Sick of God Letting Me Suffer

[kildare]

I see that I am the first one to vote for any of the “Christians suffer less”.
That is Christians who are in communion with Christ.

When we are not in communion with Christ in Love and spirit, then we probably suffer as badly as any of the unbelievers do. Jesus Christ proclaimed the Good News of Eternal life. If you don’t really believe it with your heart, then I guess what Jesus has said, is that you will not benefit from it. So my advice is to believe it with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your soul.

As to having doubts? do you believe in Love? If you do, how can you prove it?
Historicity? All history is subjective.
Why adoration in a chapel and not your house - maybe its reverence.
Don’t worry about these things. Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven as being a mustard seed that grew into a big tree. He didn’t talk about the roots, but rather the fruits. If you have questions - go there and see what is good. The Church is the greatest good in this planet by far. That should be proof enough!

The Spirit of God guides, the world from the smallest atomic particle to the biggest galaxy in the universe. The Spirit of God caused bits of matter (dust) to come together in you (we know now that it was the long and arduous path of evolution). I say arduous because it involved lots of suffering. Millions of animals and other life forms died to get to where you are now, and then plenty more people. Where is the Spirit leading us and this material universe. Only the Father knows, but you must have faith in the Spirit which brought you here in the first place.

Turn off your doubt. Become one with God and rejoice. Remember the old film Quo Vadis? The martyrs sang in the Coliseum because they had the Good News of eternal life.
Sure the world is brutal and painful, but each can suffer. If you tie yourself to anything other than God you will suffer more.

Christians are the happiest people of all.

 

[sovegna_vos]

^ Great post, Kildare

 

[Bohm_Bawerk]

I’m sorry for your problems, but you’re putting God on a timeline, your timeline – do it in six months or I quit. St. Monica could give you a lesson in waiting for God’s answer. I, too, along with most people, have prayed and prayed for what I know, and God knows, is a noble, unselfish cause. There has been no indication of movement on God’s part or the person I’m praying for. However, there is no way that I will ever tell God that He’s being impossible with me. He is doing things in HIS time, and much as I’m eager for my prayers to be in my accord, I will wait without complaint. If God doesn’t know what’s best, who am I to say that I know? Try to understand that God is a loving God. I don’t know why He’s not answeriing you as you feel He should, but HE knows, and that’s good enough for me.

Six months of crying out to God is an incredibly long time. I’m not even a saint, and I doubt I will ever become one. It’s very easy to say God does things in His “own time”, but there is no limit to His time. It could be 50 years for all we know. Many people experience this reticence of God and can only be moved to despair. To be honest, I am not happy at all.

Thank you,
**Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk **

 

[Waiting]

You’re looking at your problems on a large screen. You are seeing your life up close and personal. I know you desperately want to be in charge and put the pieces of the puzzle of your life together quickly so that you can know the joy and contentment of a life fulfilled. God is seeing the entire world picture. The pieces of your life puzzle don’t fit into God’s huge puzzle as you think they should. Many things must happen before some of your life pieces can be put in place in God’s huge puzzle. Trust is the key here. It calls for heroic patience on your part to wait for how long, only God knows. Just always be confident that God is arranging the pieces of your life puzzle in the order and time that is necessary. I hope this makes sense. When you finish your time on earth you will be able to see the why of your suffering, and how it helped God help others. Hang in there.

 

[GuitarPlayer]

…

 

[Ignasi]

I just wanted to chime in to say how interesting this post is and how many really great responses there are! I found this forum while I was browsing Google and was very impressed with the quality of content you all are providing here. Verah nice…

I wouldn’t even know where to start responding to each individual who has put their ideas forth. A lot of great stuff, though!

 

[catharina]

I just wanted to chime in to say how interesting this post is and how many really great responses there are! I found this forum while I was browsing Google and was very impressed with the quality of content you all are providing here. Verah nice…

I wouldn’t even know where to start responding to each individual who has put their ideas forth. A lot of great stuff, though!

welcome to you!

