My God is a god of suffering. Here’s my rationale: God is perfectly compassionate. The deeper the compassion, the greater the empathy. One cannot have compassion for others in a world full of suffering without sharing that pain. There is perfect joy as well, but I think that people tend to overlook the sorrowful aspect of God. Because no one loves more than God, no one rejoices more or suffers more than God. God lives simultaneously in Heaven and Hell–inescapably connected to God’s own character.
I’m extrapolating from my own experience. The more I think about others, the more I care–the more I suffer. When I read the news, my mind automatically starts imagining what it’s like to be there. When I read about deaths, I think about the victims’ last moments–was there terror? pain? hope? peace? I think about those left behind and grieving. I think about what motivates people to inflict torment on others. This is why I don’t read the news very often.
When I open up my heart and allow it to be filled with awareness of and compassion for others, I am almost paralyzed. So I spend a lot of time running from all of this suffering, filling my life with busy tasks and escapist activities that distract me from the real work of connecting with the world, deeply, intimately. And suffering with it.
4 responses so far ↓
1 pilgrimgirl // Mar 17, 2006 at 11:55 am
I find it difficult to imagine a necessary & salvific violence, as is depicted in the Passion of the Christ and in various Christian theologies.
But I do find it comforting to think of a God who can embody all of the pain of the world, and who is the only person who can truly empathize with his children because he feels as they do.
I think there is great truth to the fact that the more we love, the more we hurt. If god is love then he is also pain.
2 Starfoxy // Mar 17, 2006 at 12:50 pm
This is beautifully said, and terribly sad at the same time. It reminded me of Enoch’s vision of God crying, that scipture alone made God a real person to me.
3 Julia // Oct 31, 2006 at 9:30 pm
Hi John,
So many good thoughts. No time to comment on all of them, but my thought on the matter of pain and suffering is that I’ve always had a strong sense of the whole “my understanding is not God’s understanding, and my interpretation is not God’s.”
i’ve been stepping through your posts from this year…I’m up to March now!
Essentially, I’m aware that my perspective in matters pertaining to this world (both pain and joy) is totally limited…and I’ve always had a sense of that. I am constantly aware that I don’t see the whole big picture. I have just the teensiest little grasp on a corner of how *some* of the pieces fit together–that makes it a little bit more possible to understand some of the suffering and evil we inflict upon each other. That doesn’t mean I’m okay with it or have no responsibility to do what I can…it just doesn’t throw me for a loop.
There have been a very few sacred, holy experiences in my life, that have shown me that there are legion things “i never knew i never knew”, and that I spend most of my life essentially trying to put everyone and everything into a tidy box that I can understand and contain.
But that is just a coping mechanism of a young, inexperienced mortal. And the faith required to trust what I don’t know, can’t see, and haven’t experienced personally is what it all comes down to for me.
I hate the atrocities and horrors people suffer. I’m sure I’d hate it even more if it were me or my loved ones. But I still hold that God doesn’t allow us to suffer just to be capricious. And every situation is unique.
I only know (in the most absolute way you can interpret that word) one thing without any question…There is a God of some kind, who knows me personally and loves me beyond my ability to comprehend. When everything else hangs in the balance, at least that one point is something I can hold on to, and I’m SO grateful for the experience that gave me that knowledge.
4 John // Nov 2, 2006 at 6:59 am
Very eloquently stated, Julia. I agree with you that our perspectives are very limited. While I don’t share your faith, I have my own foundations: my love for humanity, my respect for life.
I wrote this post based on the best understanding that I had of the concept of the atonement of Christ (even while not entirely believing in him at the time).
Again, I’m flattered that you’re devoting so much time to reading this blog. I wonder if you won’t know me better than I know myself at the end of it all.
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