Is it OK to be truly happy living in a world where more than 9,500 innocent children starve to death each and every day?

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10gr8kids said:
Jesus knew we would always have the poor with us, for He told us so, and yet we are commanded…

[bibledrb]1 Thessalonians 5:16-18[/bibledrb]

We can still work to feed those in need and sacrificially give, but there will always be people who suffer. Sometimes it will be us, we are to find our joy in God. It is not always easy, but this is what we are called to do.
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👍 The key words are “In all things give thanks”.
 
St_Francis said:
I figured you meant generally happy as one is happy in this world, as opposed to the unknowable true happiness of Heaven, and so I voted Yes.

Why? Because God wants us to be happy; He wants us to be happy in Him. I can only think that He wants us to be so fully accepting of His will, actual or permitted, that we can be happy even when we ourselves are suffering. I think that refusing to be happy would be showing a huge lack of gratitude to God for the good things He has given to us.

On a personal note, there have been times when i have suffered, small amounts, or for short periods of time. Would I have wanted my problem to suck all the joy out of the lives of those I love? Am I not called to love everyone?

I think that those who are able to show forth their joy in God are those who are best able to acccomplish certain things for God–others are called to do different things.

I think the main problem is that we need to do more *personally *to help people. I am not diminishing the role of alms-giving at all, but sometimes I think we forget that we need to do other things *as well. *
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👍 A good point. We can’t help everyone but we can make others happy even if it’s only with a smile to show we wish them well. 🙂
 
Elizabeth502 said:
Empathy does not require both parties to be equally unhappy in order for the empathy to be genuine. And neurotic guilt that someone is less “happy” than I am is not something from God or of God.
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👍 Impeccable logic.
 
It does not take much to make me happy, as I am a happy person by nature.
This is not the happiness I have based my vote on. Yes, God does not want us walking around like gloomy Gus’s.

But when I look into my soul, reacting with sadness over this, it is not truly happy. This deeper happiness for me by definition is to have Jesus’ peace, love, contentment and joy in all matters.

I cannot think of starving children and profess this for myself. I don’t think many can on this earth.
 
We have different emotions according to what we are thinking about. The affliction in the Philippines has affected many of us deeply but we can’t - and shouldn’t - focus our attention on their plight to the exclusion of everything else. We have other obligations and one of them is to make our family, friends and neighbours happy - as far as we can. Being miserable doesn’t help anyone to have faith in God or make the world a better place. It could even prove the last straw for some one who is tempted to commit suicide.

Jesus was tempted to despair when he was faced with suffering and death but He overcame temptation. Our temptation is different because it is the suffering and death of others that disturbs us and can tempt us to doubt divine Providence. Yet tragedies in themselves need not disturb our faith and trust in God once we realise natural disasters are inevitable. We live in such a violent universe it is all the more astonishing that life has survived on this planet for billions of years. If that isn’t a miracle I don’t know what is… We have to remember the words of Our Lord:
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
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John 16:33
 
I say it’s okay to be happy at times when something good is happening. I don’t think events we aren’t experiencing and can’t affect us, nor us affect them, at all, should have quite as much emotional impact on us.
 
Is this now a game of one word interjections instead of a discussion? My turn.

Pre-destination!
 
I voted NO.

As I understand it all, True Happiness is not achievable in this world. True Happiness is found being in the eternal presence of God sometime after this life. That True Happiness is hard, if not impossible, for us to comprehend while we are alive in this world.

It seems that Worldly Happiness is found in having good reason to think we are in right relationship with God. We should not deceive ourselves that our material and emotional success is the best Happiness in this life. We are here to do God’s Will on earth as it is in heaven.

We must recognize our personal errors and seek forgiveness and we must forgive others. We are obligated to help the poor, but that help has to come from the heart and not just from a sense of something to be checked off - see, I do. We know that very few ever do enough - go sell all, give to the poor, and come follow Me.

We are called to humble service of others. For most of us that is spouse, family, friends, coworkers, and society both near and far. I cannot feed everybody but I can feed somebody. And trust that God appreciates my efforts to Love Him and to Love others in spite of my shortcomings.
 
pnewton said:
Is this now a game of one word interjections instead of a discussion? My turn.

Pre-destination!
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Are you implying that the starvation of children is really being caused by pre-destination!?!
 
Robert_Sock said:
Are you implying that the starvation of children is really being caused by pre-destination!?!
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I think he was just playing along with your little game of shouting out random words to try and make some kind of obscure point.
 
Robert_Sock said:
The topic is starvation, not pre-destination.
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The point, Robert, is that if you want to make a philosophical point (which, in this case, is the idea that none of us may feel truly happy because there is great suffering in the world) you need to make that point and substantiate it with logical statements.

You need to provide some logical reason for anyone else to agree with your opinion.

When you say, “Starvation!” and post a pitiful picture of a poor starving child, that’s not logic. That’s emotion. I’m not saying that I’m not horribly sorry for that poor child and wish I could help him in some way, but that has absolutely no effect on the conversation.

You have a point to prove. Prove it with reason, not emotion.
 
GreatfulFred:
As I understand it all, True Happiness is not achievable in this world.
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Not for a lasting amount of time, it isn’t. But it is possible to glimpse the joy of heaven, eg. in the Mass.
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inocente:
Being unhappy for starving children might make us feel better but they need food, they can’t eat our tears.
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True, but crying is a product of sorrow. Humans are always more effective at fighting an evil they are sad about than one they feel neutral about.
 
I would go so far as to say sorrow and happiness are not mutually exclusive, even at the same time.

So what are we talking about. Is happiness a state, or is it an emotion. I think we all know that differing emotions can co-exist. I also think emotions are too subjective to be considered “pure”, “true”, etc.

If we see happiness as a state, then of course we have the possibility based on the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5.

The existence of physical evil in the world is not relevant to the question.
 
pnewton said:
And this is a discussion forum, not a photo dump. People here have answered your question. Do not start games and there will be no games.
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Is there something in that image that you find bothersome?
 
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