Lewis Purpose Of Pain

Throughout humanity, the idea of suffering played a major role in human lives, in some cases by ending it. Nevertheless, according to popular religious traditions, the first humans, Adam and Eve, were placed on Earth to suffer for their sins in a life of misery. All humans are a part of this “original sin,” thus there is no such thing as innocent humans suffering in the world. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Popular religious themes are centered on the idea of continual suffering in life, like the Israelites who continued to suffer through the Holocaust. The theme of The Mexican Flyboy is also structured around the idea of suffering. In the story, Simon Vegas is obsessed with people who have suffered throughout history and “saves” those victims out of their misery. Even though Simon liberates the victims out of suffering, the historical events like burning of Jesse Washington continue to take place. The idea of saving the individuals is abstract, as it seems like the bodies suffer, while the souls are saved.

C.S. Lewis is known as one of the most influential Christian writers ever. What many do not know is he was once an atheist at one point in his life. Atheism is a belief that there is no God or gods; Christianity is the exact opposite. Christianity is the belief in the one, true God, and remembering his son, Jesus, came to die on the cross for our sins. Lewis describes a Christian as one striving to be more like Christ and allowing Him to completely take over our lives for the better. Lewis had several atheistic views until converting to Christianity. He being an atheist gave him more knowledge when supporting his current beliefs of Christianity. On September 19,

A “simple creature of flesh and bone”(76-77) is not seen as being capable of understanding god’s will. Unlike god a person’s views may be warped by emotion; someone may “suffer hell in [their] soul and [their] flesh.”(77) After the death of Akida Drummer the prisoners forget to pray for him as a direct result of their own suffering. Unlike a god they have been rendered unable to fulfill their promise to their friend because of their own emotional trauma. Sorrow and other emotional responses are described as a force capable of destroying one’s ability to reason. Furthermore humankind is not seen as having adequate trust in god’s will. Akiba Drummer sacrificed his life by not trusting in god’s will, as he essentially “[offers] his neck to the executioner. Despite Akiba Drummer’s regular study of religion he is unable to rationalize his suffering as a “divine test,”(77) thus he is unable to muster the strength to prevent his death. If he had trusted that god was indeed watching over him he would not have perished. In Elie Wiesel’s account night the term “sage” is used to contrast between humankind and God; additionally his ideas on the topic can be applied to a variety of issues

In Cesar Vallejo’s poem, “Los Heraldos de Negros”, in English called “The Black Heralds”, themes of God, children, love, and tragic consciousness emerge. My aim here is to examine another important source of his meaning, which is how the speaker sees God’s role in his encounters with life’s struggles. In the poem, a hateful God replaces a merciful God. The nature of this hateful God poses as a savior but instead of being helpful, or being resurrected to save humankind, he poses as a false or fake entity, which confuses and frustrates the speaker. Vallejo depicts God as hateful instead of merciful, because the speaker challenges and questions God’s methods. Vallejo continues by displaying an acute message, painful frustration at being unable to determine why life is so hard. This would interpret that not only difficulties of life can take a toll physically, but mentally as well and lead you to question why our lord and savior continues to be blind or to assist with our derailments in life.

—This passage hopes for the existence of a fair comparison between a creator with understanding of the how to the Created works and the Created. He claims to suffer a fate than no one ever suffered, but religious doctrine shows the necessary endurance that God must have had in order to let humanity be after realizes the

“We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in, He wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over."-ScrewTape. In this quote, God, who Lewis names the The Enemy is characterized as a selfless, giving father. While Satan, “Our Father Below,” is a self-loving, deceitful father.

All their afflictions come from us, we hear. And what of their own failings?” (page 2). The gods, although they are powerful, cannot prevent every wrongful decision made by man, yet men do not blame themselves but turn to supernatural causes

Lead In: Cultural conflict in a family can lead to many events that can affect a child’s life. The child may become confused on what life to live or how to live it, especially when their goal is to ultimately make their parents proud. The child will also have a hard time growing up as he or she tries to figure out what path to choose regarding culture. Cultural conflict though, can make a person become stronger and give them a sense of being their own person

The Cross and the Lynching tree is a recent work from James H. Cone. Currently a Systematic Theology professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York, he is renowned as a founder of black liberation theology. In this book, he reflects on the most brutal chapter of white racism in the 20th century America where 5,000 innocent blacks were lynched to death by white mobs. And he tells us how blacks were able to survive the unspeakable reality of violence and torture with faith and hope in Christ. As a witness for blacks who were voiceless and ignored, he speaks out against the white church for saying little about slavery and racial justice. His passion for social justice comes from growing up in Arkansas in the Jim Crow era. The memories of his father and lynch mobs never left him. Black church comforted him, but made him wonder. “If the white churches are Christian, how come they segregate us? And if God is God, why is He letting us suffer?” (1) The lifelong quest for answers to these questions shaped his theology

The Thomist philosophy holds the great evil can separate man from God, while the great good is a loving union with God . Stumps, then, underlines suffering as a way to temper the human soul. The account of God’s love and the human desire for unity between God and man are morally sufficient reason for understanding God’s allowing of suffering. So, every act of suffering directly benefits the sufferer, and it is entirely willed by God .

In the movie ‘Heaven Is For Real’ while Todd Burpo’s son, Colton, lay on his hospital bed in critical condition, Todd becomes infuriated with God and says, “You made me suffer and I took that. You made my family suffer and I took that. Now you want to take my SON?!” How could a loving God do such a thing? This is the question most people ask when someone precious to them passes away, while they sulk and go on a ‘I Hate God’ rampage. After, this results in a loss of faith. They might wonder could they have saved their loved one and if God was so angry with them that He would punish them by taking a family member. Yet, they rarely stop to think think what they’ve gained from that loss. In Alvarez’s book ‘In The Time Of The Butterflies,’ Patria goes through this same mental struggle

As human beings, we suffer losses of many kinds and sizes in our life time. While some of these losses are small and do not hurt much, some are big and hurt deeply. Those that are accompanied by pains that are difficult to bear include the loss of a loved one through death or divorce, cheating or unfaithfulness in a trusted relationship or loss of good health when a diagnosis of a terminal illness is made. In all these instances of loss, pain and grief are experienced and an emotional wound is created which needs healing.

Heavily influenced by Max Weber, Peter Berger was interested in finding the meaning of social structures. This theme is apparent throughout his book The Sacred Canopy (1967), in which he drew on the sociology of knowledge to explain the sociological roots of religious beliefs. His main goal is to convince readers that religion is a historical product, it is created by us, yet also has the power to govern us.

Throughout Harper’s book and Kheiyn’s article, I found five main points that stood out to me in relating to helping me understand why bad things happen to good people. First, God did not create pain and suffering, man has through sin and defiance. Second, although suffering is not good, God uses it to achieve good. The third point tells us that the day will come where your misery will no longer exist and God will judge evil. The fourth states that our suffering does not even compare to what God has in store for his followers. Lastly, we must choose whether to let the pain get the best of us or turn to God for peace and

“Suffering is the consequences of our sins”. Humans disobey God and if God does not do anything about it because of our nature we will keep doing it. God has created with free will therefore we choose to disobey him, which means unconsciously we