Jesus, Forgiveness, Healing, Grace, Mercy, Redemption are all words that are associated with Christianity but the understanding of them is being lost today's world.
The Mystery of suffering.
To seek any sort of answer to this mystery it is firstly essential to understand the answers to some other questions such as the very existence or not of God. If you reader are still unsure of this then
Click here to read the Chapter 'A case for God’s Existence’ before returning and reading more of this Chapter.
Required also is a much wider perspective of the whole purpose of our existence.
Click here (if required) to read the chapter on 'What is the purpose of our lives?'
It is a mystery, even greater than that of suffering, as to why God even bothered to created the Universe and all that is in it and yet its very existence all around us cannot be denied. However, the existence of Evil within the Universe is also there to be recognised by anyone of sound mind. If you Reader have been fortunate enough not to have experienced evil for yourself then think for a moment of the wicked deeds done by the like of Hitler, Stalin and Osama ben Laden. Why God allows evil, and perhaps even created it, will be discussed later on another page.
It has been suggested elsewhere that God's purpose in creation is to eventually populate a place called Heaven (for want of a better name at this time) with 'Free spirits' who have been created here on Earth and then allowed to grow into adult human beings. This growth takes place during a period of experienced existence in a world as perceived by our six senses.
I find that I can go along with the above line of thought and ask that you Reader do the same until proved otherwise. If you do so then you will be partaking in a shortened version of what is know as 'Pascal's Wager'. Blaise Pascal was a philosopher who lived in the seventeenth century and proposed that - 'Even though the existence of God cannot be proved, a person should 'wager' that he does because those who do choose to believe are much better off than those who don't. If, after death, they discover that there is a God waiting for them then they have everything to gain. But if there is nothing after death then they will have lost nothing.'
An principal element to allow this growth, through a lived experience, is what is general know as 'free choice' In this we see an essential difference between humans and the remainder of God's creatures who live an existence more akin to robots pre-programmed by their instincts. God could have made us humans to be the same but chose instead to give us the intelligence, ability and freedom to choose for ourselves our own destiny.
God loves each and every one of us and wants to share our lives with us but not as some people think, as some form of bossy headmaster, but more like a good sports coach - he wants each of us to reach our full potential. Such a relationship, when fulfilled, becomes what is referred to as ‘salvation’ If we can live day by day in a loving relationship with our creator then we shall be ‘saved’. As said earlier - we have been given the freedom to chose to move into such a relationship or to turn away and ignore God's existence.
But what has History to show of mankind’s use of this freedom that we have been given? The mess is there for all to see all around us, caused by those leaders who think they are wiser than the advice that God has already given us. It follows that much of the suffering is caused by ourselves due to the misuse of God’s gift of freewill.
But to return to the subject of this freedom of choice that we have each been given, I believe that the bottom line in life for each individual is this - We can either choose to live our own lives, and expect to be happy, by relying upon our own wits and skills or we can turn to God and seek his advice and help. In my lived experience of this I have found that more people turn to God, not out of curiosity, but through some form of adversity. In this we can perhaps have a glimpse why God allows some suffering to take place. If there where no suffering then many people, may be most, would continue to shut their creator out from their day to day lives and view him as a spoil sport rather than a potential best friend.
As said above, the purpose of our lives is for us to each grow into a mature fully balanced human being and the question I ask of you Reader is how could any of us become such if there where no suffering in our world?. How could any of us learn compassion and sympathy if we never see suffering in others?. How could any of us learn to be brave if there where no challenges to face? How could we learn honesty if there where no opportunities or temptations to act dishonestly.
A fulfilled life is about experiencing contrasts, without laughter there could be no sorrow, the 'best' would have little meaning if there where no 'worst' to compare it with, and there would be no pleasure without some pain to compare it with.
So there is a roll for evil and suffering in our present world, but it won't last forever. Think on this - at the time of Jesus' Crucifixion, God the Father could have eliminated evil altogether, as he could do at this very moment in time. Why he chose not to is unclear, but meanwhile we live in an age between ages where we have opportunities to mature into the likeness of the only ever fully human being that ever lived - Jesus. God has provided mankind with opportunities to blunder down blind alleyways and thus learn from our mistakes. But He doesn't leave us without help, his longstanding invitation is - Choose either my ways or your own, but then live with the consequences. It's been suggested elsewhere that when we meet God face to face he will have one of two things to say - Either 'My will be done' or 'Your will be done'
I need here to remind you Reader that all the above words are only a poor attempt to answer this Mystery of Suffering but I hope that you can see for yourself that a world without any suffering would be a very strange place indeed. Elsewhere on this web site is another Chapter concerning the sources of the different types of Pain and Suffering that are all part of the bigger picture.
The invitation now is to click here and move onto the next page and consider ‘Who is this Jesus?’
Alternatively, click to read ‘A case for God’s Existence’
Alternatively click here to return to the ‘Home Page’
