Does God Make Us Suffer?

By Smashwords

Do you wonder if God wants us to suffer? Or do you think that things have just gotten out of control? These and other critical questions about our existence are being asked and answered in this text. These questions are not being answered adequately by today's sectarian institutions. If you have some of these questions you deserve answers that make logical, practical and theological sense. PLEASE DO NOT POST A REVIEW.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Smashwords
• Release date: Feb 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463301630

Book preview

Does God Make Us Suffer?

And 10 Other Soul-Searching Questions

Anonymous

Does God Make Us Suffer?

And 10 Other Soul-Searching Questions

Anonymous

Copyright © 2020

A. Truth Publishing

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All rights reserved.

Publishers Cataloging in Publication Data

Anonymous

Does God Make Us Suffer?

ISBN: 9780463301630

First Edition

1. Spirituality. 2. Philosophy

This Ebook is licensed only for the use of the person who downloaded it. This Ebook is given freely and may not be re-sold to others. If you would like to share this book with another person, please download an additional copy for each recipient. Furthermore, the copyright prohibits the copying any of the text contained in this book without referencing the name of this book.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Question 1: WHO AM I?

Question 2: WHY AM I HERE?

Question 3: WHAT IS OUR PURPOSE FOR EXISTING?

Question 4: WHAT IS THE PURPOSE FOR THIS WORLD?

Question 5: WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?

Question 6: WHY DO WE DIE?

Question 7: WHY DO WE FEEL PAIN?

Question 8: DOES GOD MAKE US SUFFER?

Question 9: WHY DO CHILDREN SUFFER?

Question 10: IS GOD AN ANGRY GOD?

Question 11: HOW DO I ESCAPE THIS WORLD OF SUFFERING?

REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Introduction

The question of suffering has helped create an epidemic of atheism in our society. And for some, agnosticism.

The question of suffering as proposed, goes something like this:

"If God exists, why is there so much suffering?"

This question comes in other various forms as well:

"If God is good, why do children starve?"

"If God is fair, why are some born with congenital diseases?"

"If God is kind, why do people die?"

This can also come in the form of a first-person question:

"Why has God given me this disease?"

"Why would a kind God make me suffer like this?"

A theist may bristle at these questions. Yet these are, in fact, intelligent questions. They are necessary questions.

These questions boil down to: Is God not fair? Is God not kind? Does God enjoy making us suffer?

These questions are not being adequately answered by today’s many sectarian religious institutions and their teachers.

As a result, many people have either made the determination that there is no God (atheist). Or they have taken the position that they don’t know whether God exists or not (agnosticism).

Some sectarian institutions and their teachers have even reverted to speculative philosophies that God is vengeful and mean. They communicate that God enjoys making us suffer. Or that God punishes people for not being devoted to Him.

Many of these have been derived from sectarian translations of the Old Testament, portraying God as being a vengeful and angry God.

This teaching has also led many to reject the acceptance of God, based upon the assumption that they do not want to have a relationship with a vengeful and angry person that they have to constantly fear.

This point of fear has worked in the past, however. And it still works today, for those institutions that want to scare us into coming to their churches, synagogues or temples. The idea that if we don’t join their group we will suffer even worse than we suffer now is an attractive enticement for many.

Others simply take the atheistic or agnostic position to protect themselves from the fear. `

Supporting the agnostic or atheist conclusion are so many materialist scientists. Many of these will say there is no scientific evidence for the existence of God. They claim there is neither evidence, nor is there any rationalization for the existence of God.

We combat this position with irrefutable logic and evidence in our book, The Science of Faith.

Nevertheless, in order to first come to a position of confidence in the existence of God, this question of suffering must be answered.

And to answer this question of suffering, we must also answer a number of other questions, regarding our identity, our purpose and the meaning of life itself.

That is what the purpose of this book is. To step through the various keys to understand the universe and why there is suffering in the physical world.

This book will also explain why suffering is a manifestation that is separate from our selves. It could be compared to the suffering that takes place within a dream.

Furthermore, this book will explain the ultimate purpose for the physical world and how suffering relates to our journey of learning. This book will also explain how we can extract ourselves from the consciousness of suffering, and regain our original pure state of bliss within the spiritual realm.

