Why is there suffering in the world?
I can't say for sure, but...
“I believe like a child that suffering will be
healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human
contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable
fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man,
that in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something
so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for
the comforting of all resentments, of the atonement of all the crimes
of humanity, of all the blood that they’ve shed; and it will make it
not only possible to forgive but to justify what has happened.”
-Dostoevsky, The
Brothers Karamazov
wow. that is absolutely beautiful.
Posted by: jeannie | February 03, 2008 at 11:51 AM
I believe it was C.S. Lewis (maybe in "Surprised by Joy") that flipped the question, "Why Does God Allow Suffering?" to ask, "Why Would God Bring Joy?" If we take the view that we can do nothing to deserve good, joy comes as more of a surprise than evil.
Posted by: Pistol Pete | February 03, 2008 at 11:53 AM
"[Mortals] say of some temporal suffering, No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory."
C.S. Lewis
Posted by: Aaron Stewart | February 04, 2008 at 08:44 AM
I really need to read The Brothers Karamazov. I'm not very good at addressing the question of suffering--either through quotes or my own personal philosophy.
But I've felt challenged lately to be simply present for others who are suffering. Not to offer explanations or reasons or justifications. Just to sit and do what I can to help.
That makes it sound like I'm a good nurse. I'm not. I'm a terrible terrible nurse who runs from the suffering of others like it is a contagious disease. God help me. Thankfully, my wife continues to be very understanding every time she gets the flu.
Posted by: Mark Goodyear | February 04, 2008 at 01:04 PM