Posted by giveawayboy on July 09, 2005 at 12:58:23:
In Reply to: life and death...no, not an emergency posted by cav on July 08, 2005 at 20:31:58:
: I recently read an article by a man who was espousing his version of the "How can a good God allow suffering" argument. Except that his take focused more on unnecessary or early death. And his conclusion was that God must not be in control of those things. (which he then went on to tie into why he doesn't buy intelligent design with a lot of flawed arguments...but that's beside the point.)
: My question is when did 'life' become such a measure of goodness? It seems to be the ultimate yardstick by which we measure the goodness of anything. Does this stem from a fear of death? Even Jesus himself told his followers that they would face death and torture, and God in the old testamant repeatedly told the Isrealites to slaughter every member of a people they were warring against...now if you use the preservation of life as the ultimate measure here, God is just evil! He told them to slaughter non-combatants, and Jesus knew in advance people would kill his followers and did nothing about it. Now I know how to apologize around these things, but let's look at them straight on.
: Ok, so just hypothetically, let's consider the possibility that life on this planet is not the main goal of existence. Now suddenly all of these associated issues are no longer a problem. Maybe, just maybe, there is a greater purpose, and this life is just a starting point...Isn't that what we are taught...to lay up treasures in heaven, to set our minds on things above?
: Now of course I would not be so callous as to use this to brush off those suffering a loss, nor to excuse unneccessary suffering in this life and I firmly beleive that we as Christians should work to justice and peace in this life, but the focus is different. I just don't see how we can logically uphold that long life is the highest value without lots of apologetic gymnastics.
: Let's face it, I've had a pretty good life, and I still think this world plain old sucks. The hope of something beyond it attracted me to Christianity and the light and faith that comes from beyond this world is what solidifies me in my convictions. We Christians have a long history of being killed...obviosuly those people didn't value life beyond all else.
Great post. The saints never fear death or see it as a sign of misfortune or lack of blessing. What about these people who survived the bombing? Are they blessed while those who died or were injured were cursed? Certainly not. It was a bombing. Suffering is an opportunity for us to meet life head on. It's not necessarily a sign of spiritual merit or lack of it.