The format of this book is in question form. The central questions that revolve around the issue of suffering relate to who we are, why we are here and what our purpose is. After these, questions relate more specifically to why good and bad things happen, why there are consequences for things and so on.

Then as we get through answering these important questions, we can tackle the super-critical questions relating to what is suffering and why is there suffering in the physical world.

Then finally, these lead us to the role that the Supreme Being plays in the physical world, and ultimately, who is responsible for the suffering that takes place here.

As we delve into these topics, numerous other questions often come up. For this reason, this text has been oriented around asking and answering this myriad of important questions about our existence, and the existence of the Supreme Being.

Please know that this project was not undertaken lightly, nor without guidance. This book is not speculative commentary or guesswork. The information presented here has been derived from confidential teachings handed down through generations of spiritual teachers – from devoted Teacher to humble student, for thousands of years.

Please excuse if some of the precepts included in this book are repeated. The purpose is to lay out the situation from several viewpoints and contexts, in order to create a clearer understanding.

Thank you for taking the time to read this work. I pray you find it useful to your search and journey home.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions by email on the copyright page.

Question One: Who am I?

The first question that must be answered in order to adequately answer the central question of this text relates to identity. Since we are speaking of suffering, we must first ask WHO or WHAT is suffering?

If we assume that I suffer, then we must ask, who is that I is purported to suffer? WHO or WHAT is being subjected to suffering?

One may scoff at this question, but it is a necessary one.

Let’s consider an example. Let’s say a pregnant woman gets in an automobile accident, and she is in pain from her wounds. What about the fetus? Is the fetus also feeling pain? Both were seemingly involved in the auto accident. But perhaps the fetus didn’t feel a thing – just some motion.

In the same way, as we speak of suffering, we must take a step back to determine just what or who is suffering.

What is suffering? Most of us will assume suffering is related strictly to the sensation of physical pain. But some will include mental anguish. We can assume the experience of suffering relates to the following:

Physical pain – pain of the physical body

Physical trauma – a chronic physical struggle.

Emotional/mental pain – suffering related to mental anguish or moods.

Suffering in all of its forms can be focused down to one or a combination of these three types of pain or trauma. In most circumstances, suffering will begin with physical pain. Or there will be generalized discomfort which may endure. Often, mental anguish will follow as that pain and traumatic experience is reflected upon or re-experienced in some form or another.

These sorts of traumatic experiences often create a long-term emotional fall-out. This sort of mental anguish is often described as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. A fancy name for the after-affects of experiencing physical pain and trauma.

Sometimes physical pain will be chronic. That is, the pain will be enduring for awhile. This sort of pain can create long-term trauma as one attempts to adjust and adapt to a chronic struggle.

The bottom line is that since the sources of suffering are either physical or mental pain and trauma – they are rooted in either the physical body or the mind.

Therefore, our question should now become, are we the physical body? Are we the mind? Since these are the subjects of pain and trauma, these are worthwhile questions.

So let’s uncover the answer to the underlying question – who am I?

Am I the physical body?

If we ask someone who they are, they will most likely describe their body’s physical features. Or perhaps their body’s country of origin. They might say I am American or I am British. Or I am black or I am white. Or I am a woman or I am a man. Or I am five feet tall and weigh 125 pounds or I am six feet and weigh 200 pounds.

This begs the logical question: Am I this physical body?

If so, what happens when my body changes? Do I become a different person?

What happens if I change my hair color or get a tattoo?

What happens when my body gets older?

What happens if my body gets crippled or I lose an arm or leg?

When my body changes, does my identity change?

This is answered simply by each of us as we refer to something we did in the past. We will say, when I was younger, I ________. Even though it was five, ten even 20 years ago, we still feel that I am still the same person I was – indicated by the use of the word I. If we didn’t think that I was me 20 years ago, we wouldn’t use I or me.

This constant self-identification becomes more important when we realize that science has determined that practically every molecule and atom in our body is recycled and replaced within five years. This means the makeup of our body is constantly changing.

Most of us assume that our identity runs deeper than our physical body. A person with a black body wants equality with a person with a white body because that person considers that beneath the skin, we are all of the same substance. Similarly, a person with an obese body wants to be treated equally with someone with a more slender body. Why would we request equality unless we are assuming we have deeper identities?

