There is pain and suffering all over the world. Even at this very
moment, people are facing death and torture, but the question is if
God is all kind then why is there suffering? Who or what is the cause
of this pain? How can it be stopped? Through this section of the
coursework, I will discuss the answers behind these questions from the
perspectives of the two religions, Christianity and Islam.
According to Christianity, God is wholly good, he does not create evil
nor is he evil. It states in Genesis that God created all things in
the universe 'and it was good'. So if God is all good, then where does
evil come from? The teaching on suffering in Christianity goes back to
the beginning when Adam and Eve were created by God. Humans were given
the one thing above every other living creature in the universe, and
that was the power of free will. God had explicitly told Adam and Eve
not to eat from the tree of knowledge but they were not able to comply
with this one basic rule. They were tempted to eat from the tree by
Satan, the devil, an archangel that was kicked out of heaven due to
his rebellion against God.
This incident 'The Fall' is used by all Christians as a good lesson on
the origins of evil and suffering. Literalist Christians believe that
this incident did happen sometime long ago but liberalist Christians,
for example Baptists, believe that this was not actually a real
incident in time, but only a myth that is used to teach humans of the
consequences of disobedience. Now due to this one event, Christians
believe that all humans are born with 'Original Sin', meaning it is
human nature to be sinful. 'The Fall' was a punishme...
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...But if we go deeper into the intention of this suffering,
we can see that even the punishment suffering is done so that the
wrong doers will humble and follow the sirat-al-mustakeem (straight
path) and so really the reason for all suffering according to Islam is
to help become a better Muslim.
So to summarise, according to Islam, the reason for suffering is due
to the test from Allah, the reason why all humans are on earth.
Shaytan may be the evil one who tempts people to perform sins but he
has been given the right to lead astray humans by Allah for the same
reason of the test. So let us get back to our question posed at the
beginning of this coursework. If God is all kind then why is there
suffering? Well according to Islam, Allah does not need to be evil to
cause suffering because it is all done for a good reason.
is part of the human suffering due to his cherished relational nature with humans. However,
suffering hurts man spirit is does more good then constant happiness and power. We have to beat
“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.
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 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.
Kusher gets straight to the point in the first few pages of his book. We, as humans, assume that we deserve what we get. Somewhere along the way we have sinned and deserve what happens. We focus the attention on ourselves so we can keep viewing God as a righteous judge. God is simply being like a caring parent in hopes we can see he only means well, and hopes one way we can see why he would cause such pain. Kushner believes that maybe God is not the cause of our suffering, but that God is there to help.
Islam and Christianity both come from a common foundation as religions of peace, both of these religious traditions share the foundational element of peace of their beliefs. In both the sacred texts of Islam and Christianity peace is a virtue and is seen more as a sense of wellbeing than just the absence of conflict and violence. Overall peace is found in unity with God, for Christians and Muslims are taught to live a life a life of peace with others, not only in their own communities but the entire of human society. The Qur’an in Islam and the New Testament in Christianity are respectively the principal sacred texts for these religious traditions. The Qur’an and the New Testament both express the importance of peace and peacemaking as evident in Jesus’ Beatitudes “Blessed are the peacemakers”. The search for inner peace is the core message of the Qur’an and the New Testament and the adherents of both traditions are taught that inner peace will come through faithfully devoting yourself to God.
Suffering is an individual's basic affective experience of pain or distress, often as a result of one’s physical, emotional or spiritual circumstance (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy 2006). Suffering can be classified as physical; for example pain caused by a dislocated knee, emotional; for example one’s grief over the death of a loved one, or spiritual; which is described as the state of being separated from the blissful nature of your divine self (soul). To suffer physically or emotionally is often unavoidable; however it can be argued that spiritual liberation...
The problem of evil proves contradiction in religious philosophy, that a perfect God may or may not exist (Pecornio, 1). If a perfect God exists, why would he put evil into our world and promote suffering? Some philosophers have argued that this suffering is consequence for our own sins. If you willingly choose a path of evil, then evil will present itself onto you. An example of this would be that if you know smoking is bad and can cause lung cancer, and you still choose to smoke, you “deserve” the evil consequence of getting lung cancer (Beebe, 1). The problem of evil pinpoints two types of evil: moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is a type of evil that is caused by mankind itself, such as murder, abuse, and sexual...
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).
(Migliore 128) This view paints God as the punisher to both the wicked and the righteous, and that suffering is the result of one’s own actions. This argument sees the relationship between sin and suffering far too simply. Although, there is some Biblical support for this view in the old testament, it does not mirror the character of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
+Analysing outcomes of the test and summarize it with some theories of need and motivation.
Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world, founded upon the principal belief that there is one God who created the world. Nevertheless, both ideologies have their own accounts that have contradicted each other since their beginnings. As time changed these religious sects have undergone a numerous number of events that question their validity and have led to controversy in recent years.
Why would God allow so much suffering in this world? If what He created was very good (Gen 1:31), why do we experience pain? Furthermore, since there is...