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That's the soul-making hypothesis. But animals don't have the ability to use religion as a source of inner strength. And they do suffer. I just hope they will obtain relief and happiness when their lives are over.
Why would he be joking? Is there anything more universal to our collective human experience than suffering?
Most people are alive today. Pain comes with that.
Nerves keep your organs functioning.
No nerve signals means death.
I reserve the right to be fallible. I did say it was my opinion. I take scripture at its word, not people. I listened to faith healing preachers for many years, only to be frustrated in the end. I searched scripture to find answers. I cried, prayed and searched. In the end i found my answers in scripture. Its my belief that God opened my eyes to see the truth. There are different ways of looking at things and the bible is written in a way that only spiritual eyes can understand the Lords teaching correctly. The scriptures teach this as well. I dont know everything, but God showed me what i needed to know.
because he couched suffering in positive terms, and suggested it was a 'blessing'. I'll let those 4 year old skeletons in Africa know he's thinking of them.
So it's just your opinion that a god named Yahweh created the universe?
Meantime, please define 'spiritual eyes'.
It has been a blessing for me, because i chose to allow to be. I believe im a better person because of it. Perhaps i should instead believe that im cursed and then i can sink back into the pit of depression that i was in? Would that be better for you? Look at the rich man who never suffers anything. He is rich in wealth but poor in heart. Just because you dont understand it, doesn't mean its not true. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Look at my last post, maybe you can see a glimpse of what i mean by spiritual eyes.
If I'd gleaned any meaning from your 'glimpse', I'd have had no need to ask.
Could you please explain and define what spiritual eyes are?
I think he was talking about his personal, subjective experience of suffering and how that leads someone to be more compassionate and empathic, which is not too outlandish, right?because he couched suffering in positive terms, and suggested it was a 'blessing'. I'll let those 4 year old skeletons in Africa know he's thinking of them.
suffering (in the tame, first world sense that you know it) is only going to add value to your life if you survive it and survive it well. your puerile understanding of suffering is deeply unpleasant.
if this lightweight grasp of the human condition is compelled by your need to make room for a god who allows (indeed, creates) suffering to the degree that it does, then I'm sorry for you. it leaves no room for anything but a tiny, flinty heart.
Tidy obfuscation.
As for all the other suffering (like the children dying of hunger and thirst in Africa), that is a very deep and profound question and I'm afraid I can't really give you a simple answer (if you happen to know why, please do share). To me, suffering is where God reveals himself; not as the direct cause of it, but as the struggle against. When people see injustice against their fellow human beings and stand up to fight against it, that to me is how God manifests himself in this world.
Spiritual eyes refer to seeing spiritual meaning in things. It refers to seeing value in spiritual things. Its what the Lord promises to give us. In effect he heals our spiritual blindness. Its a deep subject. If you wish to know more then ask the Lord. Only he can teach us. Im no teacher.
Get real.
The physical transmission of pleasure and pain
are the same impulses. So what is your problem?
I've asked a number of gods and prophets (including yours) to indicate themselves thusly, but have never received an answer. I genuinely wanted one, too. Therefore I'm compelled to seek answers on my theological questions from the humans who represent the gods, or would speak for them.
Meantime, what do you mean by 'seeing spiritual meaning in things', specifically? Can you break it down into a logical process, please? Explain how it's tangibly and identifiably different to 'imagination and wishful thinking'?
Pain is a requirement of our human condition and so we are not sitting
on "Sleep Number" puffy clouds with no need to move a finger.
Under the proposed scenario we would be born in happiness onto our
soft pillows and stay for eternity with no hunger or pain, not moving a muscle.
No Pain? No reality.
Can I take this opportunity to remind our theist friends that a human lifetime is mathematically zero compared to the eternity of no suffering we're promised in heaven. If we can exist FOREVER without suffering, why must we exist for even a zillionth of a picosecond with they type of suffering referenced here? Childhood cancers, Ebola, war, etc. There is no gain from these things, no matter how the much the theist attempts to reduce 'suffering' to surviving prostate cancer in late adulthood, or how much they try to convince themselves that even terrible these things have a 'bright side'.
We have all experienced that silence you mention, i suppose. Perhaps you are trying to hear with natural ears instead of spiritual ones. The Lord said that if anyone loves him they will keep his words, and then the spirit will teach them. We must keep the lords words in our heart by meditating on them and trying our best to follow them, even if it hurts to hear. We will not be perfect but we try. Many people dont want to hear what He has to say because it hurts them. However thats when we must listen. That's all i can say.
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