Thursday, September 10, 2015

OUR BACKS TO THE WALL./THE REALITY OF SUFFERING (Continuation)

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Ask the average person whether they would prefer to live in a jail or a mansion and they would certainly reply, “I believe I would be happier in a mansion, thank you.” 

       And then, some of them go out and break the law and end up living in a jail.  Or court pain and problem. 

Indeed, if you could have asked a friend of mne if he would have preferred to have two healthy lungs or the emphysema that daily finally choked off his breathing, he would have readily replied, “I would prefer not to have emphysema.”  But for years he smoked heavily, and one day he died. much earlier and sicker than he otherwise would have.

You pays your money and you takes your choice. 

But what about suffering that one does not pursue? you ask.  Nature on a rampage.  Floods and famine and earthquakes and hurricanes?  Though I realize that insurance companies call these catastrophes acts of God, I would prefer to call the kindness of the people who come out of the woodwork to help people they don’t even know, acts of God.  The worst of times often does bring out the best in people.

What about wars?  Is God responsible for them?  No. 

   Such ambitions of one man, or a few men, does not have God’s blessing.  And, of course, once a war is started all the meanness in man is multiplied. 

   And I know that when on television we see thousands starving to death, God did not create the famine.  The needless death of so many is often caused by greedy men who instead of giving out the food sent to their countries keep it for their own. When men do not practice brotherhood they worship at an altar of brutality that leads to earthly hell.

   And, yes, there are ignorant men who will not let modern agricultural methods be practiced, or allow enough wells to be dug.  Or people, who in stupidity or laziness, chop down all the trees.  I know that these may not always be the reasons, but too often they are.

   But what about depression or the death of a wife or husband in a car accident?  The list is long and the questions are not new ones.  Go back several thousand years to Job in the Bible and questions he asked.  A quick overview of that Biblical story: Why did tempest destroy both his house and his children? 

   Why did fire burn up his servants and sheep?  Why miserable and painful sores from the top of his head to the bottom of his toes.  Why all this to a man whom the Bible calls, “….blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil”?

Who and why?  It is the ultimate question to which we seek an ultimate answer.  Nature gone awry.  Accidents without rhyme or reason.  Jesus says, “If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask Him?” And you in all honesty reply, “Tell me about it.  Explain to me why I have asked for bread and have been given a stone.  Explain to me why I have asked for health and been given sickness.  Tell me about it.”

And God does, through Jesus begin to give an answer with definitions and deeds.

On top of a mountain where He is tempted by the devil.  When he cast out demons.  When He calls this source of evil, “…. a liar and a father of lies.”  And if you let theological common sense speak to you, you begin to get a message that God allows pain and problems, but does not inflict them.  God is not a demon, nor a devil, nor schizophrenic.

If you have a problem with this answer, look at the cross.  It shouts mortality… and immortality;  pain… and salvation; death… and resurrection.  It shouts that the power of the devil is transient power.  Momentary victories, but not ultimately, triumphant.

In Jonathon Swift’s book, Gulliver’s Travels, he tells of a land were once or twice in a generation a child was born with a circular red spot on its forehead which signified that it would never die.  Gulliver imagines these children to be the most fortunate of all people, “born exempt from that universal calamity of human nature – death”.  But as he comes to know them, he realizes that they are in fact the most miserable.  They grow old and feeble.  Their friends and contemporaries die off.  At the age of seventy their property is taken away and given to their children, who would otherwise never inherit from them.  Their bodies contract various ailments, they accumulate grudges and grievances, they grow weary of the struggles of living, and they can never look forward to being released from the pain of everlasting life.

Imagine how terribly over crowded this world would become if people lived forever.  And the public outcry every time a birth took place.  What a loss if there were no infant population.  No fresh starts.  No new beginnings.  There are many things I do not know or understand but one I can comprehend is that while death at first may seem frightening and tragic, to know I would never die would be unbearable.

There are two types of pain - creative pain and pointless pain.  Having a baby is creative pain.  However, the pain endured when passing a kidney stone seems to me to be pointless, unless by driving a man to his knees he stays there long enough to pray. All kinds of pain make some people bitter, and others empathetic and compassionate.  Pain, any kind of pain, is the price we pay for being alive.

And we have only two choices when there are too many problems and too much pain.  One is to rebel, to complain, why me?  And the other is to attempt to relate, how can I make these times of pain and problem meaningful?

       Poets, philosophers, theologians and the Apostle Paul have mightily sought to give satisfactory answers to this mighty question.  Paul said that the thorn in his side, which is never really identified, perfected his weaknesses.  

       In 1982 after a hang gliding accident, when my left arm hung limp and useless from my shoulder, paralyzed and futile, I was not a happy camper.  Indeed, I could have worn myself weary by berating myself for trying to be a bird. Instead I prayed, “Lord, make my arm well, or let me learn a lesson from this accident.  But most of all, Thy will be done.”  He chose to heal my arm.  But even more, He did wonderful things for my psyche.

The power of prayer is truly amazing.   It has been demonstrated over and over that people recover from sickness faster when people pray for them.  And when we pray for ourselves, it is not selfishness, but rather simply asking our Father for help.
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I Am
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