Today’s Passion for Wisdom assignment centers on the problem of evil or suffering. Here are a few text-&-graphic slides on the subject to consider:
Answering Job… PW 1.1… suffering… best… God… B’Bears… not nice… Defending God (Crenshaw)…Optimism (Springs)
Terry Eagleton’s On Evil, “an attempt to take seriously the reality of extreme wrongdoing without recourse to either religiously grounded certitudes or a total sociological determinism”… Eagleton on the Pope…
Bart Ehrman’s coming in February, to speak at MTSU. He wrote a book about the problem of suffering and how it led him to abandon his religion. God’s Problem is really ours, of course.
NOTE TO STUDENTS: syllabus correction. On Tuesday we’ll discuss PW 18-26, and on Thursday PW 26-33. We’re not ready for Socrates yet…
Also, a reminder: your midterm report summaries are due Feb. 17. That’s just three weeks away. You should be in the process of selecting your topic and locating your textual source(s) now.
One more thing: Jennifer Hecht has a good discussion of the problem of suffering (and Job) in Doubt, beginning on p. 62. I recommend it.
Yoga is discussed in our text today, the traditional Vedantic discipline which aims to promote personal “fitness” in matters physiological, emotional, and spiritual. Lately we’ve heard a lot about an American-style yoga that some purists object to… (John Friend’s Anusara School)… Tara Stiles, Yoga Rebel (“Who made these rules?”)… Stressed freshmen… Gil Meche
Tags: problem of evil
January 27, 2011 at 9:04 am |
Suffering- There is no doubt that there is unecessary suffering in our world. Some believers claim that God is an all caring one, however pain, loss, and suffering are ever-present. What other conclusions can we make about this problem besides a) God doesn’t exist, or b) It is the Will of God? Basically I am asking, ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’
January 27, 2011 at 11:35 am |
Good question, it prompted a good discussion this morning. Rabbi Kushner’s answer: bad things happen because God’s not omnipotent after all. Our best efforts to ameliorate the human condition are required, if suffering in the future is to be lessened.
That’s a true statement whether there’s a god or not , isn’t it? Whether there’s a less-than-all powerful Deity or none at all, we’ve still got to pull our oars.
Isn’t it better to believe that, than to believe that everything’s already pre-fabricated according to a divine Master Plan and couldn’t possibly be better? Or that this is the best of all possible worlds?
January 27, 2011 at 12:13 pm |
This is a big topic with me and fate evidentially put me to speak on it, so I indulged.
Bear with me.
-
Obviously, what do we know…
Know of ourselves, The Earth, and our Universe?
I Believe,
As an intended curious creature, humans have attempted to grasp the meanings of things perceived by the easily accessible senses. All the discoveries of man are real and magnificent, expanding our minds, allowing the exponential growth of technology to open the doors of a better understanding and so on; however we are merely skating on the tip of the iceberg. Simply, humans CHOSE to take the long miry, rough, and painful path to the truth of our existence (“The Fall”). We could simply stop staring at our shadows, look within ourselves, extinguish the flame creating this illusion, and leave the binding cave to see the true light of our existence (easier said than done).
But what is it within us that holds the key to a harmonious life?
Curse this media based society we live in, for it has made the influential grossly ignorant and mislead from our virtuous purpose and harmony of life (America is just a repeat of the history of any great establishment i hope for the best though). As with most everything in this Universe (including “God”), along with the increasingly negative side of the media there is a positive, but even within the positive we STILL find aspects to make it negative (The internet, music, TV). I could go on forever about the demise of our morals and ethics due to the media, so I digress.
Suffering is the test of our persistence, intuitiveness, faith, and integrity. Making us stronger, wiser, and more proactive so that it doesn’t happen again. Besides natural disasters, the will, selfishness, and vice of man and his misconceptions is normally the cause for our suffering.
We must be the change we wish to see in the world.
-Gandhi (swap change with good, I like that too)
SO.
a) What is (to our understanding now) within us that connects us to each other, the Earth, and “God?” WHAT SEPARATES US?
b) How do you think the “triple O force” judges “his” creations, to reason whether its beneficial to the world or not? Why do you think “he” tells us (Biblically) not to judge one another?
c) Looking at a weed strangling a flower, how would a gardener free this flower of its suffering?
d) What is the root of negativity within each of us? Can it be pinpointed to one factor?
e) What is the purpose of a religion? Are we being once again mislead by our own interpretations?
f) Are coincidences real? Does everything happen for a reason?
*e) And yes i will be that guy…Can possibly higher extra-terrestrial or even extra-dimensional beings (maybe even linked to “God” as intermediaries (angels)) be the instigating factor in the creation life on a planet without form nor void in (“6 days”), the intelligent man (made in “God’s” own image), religions, cultures, and (lost) civilizations. Could this viable notion (based upon our current increasing knowledge of the infinitely expanding universe) be yet another misinterpreted historical reference? (The Bible, The Bhagavad Gita)
http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/viewvideo.php?id=lFaDk0Lxg2k&tid=194108
Thank you,
Taylor Duggin
January 29, 2011 at 11:51 am |
Nice reply Taylor! I can tell this isn’t the first time you’ve thought of this question. I like many of your viewpoints, as well as the way you’ve articulated them. To touch on just a few of your main points however, I must contest to the notion of “fate”. Experience has shown me over the years that it is within all of us to utilize all of our capacity for both good and evil. The choices we make in life determine much of our disposition, regardless of the weight such choices have. Good people lose themselves to drug addictions nearly every day while it has been proven that certain criminals can be successfully reformed. These are some of the reasons I cannot believe in “fate” or “destiny”; because it negates the notion of our free will to choose. I could get lost in some more of your key points, but I’ll leave that for someone else, or another day. I would love to see what some others think about your point in asking about extra dimensions and the concept of “God” within a multi-verse. Overall, I loved reading your entry, good thinking!
February 1, 2011 at 2:04 pm |
Honestly, i cannot come up with any other conlusion other than God. Being a huge believer in God, i can’t just say, God doesn’t exist. My world revolves around God. Now don’t get me wrong, my life is not all roses. I have thorns here and there, but that is life. The pain and the suffering i face humbles me, strengthens me, and helps build me. I am more wise now than i was a year ago.
To me, the pain and suffering is just a test. What’s a testimony without a test? God said the rain falls on the just, as well as, the unjust. No one is exempt from trials and tribulations. If they were, they would be perfect and no one can be perfect but God. God is sovereign and omnipotent, which means He is all knowing and all powerful. Why do He owe anybody an explanation for why things happen? He saved us even though we were all undeserving of it, indulging in the sins which we knew were wrong morally and spiritually.
What I don’t understand is how people get mad at God when things go wrong or try to portray God as the villian, but when everything is going great nobody acknowledges Him?
February 1, 2011 at 4:29 pm |
The problem with the “test” solution is that we’re imagining the tester and test-maker as the testee-maker too… as having had precise foreknowledge of who would pass and who would fail, having created the test-takers with all their specific aptitudes and liabilities and then punishing them for realizing their very God-given natures.
If you really thought a God had given your Dad the leukemia that killed him, wouldn’t you be angry about it – no matter how great things may have been before, or how great they may be for others?
In any case, there seems no shortage of people in our culture eager to praise the lord.
Finally, though, those who are most impressed by the insolubility of the problem of suffering tend not to be angry with God at all. They simply drop the concept.