holy Spirit that, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” I encourage you to keep moving ahead in the kingdom of God with guidance from the Spirit and get past this to progress into spiritual enlightenment. If you let these difficult issues to stop your progress, at the very least you are doing a disservice to the suffering. Praise God for our blessings, serve Him with all of your heart and enjoy your life.
God speed!
4 comments:
Interesting! When are we going to get to the good Internet debate topics like:
Does man have free will?
Does God answer prayers?
Is abortion/homosexuality/deviancy hated by God?
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Is God all-loving?
What parts of the Bible are "real" and which are fables? Is the whole Bible with it's contradictions and scientifically unlikely nature really the word of God?
These are the things I love to debate.
But anyways, onto discussing your entry... it's really hard for me to follow. What you are saying is that the reason it
When we are suffering we are actually part of a larger entity, the way that leaves on a growing tree will wither in the fall but the tree will grow on. Think of the tree, not the leaves. The Paul quote I don't get, "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." Essentially he is saying that gifts from God can come in many forms, even bad news to us individually can be good news for mankind as a whole. This seems like such a cop-out.
Suffering is unpleasant, but people use its existence as an excuse to not believe in God. Man likes to choose how much he will trust God based on one’s own logic, i.e. we often think that we are smarter than God. I have faith that God has a reason for suffering and it is my responsibility to continue to trust God by faith.
"Man likes to choose how much he will trust God based on one’s own logic"
True. But how much do you really trust God? I mean do you not watch children playing near the road? If it is His plan to take them to Heaven via a traffic accident then it is His plan and there is nothing you can do. Why bother watching them at all?
Genesis 1:26 - Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
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