PaulSacramento wrote:Suffering and with it, compassion, is a very human trait that we don't find as much in the animal kingdom.
Some would say it is an evolved feeling, a sign of our high mental conscience.
The issue is NOT that we suffer or even that we have compassion, it can be argued that other animals feel the same, the issue is WHY we feel it should NOT be so.
Why do we feel that "good" people should not suffer ( and by default that bad people suffering have done it to themselves and deserve it), where did this notion of act and consequence come from?
There is no reason to think that there is such a thing as "good" and there is no reason to think that whether some is good or bad should effect if they suffer or not.
So why do we feel.think that?
I do not how other think, I can just share my struggles in this area. If you are interested, please read on - if mot, just ignore this post.
"Why do we feel that "good" people should not suffer?"
Because somewhere inside us, I think, we believe we are "good" people ourselves and as a "good people" we have a right to be not only removed from suffering, but also repulsed by even the prospect of suffering. We would rather delude ourselves that by "belonging" to the privileged group we are done with suffering, because every member of this elite group should by definition escape suffering. Why? - it seems that because "being good" means we somehow scored some points with God ("by being good enough?") and as such we should be freed from any calamity. This thinking reveals two things. First - we still need to understand more the concept of grace - there is simply no way we can score any points with God. Second - this mindset might reveal we are still not quite ready to be fully dependent on God, we are clinging to some level of control that would take us above suffering, so that we can "love" God undisturbed by the any, especially negative circumstances. I think God pulls us away from this state because it is a dangerous one - such state of conditional love might easily degenerate into no more than using God to go through life harmless. We might think we do not want "good" people to suffer, because we do not want to suffer, and deep in our deluded minds we consider ourselves good. And this is the real problem - suffering may reveal to us that we are neither good not actually God-loving, and while this could bring positive change in our attitude to God, it may be quite painful way because it leads through revealing plainly to us who we are. So sin in us may prompt us to avoid suffering - which Satan understand might turn into the revealing light that could bring us closer to God, and in order to avoid this from happening, Satan is keen to give us both: the feeling that we are OK and that suffering is useless, that we are far above it. Cheers
"But there's always a purpose in nonsense. Don't bother to examine a folly ”” ask yourself only what it accomplishes." (Ayn Rand)
"Don't give to dogs what belongs to God. They will only turn and attack you. Don't throw pearls down in front of pigs. They will trample all over them." (Matthew 7:6)