The debate of the self

As science has debated this topic, there have been two general views (Popper and Eccles 1983): The first assumes a machine-like information-processing generating system with various modules of activity, all competing for control. This chaos-machine theoretically builds upon a system of learning and evolution without any central person or actor.

The other, more prevalent view historically portrays the body as driven by an inner self or life force, central and governing to the body’s existence. Proponents of this inner self model have included Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Jesus and many other teachers and philosophers throughout modern and ancient history. For example, Jesus taught:

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." (Matthew 10:28 NIV)

While some have considered the soul as some sort of organ or component of the body, others refer to the soul as part of a trinity: body, mind and spirit.

The word soul from Jesus’ statement is translated from the Greek word, ψυχή (psychē), which means, according to Strong’s lexicon, the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing and the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions. The lexicon goes further to say, the soul as an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death (distinguished from other parts of the body).

Thus, according to Jesus, we do not have a soul – each of us is a soul.

Do I die when my body dies?

We know every body dies. We can easily observe that the body no longer functions. Regardless of which outward signs and symptoms we use, there is a dramatic change in the body at the time of death. The body ceases to function. The body ceases the display of life and the outward demonstration of personality.

Where did this personality go then? Did it disappear into thin air? Did it evaporate with the final breath? Did this personality die with the death of the body?

Before we can fully understand death, we must understand life. What is a live person, and what is the difference between life and death? What is the difference between a dead body and a living body, and how is the personality we know and hold dear connected with life?

This means we must delve into the source of the energy and life of the body. Where is the generator of the body? Who or what is running the body? This certainly relates to the concept of identity: Are we each simply a temporary physical body? Are we simply cellular machines that decompose after a few decades?

What’s a dead body?

Discerning the difference between a living body and a dead body was the topic of deep discussion among Greek philosophers. The existence of a living force separate from the body was concluded by Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Socrates, Hippocrates, Pythagoras, Origen and many others.

Hippocrates, for example, professed that the life within the body was due to a vital spirit within, which acted through four different humors.

When one of Socrates’ students asked him how he wanted to be buried, Socrates gave them a clear reply: He told them they could do whatever they wanted with his body, because he would be long gone by then.

When we see a living body full of life, movement, energy, personality and purpose, we can understand these symptoms of life are residing within the body.

But observation made at the time of the body’s death indicates this living force departs at the time of death.

When death arrives, suddenly the symptoms of life cease: There is no movement, no energy and no personality remaining within the dead body. The body becomes lifeless. There is no growth, no will, no personality and no purposeful activity in the body following the moment of death.

For centuries, doctors, scientists and philosophers have autopsied, dissected and otherwise examined millions of dead bodies. No one—not even modern researchers with highly technical instruments—has been able to find any chemical or physical element missing from a dead body that was previously present when the body was alive.

The dead body has every physical and material component the living body had. All of the cells are still there. The entire DNA is still there. All the nerves, the organs, the brain and central nervous system—every physical molecule and cell—are still resident in the cadaver.

The one and only claim of a difference, reported in 1907 by Massachusetts physician Dr. Duncan MacDougal, proposed a 21-gram weight difference between a dead and live body. He could not identify the substance of the difference, however. Dr. MacDougal’s results were also inconsistent—and were never corroborated.

MacDougal’s experiment consisted of monitoring six patients as they died upon a table rigged with a beam scale. Of the six, two were eliminated because of technical issues. Three subjects died of tuberculosis. Two of these were losing weight before and after death by evaporation and respiratory moisture.

One subject died from consumption and seemingly lost ¾ of an ounce in weight as he was dying—later converted to 21.3 grams. Dr. MacDougall admitted that it was difficult in some cases to know at what point the patient had died (MacDougall 1907).

A fellow doctor in Massachusetts, Dr. A. Clarke, debated Dr. MacDougal’s hypothesis and conclusion. Dr. Clarke argued that the typical sudden rise in body temperature before and subsequent cooling without circulation upon death could account for slight weight changes due to evaporation. Especially noting some of the patients had lethal tuberculosis.

While Dr. MacDougal assumed the moment of death occurred when the patient convulsed a bit and then lay still without breathing, modern research tells us that brain death must also occur—something Dr. MacDougal was not monitoring for.

Until his own death in 1920, Dr. MacDougall tried to repeat the results and could not confirm his findings. In one test, he cruelly killed fifteen dogs while weighing them and found no weight