 

[GuitarPlayer]

I share your sentiments exactly. I have literally had it with being in this predicament and praying to a God that has decided to ignore my prayers. I have been praying over the course of 6 months, and nothing substantial has happened. Not one thing. I’ve prayed the rosary, tried different novenas, done everyhting in the book, yet to no avail. It is going to come to a point one day when I’ll just become a Deist altogether. I’m glad someone else out there has the same feelings as I do!

Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk

I think we can all relate to becoming impatient with God. The thing is, dont lose hope, and dont give up. I dont know what it is specifically you’re praying for, so what i say may or may not help. Personally, i had a similar experience. I prayed for years for what i needed, and got no answers. It was only when I started taking action in addition to my prayers that i started to see results. God does answer our prayers, but not always the way we want them answered. For me, I guess God wanted me to develop as a person, and not expect to get everything I asked for handed to me on a platter. I’ve found personally that stepping out builds faith, independence, self confidence, and trust in Jesus.

Matt 7:7 Ask and you will recieve, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened.
The first part, pray. Ask the Lord for what you need. Part 2 says to take some action! Seek what it is you’re praying for. If there’s something you can do, that will advance you towards your goal, do it. God will be with you as you step out in faith. Step 3: Knock and the door will be opened: By posting on this forum you’ve done that, congratulations. Are there other people who can help you? TAke some action, remember that Jesus said, ‘the door will opened’. He will open the right doors for you. But you have to knock.

If you read the scriptures where Jesus healed people, he often required something of them before he’d heal them. Sometimes he’d test them.

Remember that God loves you more than your parents, or any human can. If you believe that, then it follows that He wants the very best for you.

One other point is that reading scripture can be an amazing source of hope. By Meditating on scripture God has rewired my brain, making me more optimistic about life, and giving me hope, peace and joy. Its easy to do, enjoyable, life changing and highly recommended by many saints and doctors of the church.

Hope: this helps

 

[Interior_League]

50 years

this is not encouraging

 

[jimcav]

I share your sentiments exactly. I have literally had it with being in this predicament and praying to a God that has decided to ignore my prayers. I have been praying over the course of 6 months, and nothing substantial has happened. Not one thing. I’ve prayed the rosary, tried different novenas, done everyhting in the book, yet to no avail. It is going to come to a point one day when I’ll just become a Deist altogether. I’m glad someone else out there has the same feelings as I do!

Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk

God gives to us what we need, not always what we want.

It has taken me a lifetime of living to learn this, but knowing it now has calmed my soul.

Some quotes from St. Paul of the Cross might help, a man who truly suffered -

**“What an honor God confers on us, when He calls us to travel the same road as His divine Son!”

“Be thankful for your precious trials, both interior and exterior; it is thus that the garden of Jesus is adorned with flowers, that is, with acts of virtue!”
*
“The more deeply the cross penetrates, the better; the more deprived of consolation that your suffering is, the purer it will be; the more creatures oppose us, the more closely shall we be united to God.”
*
“Believe me, afflictions, fears, desolations, dryness, abandonment, temptations, and other persecutions make an excellent broom, which sweeps from your soul all the dust of hidden imperfections.”**

I think Pauls message is, embrace your suffering, because it all has a reason in Gods eyes and in His plans for you. You might not understand it yet, or maybe never in this lifetime, but it is part of the plan. These trials help us to grow in the faith, to love God more, and to perfect us in Him if we offer them up. Suffering can bring you closer to our Lord, if you lay it at His feet. Afterall, who suffered more than Him? Did He not pray to the Father to “let this cup pass”? Was that prayer answered?

Please read about the lives of our saints. They almost all led lives full of suffering for Him and they were all far happier than you and me will ever be because they embraced their trials.

 

[John_of_Woking]

Life is a valley of tears. I can only say Trust in God and pray the divine mercy chaplet from the heart and frequent the sacraments. I hate suffering. I am a wimp. I tell the Lord that daily. I ask Our lady to wrap me in her mantle as I am too sick and tired to face another day. Just be honest with God in prayer and keep following the commandments. As Peter said ‘to whom else shall we turn?’

