A World Without Suffering Posted Model

by frankiespeakin 6 Replies latest jw friends

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  frankiespeakin

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  A world without suffering
  Let's make an imaginary model, a world without suffering. The consequences would be far-reaching.
  And for example if no one could ever injure anyone else, the would be murderers knife would turn to paper or his bullets to thin air.
  Or take for example the mountain climber, or steeplejack, or the playing child falling from a height, would float unharmed to the ground.
  The reckless driver would never meet with disaster. There would be no need to work, there would be no call for concern of others in time of need, or danger for such a world,... There would be no real needs, or dangers.
  The laws of nature would have to be very flexible sometimes an object will be hard other times it would be soft so that no one could be injured.
  
  There would be no such thing as courage, or fortitude,.. They would have no point in an environment in which there was no real dangers.
  Generosity, kindness, agape love, prudence, unselfishness, could not ever be formed, we wouldn't even have a notions of what these things mean. A world such as this,.. However well it may promote pleasure would be ill adapted for the development of moral qualities of the human personality.
  
  It seems that an environment intended to make possible the growth of free beings of the finest characteristics of personal life must have a good deal in common with our present world. It must operate according to general and dependable laws, it must involve real dangers, difficulties, problems, obstacles, and the possibility of pain, failure, sorrow, frustration, and defeat.
  
  I believe God made the world the way it is,... Because he really does love us.
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  Phantom Stranger

  Careful... you may want to read Voltaire's Candide... you sound like Professor Pangloss. Voltaire hashed this out before any of us were born. It's short and cheap.

  Also, you may want to look at the difference between pain and suffering, especially in Eastern systems such as Buddhism.

  I've heard it said that pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.
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  DanTheMan

  "A life without suffering is no life at all" - me
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  frankiespeakin

  I think God is in the process of soul building, and the pressures, sufferings, we and mankind in general experience, serve a very good purpose, that we overlook, because we forget about "eternity" and tend to live very much in the present. I think the book of Job alludes to this.
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  Phantom Stranger

  OK, well I think that we often mortgage the present to try to take care of a future that never comes, and we ignore a thousand moments while we're trying to get the future right.

  Be here now.
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  gumby

  Because he really does love us.

  I'll bet the millions who are starving to death have a hard time seeing that.

  Gumby
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  Phantom Stranger

  OK, dude, here is the FREE link to Candide (copyright having expired:) Now you can read the whole thing for free! A classic for the ages - can't say I never gave ya nuthin'.

  http://www.literature.org/authors/voltaire/candide/

  Here's a snippet (don't worry, it's short!)

  Master Pangloss taught the metaphysico-theologo-cosmolonigology. He could prove to admiration that there is no effect without a cause; and, that in this best of all possible worlds, the Baron's castle was the most magnificent of all castles, and My Lady the best of all possible baronesses.

  "It is demonstrable," said he, "that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end. Observe, for instance, the nose is formed for spectacles, therefore we wear spectacles. The legs are visibly designed for stockings, accordingly we wear stockings. Stones were made to be hewn and to construct castles, therefore My Lord has a magnificent castle; for the greatest baron in the province ought to be the best lodged. Swine were intended to be eaten, therefore we eat pork all the year round: and they, who assert that everything is right, do not express themselves correctly; they should say that everything is best."