The Christian response is to forgive those who cause you to
suffer. FORGIVE 70 times 7
RECONCILIATION
Also be reconciled to suffering caused by your enemy. “ Love
those who hurt you”
LOVE
Love God no matter what happens.
SUPPORT ONE
ANOTHER
In the marriage
service “ in sickness & in health till death do us part” live a reasonable
life. Ie accept the good & the bad in life.
ACCEPTANCE OF
SUFFERING
Voluntary suffering
I accept my cancer as from God.
Involuntary
suffering, an earthquake killed my child. God be merciful to me.
Traditional
Christian.
GOD ALLOWS
SUFFERING
God allows suffering
so that we can learn to be compassionate. Christians should learn to be kind,
helpful and serve one another. God allows suffering so that a believer will
learn to submit to God. They will accept suffering so that they may rely on
God’s mercy. This means they have to pray to God. God will help them if they
are sincere. However, they will also have to accept it if God appears not to
hear their prayers. This is because no one should question God.
JOB AS AN EXAMPLE
OF SUFFERING In Job in the Bible no explanation
is given why people suffer. It is not anyone’s fault it is because God allows
it.
GREAT CHRISTIAN EXAMPLES
Examples are Martin
Luther King, & Mother Teresa. They had sympathy for others. God gave free
will so that they can respond with love to others in need.
JESUS SUFFERED Jesus became a man & suffered
so that he could identify with humanity. The faithful know that God understands
what it is like to suffer because he suffered on earth.
Mother Teresa said
you see the face of God in the distressing disguise of the poor.
Traditional Christian
.
Some Christian Denominations
If you love God you serve him & prosper.
If suffering occurs then it might be the sins of the Fathers being visited on
the children. It is a simplistic view but held by some. That suffering is a
punishment because you have not done good. Some Jehovah witness & fundamental
Christians hold this view.
The FALL FROM PARADISE
We all suffer because of Adam & Eve. They
sinned in the garden. Because of this all are born into sin. The world is
flawed. It is up to us to struggle with the sin & the pain to get back what
was lost Paradise. To regain Paradise is to submit to God’s will. As shown in
the book of Job.
A***** only
Liberation Theology Catholic
This came from
priests in the South American countries. They saw the poverty & wanted to
help the people escape persecution & exploitation. They could not read etc
& lived in poor conditions.
God came on earth through Jesus to change people’s lives.
The Kingdom of God was proclaimed on earth not just in Heaven. The faithful
were encouraged in the slums to help themselves. The aim was to get out of
poverty. Those priests who believed in this movement were stopped. They were
told the Church was the most important thing. Suffering was allowed by God to
keep people begging for his mercy. But some Catholic’s feel if Jesus was alive
today he would be against the suffering of poor people. This non acceptance of
suffering was frowned on by the Catholic Church.
Hindu
Hindu faithful accept that suffering can help them on the
road to moksha. They accept karma. If you do bad karma then bad things will
happen to you. If you do good actions then good will happen to you. You will go
on being reincarnated until you are reborn into a better life. So how you
respond to suffering matters so that you could have a reward. Moksha is to get
off the cycle of being reborn.
Why did God make a world with suffering in it?
Advice
You must answer this
question without putting your own personal opinion in it. Look at the style of
the answer given.
We all experience
the world with suffering in it. No one who has ever lived has escaped
suffering. There are Those who appear to deserve it ( Sadam Hussain for
example) and those who do not ( victims of the Tsunami).
A Christian would say that there is a purpose to suffering.
They would say God made free will. This allows individuals choice. We can
choose to do evil or good. The purpose of a Christian’s existence is to love
& serve God. If God receives love back from individuals who have accepted
the suffering & still loved and cared for one another then this suffering
is worthy. Their love is valuable. If God had made a perfect world with no
suffering in it how would people learn to appreciate the world. If nothing
could happen to harm anyone then individuals would learn nothing. Such a world
is un- imaginable.
All Suffering
teaches us something. If we run over the edge of a cliff,
someone will learn that the world has danger in it. If we
loose a family member or friend we will learn appreciation & experience
loss.
In a world with
suffering Christians can learn forgiveness & reconciliation. The Hindu’s
can learn about karma. These things can be small steps to selfdevelopment or they can be life changing.
The world needs Hitler to have a Mother Teresa.
The biggest point of
suffering is that if one accepts it voluntarily we can be more humble and
loving. If one does not accept suffering that is involuntary it could make us
bitter and unhappy that life appeared to be unfair.
If God had made a
world without suffering it might appear to be kind but in fact it might appear
to limit our potential to grow into amazing & capable beings.
