People have turned to God amidst suffering for thousands of years. Even today, it is quite common to hear that someone will be “prayed for” during times of hardship or struggle. Despite all of this, most people struggle when confronted with the image of God in suffering. People see God as a transcendent being who wields complete control yet allows heinous acts to occur. This false image of God can confuse people and create an enmity between them and God. However, people must understand that God is powerless in suffering. Although He cannot do anything to prevent suffering, God is omnipresent in suffering, giving people opportunities to show things such as love, empathy, or compassion.
In order to understand where God is in suffering, it is important to first analyze why God cannot intervene in suffering. Rabbi Harold Kushner’s Why Good Things Happen to Bad People concisely explains this mystery. He states that God cannot intervene because “God can’t stop us without taking away the freedom that makes us human." Essentially, the only way God can stop suffering is by not allowing people to cause it, taking away their free will. One of the most prominent examples would be the German concentration camp Auschwitz. Millions of people suffered and died there, but Rabbi Kushner asserts “. . . it was not God who caused it. It was caused by human beings choosing to be cruel to their fellow men.” Man’s evil choices cause human suffering, not God’s complicity. Rabbi Kushner’s observations give a strong foundation to the argument that God cannot intervene. This concept of God meshes with the idea Marcus Borg presents in The God We Never Knew. In his book, Marcus Borg suggests the notion of a panentheistic God, that is, a God that is “. . ....
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...because it would strip humanity of its ability to choose between good and evil, thus reducing them to beasts. Although He cannot do anything to prevent suffering, God is omnipresent in suffering, giving people opportunities to show things such as love, empathy, or compassion. That is key to understanding God’s role in suffering: that He does not cause it, but He uses it so people can exhibit empathetic traits. William Faulkner accurately describes it: “The salvation of the world is in man's suffering.”
Works Cited
When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold Kushner
When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold Kushner
The God We Never Knew, Marcus Borg
When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold Kushner
La vita è bella, Roberto Benigni (1997)
White Rose, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://bit.ly/TS6Bn)
William Faulkner
After reviewing the work of David Hume, the idea of a God existing in a world filled with so much pain and suffering is not so hard to understand. Humes’ work highlights some interesting points which allowed me to reach the conclusion that suffering is perhaps a part of God’s divine plan for humans. Our morals and values allow us to operate and live our daily lives in conjunction with a set of standards that help us to better understand our world around us and essentially allows us to better prepare for the potential life after life. For each and every day we get closer to our impending deaths and possibly closer to meeting the grand orchestrator of our universe.
The existence of a God is always questioned, but it is questioned even more so at times of suffering. As Rabbi Dr Louie Jacobs comments “If God exists… how and why could such a Being tolerate all the pain, misery, and anguish that is often the lot of humanity”.
1 Peter 3:13-17 begins the third main section of 1 Peter with the theme being: God’s grace in suffering. In a world that is hostile to Christianity and to Christ Peter is admonishing his readers that the fear of the Lord conquers every other fear. In the course of life these readers faced crises, and could be tempted to give into fears and make wrong decisions but Peter is instructing to “sanctify Christ as Lord” in their hearts and they never need to fear men or circumstances. “The enemies of believers can hurt us, but never harm us. Only we can harm ourselves if we fail to trust God” (Wiersbe. 413). Peter is stating that, in a general sense, people are less likely to be persecuted when they are doing good, however, even if a believer is persecuted
There is so much evil in the world such as: murder, child mortality, torture, rape, assault and more. So how can there be an all loving God if these things are constantly happening? In this paper, I will be arguing that there is in fact no such thing as an all loving and all powerful God due to Evil. When I think of an all-loving God, I think of God as someone who would never allow a child to be kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed. I think of God as someone who would not allow anything bad or evil to happen in this world. I am not saying people would not get their fair share of misfortune now and again, but they would never experience evil, pain or suffering. That being said, there would be no evil or vindictive people in this world
I don’t see this being true of all moral virtue. For example, the virtue of independence is not created through suffering: its created by the need of relying on your own judgment and action. Along with that, there are a lot of evil and suffering that we see on a daily basis that does not teach us lessons, for example, a two year old dying from cancer or a hurricane destroying homes and lives; showing compassion can be praiseworthy. It may be argue, well supported by the evidence of post-Holocaust genocides, that mankind has not taken this lesson to heart. God’s goal is to create moral individuals and he allows evil to teach us moral lessons that we are supposed to learn from. Suffering and evil are not necessary conditions for moral development. We can learn morality without being subjected to evil. Likewise, purposely exposing one to evil in order to teach them a lesson seems outrageous. Another important problem with this theodicy is that it makes an image out of suffering. If morality depends on the existence of suffering, then if there was no suffering, then suffering would be solely around to have morality or teach a moral
Suffering is something that causes a lot of people to question the existence of God. If God is good, then how does He let evil happen? A god of love is one that is supposed to save His people from all danger and harm. The reality is that God is a good god, but evil does exist. Suffering exists because of The Fall . Sin was brought into the world, and the consequence for this sin is suffering and ultimately death. This does not make God a bad god, but rather makes us more reliant on Him.
