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The BIG questions; what's with all these semicolons anyway?! |
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Heh, here we go again. So I'm in spirituality(at least it's inspiring me to write this), and we're watching Joan of Arcadia. I'm happy because it means we just have to sit there and do nothing for an entire class, and I'll take anything I can get. While watching the episode, we came upon a certain scene in which Joan's mom crosses paths with a priest raising money and decides to randomly ask him why God would make us suffer. I personally wanted to punch her in the face right then and there. Of course it would be context though, so don't get all fired up about it. Anyway, since he didn't have a word to say about it other than that he'd "pray" for her(a subject I should address soon as well), I figure I'll take the load off of him and do my own thing here to answer her. From here on in we're switching to the smart person talk, so get your thinking caps on. Ready?
Let's lay down the ground rules. The woman's question boils down to this: if God loves us than why would He allow us to suffer? For my definition of suffering, I'll be using the terms pleasure and pain, pleasure being that which we would rather experience, pain being the opposite. Also, one may infer from the idea that God loves us that He would rather we be happy and pleasurable. Therefore, we are left with a new question: if God would rather we find pleasure in life, than why does He allow us to feel pain, to experience that which we would rather not?
Good question. The answer I received in my Christian spirituality class last year was this. That suffering which humans cause is our own fault while that which is not of our doing is the result of a universe God created which is not "complete," thereby making it our job to rectify it and thereby exterminate pain. I, personally, am not content with this answer at all, considering it raises another, that of why God would create the universe in such a way, and to answer that along with any other additional inquiries would be a waste of time, and the result might still not be proof enough. Let's start over then.
In order to know of a thing, one must know not of it as well. In order to understand what white is, one must also understand what white is not, and that is black. Therefore, one must know of both one thing and its opposite in order to comprehend both. An A student would not fully realize how smart he or she is until being placed in a class with contemporaries belonging to a lesser intellectual standing. Such a student would not be able to appreciate or experience such an intelligence either until knowing of its opposite.
Another example would be that of a man who sees all of reality in the color green. He is not aware of any other color than green, for he only sees in that specific color. Because of this, he will not be able to comprehend the idea that what he sees is green, for if it were green, it could not be yellow, or blue, or red, and he knows nothing of these other colors. He would not be aware in the least that all he sees is green unless he were shown or at least told of the other colors of the spectrum. Therefore, he would never know that what he sees is green, nor know what green is.
The same applies to pleasure and pain. It's logically impossible to know of pleasure and not of pain since to know what pleasure is, one must know what pleasure is not, and therefore one must also know of pain. Nor may one experience such pleasure and thereby find fulfillment in it without the additional knowledge of pain.
Pain is also that which makes an experience pleasurable. A person is happy because he is not sad. A person is pleasured because he is not in pain. The opposite applies as well. The definition of pleasure is that which is not pain, and pain that which is not pleasure. The two interlock with one another in this manner.
Now we may return to the question. Why would God allow pain? Because without pain, humans may not comprehend or experience pleasure. Therefore, pleasure would not even exist if not for pain.
Of course as a sidenote, we as humans do in fact hold some power over our own feelings of pleasure and pain. While certain things come instinctively to us as belonging to one feeling or the other, we still may control to an extent how pleasurable or painful a situation may be. Of course we may not have full dominion over such feelings, but we may still stop them from dominating over us.
Perhaps, though, a lack of appreciation is what we face. People may ask the question addressed above when feeling pain while what they should be doing is appreciating what they already have in terms of pleasure. Are they simply asking too much? No one can determine that objectively, but it does give one food for thought when dealing with one's own feelings of pleasure and pain.
I find it difficult sometimes to not point a condescending finger at what I see as deplorable human weakness. Darn perspectivism.
Rowan Raeneus · Fri Nov 11, 2005 @ 01:16am · 0 Comments |
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