why do bad things happen?
Aug. 4th, 2011 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starduchessThis has long been a question that people of asked through the ages of each other and of religions, along with it's corollary "why does God allow bad things to happen?", and most people never get a satisfactory answer.
I have pondered this for many a year, especially after an RL friend of mine mentioned that he asked the nuns in his Catholic high school why God had formed him with only one good eye; they never properly answered him, so he left the Church. An article in a parent's magazine recently said this mother did the same thing, questioning religions and no longer attending church upon receiving insufficient answers, after her three daughters were killed in a car crash. I believe that people in general, but priests and pastors specifically, refuse to examine this issue. But I have, and I think I have some answers.
1) This first one is a purely physical answer and doesn't rely on there necessarily being a god at all. We live in a chaotic system; the world turns and changes and nothing stays the same forever. Natural disasters and other forces of nature are just that, results of a world in perpetual motion. If people were more flexible with that, they wouldn't be so put out when it happens.
2) A second big answer is that we do it to each other. People hurt other people, either intentionally or not, due to differences in agenda and motivation, greed and moral compass. If you believe in a god, then he allows it because he gave us free will; he cannot interfere.
3) Adversity shapes who we are becoming. Each experience adds to the overall personality, and that's what a god might be more concerned. For my friend that had only one eye, for example, it caused him to be the slightly bitter, accusatory, but rather self-sufficient man he is today. If he had had two eyes, he would be someone else, and maybe that's not what a god wanted. Perhaps it is a test, a way to purify and mold our spirits like gold in fire.
4) It is simply their time to go. This may sound harsh, but it's true. All of us have limited time on this earth, as we cannot live forever. Immortality would have disastrous effects on the planet. We must die and return our physical energies to the earth, laws of conservation of matter and energy and all that.
5) As a spiritual answer, maybe it happens to force us to return to god, to look to him for strength and solace, to become deeper, richer spiritual beings by finding the silver lining or rainbow in the storm, to increase our empathy and compassion for others.
6) It forces others to come out of their comfort zone. Maybe it's not for the purpose of the one afflicted that bad things happen, but instead it is for those around that person to step forward and help or to confront their own fears or to make their own sacrifices that can influence their character.
It could be one of these answers or any combination or all of them. The mind of god, if he exists, is vast and infinite and who knows what his true purpose is. Also, the world we live in is ever-changing and every person is different and there will be conflict, and we must accept that and learn to roll with the punches.
Feel free to debate with me! I hope this at least brings some enlightenment.
Love to you all.
-starduchess
I have pondered this for many a year, especially after an RL friend of mine mentioned that he asked the nuns in his Catholic high school why God had formed him with only one good eye; they never properly answered him, so he left the Church. An article in a parent's magazine recently said this mother did the same thing, questioning religions and no longer attending church upon receiving insufficient answers, after her three daughters were killed in a car crash. I believe that people in general, but priests and pastors specifically, refuse to examine this issue. But I have, and I think I have some answers.
1) This first one is a purely physical answer and doesn't rely on there necessarily being a god at all. We live in a chaotic system; the world turns and changes and nothing stays the same forever. Natural disasters and other forces of nature are just that, results of a world in perpetual motion. If people were more flexible with that, they wouldn't be so put out when it happens.
2) A second big answer is that we do it to each other. People hurt other people, either intentionally or not, due to differences in agenda and motivation, greed and moral compass. If you believe in a god, then he allows it because he gave us free will; he cannot interfere.
3) Adversity shapes who we are becoming. Each experience adds to the overall personality, and that's what a god might be more concerned. For my friend that had only one eye, for example, it caused him to be the slightly bitter, accusatory, but rather self-sufficient man he is today. If he had had two eyes, he would be someone else, and maybe that's not what a god wanted. Perhaps it is a test, a way to purify and mold our spirits like gold in fire.
4) It is simply their time to go. This may sound harsh, but it's true. All of us have limited time on this earth, as we cannot live forever. Immortality would have disastrous effects on the planet. We must die and return our physical energies to the earth, laws of conservation of matter and energy and all that.
5) As a spiritual answer, maybe it happens to force us to return to god, to look to him for strength and solace, to become deeper, richer spiritual beings by finding the silver lining or rainbow in the storm, to increase our empathy and compassion for others.
6) It forces others to come out of their comfort zone. Maybe it's not for the purpose of the one afflicted that bad things happen, but instead it is for those around that person to step forward and help or to confront their own fears or to make their own sacrifices that can influence their character.
It could be one of these answers or any combination or all of them. The mind of god, if he exists, is vast and infinite and who knows what his true purpose is. Also, the world we live in is ever-changing and every person is different and there will be conflict, and we must accept that and learn to roll with the punches.
Feel free to debate with me! I hope this at least brings some enlightenment.
Love to you all.
-starduchess