 

[AWguitar007]

Sorry for the rambling and harsh nature of this post. I’m seeking your help and don’t know how else to say it except to just “spit it out” as best I can. (There isn’t a very clean way to vomit, in a manner of speaking…)

I’ve been suffering for a while now. I’m sick of praying to an absent God, I’m sick of Christian doctrine that is not understandable, I’m sick of the suffering. I don’t know what to think, except that God not existing seems to “fit the data” just as well as the Christian doctrine of a God who lets his followers suffer, or actually causes them to suffer more – a theology of the God of Abraham being malicious fits the experiential data we have as well, does it not? Fr. Serpa likes to refer people to the Lord’s Passion, to Good Friday, to “learn how much God loves us”, but we can also conclude from it that God loves suffering so much that he became Man just to experience it for himself. All of God’s blessings, happy circumstances we like to call “answered prayer”, then, are just temporary reprieves to let the torture victim recover a bit, to prolong his life so God can “squeeze more suffering” out of him.

I’m sick of this life; I’m sick of living in an evil world, isolated from both God and man. My relationships with both appear to be “all in my head” – priests say sometimes in Confession that “the reality is there, God is there, regardless of how you feel”, but such an invisible reality contradicts how God has made us, as physical, experiential beings. Our reality is experienced, not “thought”, and God seems more in the realm of imagination than in experience – again, see how random suffering and blessing is; there appears no correlation between being a good Christian and having a good life; it all seems a mental game, going to Mass on Sunday to encourage one to live another week on this miserable planet.

So I try to study history, right? That’s Christianity’s “big claim to truth”, is that Jesus really existed, really taught and healed, really was murdered and really rose from the dead. The event happened so far ago, evidence so far removed, that it is impossible to know it with certainty. We’re not even sure where the writings in the Bible came from (except perhaps the Torah and Moses?).

Miracles happen, right? Like Our Lady of Fatima and the Miracle of the Sun? I’m still trying to find evidence and reliable accounts of them, and so far it’s been sketchy, at best. The first healing of Sr. Faustina Kowalska, of a woman with a missing leg healed of lymphoma, appears coincidental – I’m not convinced that she’s been healed, or that natural processes didn’t do it – and the account only underscores the lack of mercy of God, for this woman and her husband to have such a miserable life. If God were merciful, we would be spared of evil like this couple had to go through (health and financial problems).

The Miracle of the Sun is likewise frustrating: Why would God reveal such things only to a few? Why would a remarkable feat not be better documented, received more worldwide attention? The story does not seem different from UFO sightings. And if it is true, then it only underscores that Mary wants us all to be miserable on behalf of those causing our misery. Again, nothing to life except to suffer and die for a God whom we apparently must imagine to experience.

I suppose I’m angry, bitter, hurt and resentful at God. Such strong emotions make it difficult to think logically, or to be open-minded. Regarding a child who has his feelings hurt and is close to crying, I suppose I need comfort, hugs, but there is no comfort for me. I feel that I’ve gotten all the help there is; found every explanation there is; received the Sacraments; lived according to the Church teachings (and done what I could to help the poor); tithed and prayed; Nothing. God does not speak to me; I feel I survive in spite of God; God is absent, and I remain miserable on melancholy, happiness brief and fleeting.

And so what do I do? Live one day at a time, trying to be the best Catholic I can be because I want God to exist, but I am left bitter and hurt, because I am miserable and God has left me standing outside in the rain. I’m tired of the rain. I want to go inside … As a kind of analogy, I feel like God’s thrown me out of his house (heaven) and has locked me outside at night in a thunderstorm (evil Earth) and won’t let me back in. Clearly, I can’t smash a window and try to get back in by force (suicide); I could try seeking shelter in other ways, like taking drugs so the thunderstorm isn’t as bad (secular hedonism), knocking on the door of Pride (I’ll follow any agreeable temptation) or of Islam (their theology may not be rooted in history, but at least it’s intelligible, unlike Christianity; might as well go with one more pleasing if neither is rooted in reality) …

My point is that I’m tired of suffering in such an evil society, but God won’t let me escape. So rather than a loving Father, God seems to enjoy watching me suffer, and any successes appear in spite of God, or else because he wants to prolong my life so I might suffer more.