God is all kind then why is there suffering? Who or what is the cause
“Sonny’s Blues” is a short story in which James Baldwin, the author, presents an existential world where suffering characterizes a man’s basic state. The theme of tragedy and suffering can be transformed into a communal art form such as blues music. Blues music serves as a catalyst for change because the narrator starts to understand that not only the music but also himself and his relationship with Sonny. The narrator’s view of his brother begins to change; he understands that Sonny uses music as an exit of his suffering and pain. This story illustrates a wide critical examination. Richard N. Albert is one critic that explores and analyzes the world of “Sonny’s Blues”. His analysis, “The Jazz-Blues Motif in James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”” is an example of how one can discover plot, characterization and jazz motif that builds this theme of suffering.
However, Muslims maintain quite a different teaching and conception3 of suffering in the eyes of their god. Allah, the god which the Muslims worship, is not a father figure, he is instead an all-powerful monarch who values justice over mercy. The Al-Qur'an, written by the prophet, Mohammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik (1997) mentions its explanation for the reason people suffer.
The human experience is what connects people to one another. What we experience defines who we are and who we become. It also defines how we interact with others. The amazing thing is that not only do the events that bring joy, peace and happiness connect us but also those that bring anxiety, fear and despair. This brings to light the fact that God somehow in his sovereignty uses all things for the good of those who love Him. These ideas are brought to light in Jerry Sittser’s book, A Grace Disguised which is his personal journey of loss and the insight and experience that was gained in the face of great tragedy. In his book, Sittser discusses various insights he has gained, such as how Christian’s view sorrow, how families recover when someone they love develops a mental disorder, and the Christian view on suffering and forgiveness. I believe that the author has written a book that has many universal truths that can be applied to anyone’s life and they have the ability to bring healing to many. His ideas can also aid professionals who work with the mentally ill in becoming more compassionate.
The question of suffering comes up much when talking about, or practicing any religion. Many ask why people suffer, and what causes suffering? The various religions try to answer these questions in their own way. Pico Iyer’s editorial, “The Value of Suffering” addresses the questions of suffering and how it is handled. This article could be compared to the Bhagavad-Gita which also addresses and explains suffering through different stories of the interactions of humans and different Gods. One can specifically look at “The Second Teaching” in the Bhagavad-Gita, which explains the interaction between a man named Arjuna and the god Krishna. In it Arjuna is suffering because he does not want to fight in a war and with people whom he should be worshiping. Krishna says to fight because the souls of the people will forever live on, and because he needs to fulfill his Dharma. With what is known about the Bhagavad-Gita and how Iyer thinks about the subject, Iyer would agree with how the Bhagavad-Gita address suffering.
The concept of suffering plays an important role in Christianity, regarding such matters as moral conduct, spiritual advancement and ultimate destiny. Indeed an emphasis on suffering pervades the Gospel of Mark where, it can be argued, we are shown how to "journey through suffering" (Ditzel 2001) in the image of the "Suffering Son of Man" (Mark 8:32), Jesus Christ. Although theologians have suggested that Mark was written to strengthen the resolve of the early Christian community (Halpern 2002, Mayerfeld 2005), the underlying moral is not lost on a modern reader grappling with multifarious challenges regarding faith in the face of suffering. In his article "A Christian Response to Suffering", William Marravee (1987) describes suffering as an "experience over which we men and women continue to stumble and fall". The way we view God is crucial to the way we view suffering according to Marravee, who delineates the disparity between a view of God as an ‘outsider’ and the biblical image of God – where God is an ‘insider’ who suffers with us in our struggle. This essay seeks to explain the Christian view of suffering and the purpose suffering can have in our lives.
As previously, stated God uses difficult situations as a way to improve the relationship we have with Him. Why suffering though? Frederick Sontag wrote in his book that evil or suffering are the best circumstances in which to find a God, unlike times where everything goes well
Suffering can be defined as an experience of discomfort suffered by a person during his life. The New York Times published an article entitled what suffering does, by David Brooks (2014). In this article, Brooks explains how suffering plays an important role in our pursuit of happiness. He explains firstly that happiness is found through experiences and then, suffering can also be a motivation in our pursuit of happiness. In other words, suffering is a fearful but necessary gift to acquire happiness. This paper is related to motivation and emotion, two keys words to the pursuit of happiness (King, 2010).
Sacrifice and suffering are part of the pattern of Christian life, of God's plan, taking up our crosses. help us become better Christians and help us grow in faith. We should not despair in times of suffering but turn and pray to God as Jesus. did in Gethsemane, when he cried out, "Abba, Father take this cup away.