Did or does suffering always have some meaning

[aspirant]

And how did you arrive at this based on the narrative?

It is not good for the man to be alone, as 2:18 says, but he should have a help corresponding to him, a strengthening partner. (Translations vary, of course, but the one term implies help/aid/rescue/strength and the other implies fitting/suited/corresponding.) This need is not met by the animals (vv. 19-20), though they come from the earth like the man (cf. vv. 7, 19). Though both a man and an animal are bodies, from the earth, the first is a person and the latter is not; the animal cannot be a corresponding help, cannot be a true partner. It is important that the man understand this for himself to more fully appreciate what will happen next: The woman is made from the rib of man (vv. 21-22). This is fitting, to borrow Thomas Aquinas’ words, “to signify the social union of man and woman, for the woman should neither rule over man, and so she was not made from his head; nor was it right for her to be subject to man’s contempt as his slave, and so she was not made from his feet.” From the man’s side, as Byzantine_Wolf put it, she is made to stand side by side with the man. And the man recognizes immediately that she is not merely a bodily creature, like the animals, but also a person like himself: “bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh!” (v. 23) Here is the corresponding help, the strengthening partner, to the man. And truly, he is to her as well. These two, each an embodied person, each with his or her own way of being fully human, can share communion.

There is a lot more information conveyed in the passage, but that’s a rough sketch of some of it.

 

[LayingHands]

Suffering and Pain are a NECESSITY, as described in the Wisdom-Religions. If there were no suffering or pain, we would not become sympathetic (show humanity SYMPATHY or sympathize) in perfecting, showing, helping in our Godliness and Goodness…thereby…not being able to EVOLVE to become as Gods and Goddesses, while PERFECTING our SOULS/SPIRITS…GOD’S DIVINE PLAN for Humanity evolution could not be fulfilled…has anyone else ever studied the other Wisdom-Religions?

 

[StrawberryJam]

Suffering and Pain are a NECESSITY, as described in the Wisdom-Religions. If there were no suffering or pain, we would not become sympathetic (show humanity SYMPATHY or sympathize) in perfecting, showing, helping in our Godliness and Goodness…thereby…not being able to EVOLVE to become as Gods and Goddesses, while PERFECTING our SOULS/SPIRITS…GOD’S DIVINE PLAN for Humanity evolution could not be fulfilled…has anyone else ever studied the other Wisdom-Religions?

So, if a person was born into a lap of luxury and great genes with no health problems, and well adjusted parents they would be lacking empathy for others?

I think the word you are striving to get at is empathy, not sympathy.

 

[LayingHands]

So, if a person was born into a lap of luxury and great genes with no health problems, and well adjusted parents they would be lacking empathy for others?

I think the word you are striving to get at is empathy, not sympathy.

No, I meant SYMPATHY…as it is written and explained in the Wisdom Religions, which is also based as Christianity and Catholics…You see, in order to be GOOD we must Sympathize with human suffering and pain…we make a conscious FREE WILL CHOICE in feeling this goodness and sympathy…in goodness and godliness we help people who are suffering, we comfort and sooth them, feed and shelter them, and listen, heal and care for humanitys needs…if there were no suffering or pain…Everything would be perfect, as in HEAVEN.

Of course, there is the other side of this and it may make more sense…should a Human Soul/Spirit see suffering and or pain and remain unmoved, unsympathetic, selfish, uncaring and or indifferent…this Human makes a conscious free will decision…choosing to be actively Un-Godly, thereby, being mean and negative, living daily, ignoring human suffering, openly dark and or evil in action and orpersonality, etc…Humanity and all our FREE WILL choices, show God, by action, whether we are his sons and daughters…or NOT. The example you use, does not mean, that someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth cannot willfully choose to sympathize with humanity, and thereby PERFECT their SOUL/SPIRITS in GOD’S GOODNESS. Only GOD is GOOD, the rest of us, have to prove it, to be worthy, in his eyes.

 

[SteveVH]

Suffering acquired meaning when Jesus suffered and died for our sins. Now, as the Body of Christ, our own suffering takes on salvific value when joined with Christ on the cross. We “make up what was lacking”.

That being said, it is little consolation when you are in the midst of suffering. I watched my little brother die a very painful death two years ago after suffering from cancer. My own suffering, caused by witnessing his, was almost more than I could take. It seemed to have little meaning at the time and I prayed for God to stop his pain. It just didn’t make any sense to me at that time. The night before he died, as he laid there unconscious, he suddenly rose from the bed and sat straight up holding his arms out toward a crucifix on the wall that I had given him as a gift. He couldn’t have known the location of the crucifix on the wall in his state of mind but he reached directly toward it. He then fell back into bed. He had never awaken. It was a holy moment that I will never forget and it showed me the meaning of his suffering.

 

[Shaken]

Certainly suffering exist. No one can avoid it completely. So it seems a reasonable question. Does suffering have meaning? If so; did it always have THE SAME meaning?

I remember a sermon where a Pope said that no love going out into the universe is ever wasted. Perhaps suffering is like that; it won’t be wasted. Catholics are taught from childhood to offer up suffering in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass for the intentions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, i.e., for reparation of sin, for the salvation of souls, for the intention of the Holy Father, etc.

 

[StrawberryJam]

No, I meant SYMPATHY…as it is written and explained in the Wisdom Religions, which is also based as Christianity and Catholics…You see, in order to be GOOD we must Sympathize with human suffering and pain…we make a conscious FREE WILL CHOICE in feeling this goodness and sympathy…in goodness and godliness we help people who are suffering, we comfort and sooth them, feed and shelter them, and listen, heal and care for humanitys needs…if there were no suffering or pain…Everything would be perfect, as in HEAVEN.

Of course, there is the other side of this and it may make more sense…should a Human Soul/Spirit see suffering and or pain and remain unmoved, unsympathetic, selfish, uncaring and or indifferent…this Human makes a conscious free will decision…choosing to be actively Un-Godly, thereby, being mean and negative, living daily, ignoring human suffering, openly dark and or evil in action and orpersonality, etc…Humanity and all our FREE WILL choices, show God, by action, whether we are his sons and daughters…or NOT. The example you use, does not mean, that someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth cannot willfully choose to sympathize with humanity, and thereby PERFECT their SOUL/SPIRITS in GOD’S GOODNESS. Only GOD is GOOD, the rest of us, have to prove it, to be worthy, in his eyes.

Choosing to be activly Un-Godly= being mean and negative, living daily, ignoring human suffering, …ect. and so on.

What would choosing to be activly Un-Godly?

 

[PJM]

=AJTheMan;6243341]Suffering is meant to teach us a higher truth. To Christians, it may be that we must rely on God for everything. For Buddhists, it would be that we must rid ourselves of our cravings and attachments that lead to rebirth into this world of suffering.

In pretty much every religion though, it has some purpose.

So why does suffering exist and why does it sem that “good people” often suffer more?

 

[StrawberryJam]

So why does suffering exist and why does it sem that “good people” often suffer more?

Have you ever heard of the very popular best selling book “Why do good things happen to bad people”?

I’d start with that,if I were a christian and then do some more investigation if you are asking a sincere question.

 

[aspirant]

So why does suffering exist and why does it sem that “good people” often suffer more?

FWIW.

Other good stuff.

 

[LayingHands]

Choosing to be activly Un-Godly= being mean and negative, living daily, ignoring human suffering, …ect. and so on.

What would choosing to be activly Un-Godly?

Dear One, I apologize for this late reply…Choosing to be Un-Godly can be Evil and acting out Extreme Evil…there are many other smaller un-godly acts, from indifference to humanity and your fellow man/woman to hateful attitudes and prejudice. Greed, the root of all evil, is the error of man: it is the absence of goodness. It is easier to remember that GOD is The Supreme GOOD. To believe in Faith…in GOD, is to be GOOD. What is not GOOD or done in GOODNESS is therefore Un-Godly…in mind, soul/spirit, body…thoughts (which are YOUR creations), or in manifest deeds (YOUR works).