I completely understand your position. I would suggest the following: try not to stray from your own code of ethics but do allow yourself to be free of religious ties. The world is not fair and no one can deny that. I know that it may not end your suffering, but observing your issues through an open mind could help you understand.

Stay mentally strong and you will prevail.
~AW

 

[GloriousOrder]

God gives you to suffer now, that you might not suffer before His glory in eternity. You should be grateful for every sorrowful step you take here, that the pains which all of us deserve visit you now rather than later. All this weeping and sighing does us no good. It is best to get up, thank God for making us in majesty, teaching us, and giving us free will. Let us bless God forever by doing what is hard, not what is easy. Your whole life will be toil, fatigue, and sore limbs; however, there is joy in the symphony and happiness in the meadow.

Don’t focus on the pain, dear friend, but focus on the unending beauty that awaits us, unknown, beyond the gates of eternity.

 

[Waiting]

God gives you to suffer now, that you might not suffer before His glory in eternity. You should be grateful for every sorrowful step you take here, that the pains which all of us deserve visit you now rather than later. All this weeping and sighing does us no good. It is best to get up, thank God for making us in majesty, teaching us, and giving us free will. Let us bless God forever by doing what is hard, not what is easy. Your whole life will be toil, fatigue, and sore limbs; however, there is joy in the symphony and happiness in the meadow.

Don’t focus on the pain, dear friend, but focus on the unending beauty that awaits us, unknown, beyond the gates of eternity.

I would say that I was reading something from St. Padre Pio, if I didn’t know better. What a wonderful attitude you have. Surely the Lord is pleased.

 

[jeff_branca]

Hi. You posted that about three years ago, I’m wondering if your suffering has abated.
Consider a few things if you would. Please forgive me I too am going to just write and not worry too much about grammar and perfection. I’m a bit pressed for time and would rather just spit it out.

John the forerunner to Jesus was in prison and after witnessing the power of God and the Father pointing to Jesus…still sent to question Jesus. Why? Because John and even the Apostles (and many Jews till this day), expected Christ to come as a warlord to vanquish the enemies of Israel (IE, ROME). John did all that he did in that hope! All John’s work, hope, suffering was done in the name of a warlord Messiah. As we all know, it didn’t work out that way. Jesus was crucified.

John suffered and was in prison! He sent word to Jesus and Jesus replied… Luke 7: 22 “Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.
23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.”

Blessed is he who is not offended in me. This is precisely what you are going through. The long suffering has attacked your faith and Satan is working on you because of it. You are “offended in me.” Meaning, you’ve suffered, God doesn’t explain Himself, God doesn’t deliver you, you’re feeling abandoned and you’ve become offended. God has offended you.
The solution is a bit complex and will require something of you.

First, God promises to deliver the righteous out of their affliction. See the Psalms. This notion that unlimited, perpetual suffering is God’s will is not true. It is the fire that molds us and kills the flesh. God must dial down our flesh or He will not commune with us. Jesus born of the virgin also had to suffer. It’s why the world is blind: they live like animals. Suffering interrupts pleasure seeking and in this fire God molds us eternally. The inner man is God’s number one concern. Life down here is short and meaningless unless God gives us meaning. Filling up the sufferings of Christ is part of that meaning for us. However, God will deliver us but you must press in.

Second, if parents are poor, the child is deprived of material riches. If parents are rich, the child has all kinds of material riches. If your spiritual leader and group is spiritually poor, deliverance is going to be that much harder on you. If your spiritual leader and group is spiritually rich, deliverance is going to be that much easier for you. Think of coals on the fire. You need a few hot coals to keep that fire going.

Despite what Catholicism preaches, anyone who believes Jesus is God, the Messiah, born of virgin Mary…is a Christian. Get help in any circle that believes in Jesus as the One, the Messiah, came, died, rose again…that He is the only way to heaven. Just get help. If your circle is not red hot and another is, go there. Why? Because your sanity depends on it!

