Lesson 3: Cause of Suffering

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4 responses to “Lesson 3: Cause of Suffering”

1. November 17, 2011

   bob nordvall

   There is a difference between suffering brought on by actions of mankind (war, oppression, etc) and that caused by natural diasters. Although the latter may at times be exacerbated by human action, they are not caused by such action. So why floods, famine, hurricanes, etc? If suffering builds character, we can see them as another character building opprotunjty. I don’t find this rationale persuasive. Are these excesses of nature inevitably connected to the benefits of nature — e.g. we cannot have the benefits of sun, wind, rain etc. without occasional diasters. This says that God was unable (or chose not to) create a world that did not have this connection. Or could God have created a world without natural diasters, and simply did not do so.

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2. November 19, 2011

   Lupe

   I think the issue you bring up for discussion is very appropriate for our times, when words like “evil” are used with such abandon. I believe (with many Christian philosophers) that evil is like darkness, not a thing in itself, but an absence of good. Evil exists where there is no goodness, or not enough goodness. Darkness exists where there is no light. Cold, like dark or evil, is also a negative quality, a lack of energy. In order to diminish evil, people must energize; strive for more goodness, for more virtue in their individual and collective lives. Each individual’s contribution, either toward more good, or toward passively allowing evil to exist, is significant, in that it contributes toward the prevailing levels of evil: more hate, racism, greed, violence, etc. Each of these evils is also a lack, a negative quality: not enough understanding, a lack of tolerance, a lack of generosity, a lack of peace. As we -as individuals and communities- strive for positive action, these negatives will tend to diminish, even if they may not disappear.

   As for suffering, that is also negative: a lack of happiness, of health, of wellbeing, of peace. In many cases in our developed world, let’s face it, it sometimes indicated a lack of awareness of our blessings. Again, though we must all endure inevitable suffering,it seems to me that this suffering can be greatly alleviated when there is an abundance of good, of virtue. People can be happier with an awareness of joy; made healthier through more peaceful, less stressful lives; illnesses can be more tolerable with kindness and generous care. Even that last inevitable step, death, can be made less terrifying when families envelop each other in love.

   All this, is to say that I believe God gave us humans the tools, the capacity for good and for happiness. When we do not use them, when we turn away from them, then we allow evil and suffering, like darkness and cold, to take over our lives.

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3. July 10, 2016

   paul wildman

   Some views please, possibly esp. from Fritz, thx.
   I was with a religious group (Xtian) a while back for two years (Brisbane – Australia) and they said dont accept anything negative as that will cause suffering to you. My response was that one cant know what is positive or negative without a culturally validated value screen i.e. a frame of reference to say this is positive or negative.

   For me this was one reason i left after bringing it up with two ministers i found their views extremely naive as if there was some simple + and – calculus in the universe. In some cultures what we see as negative and suffering is honoured as deeply positive and vice versa plus at different times in ones life positive and negative swap over.

   So suffering is strongly mediated by culture and life cycle in my view. Christianity has no 100% answer for why bad things happen to good people. No religious path does if it says it does its bullshit. Life doesn’t always add up the dots dont always join sometimes the msg is in the jarring of the lack of fit. In my view most religions locate at this very juncture in a sense esp. Buddhism which is built around expiating and explaining suffering. All laudable. Some however put a cash register here – a lot of evangelical Christian groups and Tele-evangelists – crapola i say.

   Fritz i deeply appreciate your comment above Xtiainity does not justify suffering of children – yes exactly. The 12yr old girl going into the gas ovens at Auschwitz demands respect and in fact a reconstruction of our theology – so yes i fully agree with and endorse your point here.

   The photo of Mother Teresa is most apropos in my view. For me was far more than a Saint. She said something like – ‘when we are attending the destitute dying on the streets of Mumbai we are tending Jesus in all his disturbing guises!’ This brings me to tears – and i dont fully know why. This is in a sense the opposite of loving others as god loved us (God to man) it is loving god as we love one another (Man to God).

   So i think (and this is where Fritz could come in pls) that MT is relevant to the Girl going into the Gas Oven at Auschwitz?

   Thx ciao paul

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   1. July 11, 2016

      Fritz Foltz

      Paul, I am right with you. One of the chief functions of any religion is to address suffering. And I think it does this by creating as you say “ a culturally validated value screen”. For Christians that screen assumes the context of sin and evil, the need for change at the deepest level. Our screen does not explain suffering so much as it offers a way to overcome or transform it. God’s ultimate act in our story is his refusal to abandon humanity after it executes his son. Instead he raises Jesus in an act of unconditional love that makes enemies into friends. To deny suffering is to ignore our central proclamation which is what a lot of popular Christianity has done with the Power of Positive Thinking school that began with Norman Vincent Peale, continued with Robert Schuller, and presently is led by Joel Osteen. It surely sounds like the two ministers you encountered share their beliefs that faith ignores rather than confronts suffering or for that matter anything that is not comfortable. Your example about the Nazi’s final solution is terribly relevant, because it seems our society is increasingly adopting its methods. Too often we have decided the most efficient way to end our suffering is to eliminate our enemies rather than to make them friends. I think this brings out the need for the Christian message in our time and place.

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