Quote:
Originally Posted by chimomma  I hear this kind of sentiment come up quite often and take issue with it. I think we really need to come to terms with the nature of the world around us. There is good and bad. Peace and violence. Happiness and sadness. Victory and tragedy. There was never any implied or expressed guarantee that this world is supposed to be all good and happiness for all people at all times. I don't think we can have the assumption that it was intended to be that or that it should be that. We have no place to feel wronged or injustice when terrible things do happen in the world. It was never our right to be in a place where everything was good and comfortable all the time. Would it even be desirable for everything to always be pleasant all the time for everyone all the time?
When you talk about favoring the wealthy and successful, and damning the poor, it really depends on what you feel are the main goals of life and what is valued most. If you think it is material wealth and social accomplishments, that is one thing. But if you think the higher value things in this life are more in the realms of personal growth, character, spiritual development, a sense of balance and awareness, or other intangible things, then I really don't see the poor or those lacking what is often termed "success" as at a greater disadvantage. In fact they often are able to have a perspective that can be very fulfilling which would be hard to obtain if your life is mostly comfortable all the time.
If nothing we were adverse to ever happened in the world, what would ever motivate us to change? How would we be put in situations which force us to grow in other directions? How would we get stronger? I have seen my fair share of hardship and comfort and I would never trade one for the other, but am very glad I got to experience both. If you never experienced pain, how do you truly appreciate comfort? If there is no contrast between good and bad, isn't everything just monotone? Balance and diversity is very important.
Sometimes we like certain things we come across and sometimes it is appalling, but how we deal with both things says a lot about us, and a lot of our inner dimensions wouldn't come to light unless we were put into a situation we found unpleasant. So a bad thing happening may be a push toward spiritual growth. In my perspective, spiritual growth is the most important thing in life. So if my creator put something in my life/ the world which seemed terrible and appalling to our senses, but spurred me on to grow spiritually, I don’t feel a sense of blame is in order but a sense of gratitude.
|
chimomma, I don't think you are taking issue with me at all, but rather agreeing. I never said that people can't learn from painful events. In fact, I said that we often do. And of course we often find strength we never knew we had in these situations. I also agree that this world was never designed to be good for everyone. Things are the way they are, there's good and bad, as you say; peace and violence, victory and tragedy. (Of course, in some cases, these things don't just "happen" but are the direct result of human action.)
I also agree that we shouldn't feel personally wronged by some higher power when terrible things happen to us. (Or specially singled out for blessing when good things happen.)
That's why I don't think things "happen for a reason." Things happen, period. We may learn and grow from them. We may not. But the reasons we find in these events are of our own making. To assert that tragedy is specifically visited upon us by an outside force "for some reason" is, I believe, an unmitigatedly cruel way of thinking about life.
To believe that, I'd have to believe that the people of Haiti (to take just one example) are in need of need of some sort of spiritual growth and development that could only come about through the horrific deaths of thousands of people. And that for some odd reason, the people of my own city just aren't in need of that sort of character development.
We are living in a fallen world where awful stuff happens. I believe that God, not being bound by space or time like we are, knew what I was going to be facing and redeemed a very sad time by putting me exactly where I needed to by while going through it, teaching me some very important things, and giving me the opportunity to minister to someone else. I do not feel that I am entitled to tomorrow, or to anything, so if things don't go the way I wish them to, I don't feel "cheated" or misused by God. I have looked back too many times and said "Wow, so *that's* what all that was about! Cool!" to think that just because something is painful or upsetting now that it is useless or a curse.