Regardless, if you cannot get that help, then you must do the only thing you can do to be delivered… spend hours a day talking to God and pressing Him until you break through. It is the only way to reach God…extensive prayer toward God. If you reach out to Him in this fashion, it’s going to cost you but God will answer you.

Hold the Fort (easier said than done but Hold the Fort anyway!)

 

[ready]

My point is that I’m tired of suffering in such an evil society, but God won’t let me escape. So rather than a loving Father, God seems to enjoy watching me suffer, and any successes appear in spite of God, or else because he wants to prolong my life so I might suffer more.

Saints have taught that if we only knew the true value of suffering, we’d want to suffer much more in this miserable life. I believe some have even come back to life to say that if they had their choice, they’d come back on earth to live only to suffer more – that’s how valuable human suffering is. By suffering we can imitate our Lord Jesus Christ, grow in strength and virtue, gain merit for heaven, be detached from this life on earth, prove our love to God, and atone for our many sins, sparing us from a very prolonged and most painful purgatory. The Church teaches that the pains of purgatory are like the pains of hell and that all the pains on earth combined can not equal the pains in purgatory. God sends his closest friends the most painful sufferings, He knows how good it is for the health of their souls and how they become sanctified by suffering born patiently and in union with Him. If I were you, I’d surrender myself – pain and all – completely to God, accept whatever He sends you as coming from the most loving of fathers and physicians. Through suffering borne patiently and for the love of God all your ills can be healed, don’t you see? Suffering borne impatiently has absolutely no value and is like a hell on earth, leading only to the bitterness and the alienation from God and others that you feel. Because you have much to suffer you have much to gain, my friend, you are like a banker amassing much money to “buy” heaven with (a Saint thought of suffering in this way). Like they say: No pain, no gain. If your life were easy, relatively pain-free and all fun and games, how would you be able to grow in holiness and closer to God? You’d grow to love this life and its pleasures so very much and could easily lose heaven and God as the object of your love – the pleasures and goods on earth that bring you such great “happiness” could easily consume you and make you fall in love with them, and you could easily forget your first love, our Lord. Please accept your sufferings and be grateful for them as one is grateful for the most priceless treasures. And be grateful to be able to imitate our Lord in His sufferings, for those who imitate Him in their sufferings in this life will be able to imitate Him in glory in the next. How can we expect to get to heaven in a way differently from our Saviour, that is, without major pain and suffering endured on earth? Here is not the end, here we do not find our true reward – our goal, reward and final end is God and the next life, and we will not be disappointed if we suffer patiently and faithfully in this life for the love of Him, confident in Him to deliver us in the end, confident that He will share with us his heavenly kingdom with all its bliss and joy. Persevere and be abandoned to God’s marvelous designs and plans for your welfare. Yes, persevere and never cease to seek to do God’s holy Will! God bless you!

 

[shanishani7]

There was a woman, she was a great woman, a pure woman who suffered greatly during her life. She was married to an abusive husband, with a son who picked up his father’s traits. Then after the death of both her husband and son, that great woman entered a convent where she prayed daily:
_ “Lord, let me suffer like you”
A thorn then came off the Crown of Thorn and flew straight into her head, which caused her much suffering till her death.
The question is why she asked to be suffered? Why didn’t she flee from God when this suffering came to her? When her husband and son died, why didnt she curse God? The only answer can only come from faith. That woman was called St.Rita, the famous saint which often depicted with a red dot on her forehead, represent the thorn, and I encourage you to learn about her life.

Can you imagine Jesus, on the Cross, suffered, crucified. His wounds are not just physical but mental and emotional as well. Those who once shouted “Hosana” now shouted “Crucify!”. Those who once claim to be His disciples now abandoned Him. He’s alone, hurt, and upon Him bear the sins of all men, including those who crucified Him. So Hurt that He yelled out “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?!” Yet He died, He allowed the cup of suffer came to Him so that He can save the whole world.

Why does God allow us to suffer? Allow His Christians to suffer? Allow His sheeps to suffer? That’s a mystery, but certainly not unwarned. Christ Himself never promised richness or love for His followers. He only told them that there will be many people persecute them, and they shall carry His cross. The early Christians suffered, they suffered a great deal, but they didn’t see it as an absence of God, nor did they see it as the impotence of God, but they saw it as an opportunity for them to suffer for God.

God enjoy watching us suffer just as a parent enjoy watching their children fall from the bike or break his arm. That is untrue, God does not enjoy watching us suffer, but God wants us to go through those suffering. God want us to go through the suffer which He endured.Why? I don’t really know, but I can only offer my best speculation is that by suffer like God, we can see the world clearer, by suffer like Christ, we can humble ourselves and help others. God allow suffering is not just a mere enjoyment, but God allow suffering is for us to learn and to progress in both of our faith and moral.

Jesus historicity can be learned through both historical records from both Jewish and Gentile historians, also through reason. I mean if we can believe in Socrates, why can’t Jesus? The miracle of the Sun I would offer my best guess is for Catholics, Catholics who suffered, Catholics who need encouragement in such a time of turbulent, and who need a prophecy for the future. Our Lady came to offer that but through Her, God needs us to do His works, God need us to use this prophecy and bring Him the souls that are troubled, the souls that are unloved.

That being said, I want to say God loves you, He’s there when you need Him, and because He’s there, just pray.

I don’t agree with you that God wanted us to suffer. God never wanted His beloved children to suffer. It is we who sinned need to have suffering as a Penance, because Justice exists. After the penance enough on earth in our lives, we would be more purified in our souls and reduce the greater suffering when we are in Purgatory if needed. He wanted us all united with Him in Heaven. And the suffering is actually a kind of love from God which allow us to have as a Penance for our sins. Another reason for the suffering is something caused by Satan and demons, such as some illness and sickness.

 

[Valarious]

I hate my Life and your ways.
Praise Jesus.

 

[ethereality]

Our Lady came to offer [us comfort] but through Her, God needs us to do His works, God need us to use this prophecy and bring Him the souls that are troubled, the souls that are unloved.

Why would an omnipotent God need our work? If God is omnipotent and without limitation and perfectly happy, then He doesn’t need anything from us.

Hang in there! You are going through the dark night. Remember that Mother Theresa went through that for 50 years. No one but her confessor knew. She taught the love of Jesus to all. She hid how she was suffering internally. Now the Lord is rewarding her. How she must be glowing in His love! You can, too. Stay with Him no matter the temptation to leave. He understands your pain. You will reap great rewards if you accept great sufferings in His name. God cannot be outdone in generosity,

I understand it was 30, not 50, but nonetheless: That’s another indictment against God, another example of His cruelty, not any kind of reassurance of His love. What evidence do you have that the Lord is rewarding her? I would guess that at most you have only one alleged miracle, with insufficient documentation to be more than hearsay, and likely to be some bodily recovery that could be due to natural mechanisms – yet how many are praying for her intercession? You say God cannot be outdone in generosity, yet human beings give me so many good things whereas I cannot see God doing anything. Just yesterday I watched on YouTube some Indians save a stray dog dying of mange: It seems humans outdo God in generosity every day.

 

[Valarious]

Why would an omnipotent God need our work? If God is omnipotent and without limitation and perfectly happy, then He doesn’t need anything from us.

I understand it was 30, not 50, but nonetheless: That’s another indictment against God, another example of His cruelty, not any kind of reassurance of His love. What evidence do you have that the Lord is rewarding her? I would guess that at most you have only one alleged miracle, with insufficient documentation to be more than hearsay, and likely to be some bodily recovery that could be due to natural mechanisms – yet how many are praying for her intercession? You say God cannot be outdone in generosity, yet human beings give me so many good things whereas I cannot see God doing anything. Just yesterday I watched on YouTube some Indians save a stray dog dying of mange: It seems humans outdo God in generosity every day.

Right now all I can think of is that God made those man giving what has been given to them. God just makes it easy for us to hate life that is all, so we do not lose it. Sorry Jesus; please don’t Chastise me! Lord have mercy. :byzsoc: