Where did I claim no one was suffering?
OK, ‘my bad…’ you actually wrote:
“I have to ask, a general poll, raise your hand if you are Mormon and are
suffering here at the hands of Catholics.” (emphasis on ‘suffering’ yours)
So you didn’t claim that nobody was, but the tenor of your question seems to indicate that you don’t think anybody is, and if a Mormon actually claimed to be, you would argue with him or her about it…
Or make fun of him or her about it.
The emphasis you used for ‘suffering’ seems to indicate that you have a specific (and perhaps restrictive?) definition for the word.
so…what is it?
The dictionary says it is "The condition of one who suffers: the bearing of pain or distress.
or “An instance of pain or distress.”
However, Christ said “suffer the little children to come unto me.” and even though I have had to deal with two and three year olds m’self, “pain and distress” doesn’t seem to be an appropriate meaning for the word.
Now the OED has several other meanings for ‘
suffer.":
!. to allow, to endure ( I guess this is how the word is used in Jesus’ instructions to let the children come to Him.)
2. to go or pass through, be subjected to, undergo, experience (usually something evil or painful)
3.To submit patiently.
4.to resist, to endure, hold out, bear, stand…to be long suffering.
5. to allow oneself to be treated in a certain way; to endure, to consent to be or to do something.
Suffering, on the other hand, means:
Patient endurance, long-suffering.
The bearing or undergoing of pain, distress or tribulation.
The action of suffering death, execution, martyrdom
The incurring of loss
Pain suffered
passive reception of an action.
Well, nobody here is enduring physical pain because of anti-Mormon attacks, that’s certain–though that HAS happened (not here!)
So I guess the operative words would be 'distress" 'patient endurance," passive reception of an action", “tolerance” “to allow oneself to be treated in a certain way” and “to endure, hold, stand…” or 'to submit patiently."
Lessee…I don’t think you could characterize me a passive person, and I say something, generally a rather sharp something, when I think I am being treated unjustly or wrongly. So that doesn’t apply.
Hmmmnnn…I’m still HERE arguing the same old points, so perhaps 'endure, hold and stand" work. Perhaps even 'patient." (Well, in a sense…) I don’t think that’s what you have in mind, though, when you think about 'suffering."
I guess it all comes down to 'distress." Are we being distressed?
The OED says that 'distress" (verb) means “to harass or put to straits in war,” "to cause pain suffering, agony or anxiety to; to afflict, vex, make miserable.
I think that it’s quite reasonable to assume that being insulted, called a liar, being constantly told that one is a cultist, evil, not a Christian, worshiping a false god, a member of a group that consists solely of liars, gossipers, con men and evil doers could be considered vexing, even distressing.
I dunno. What’s your take on this?
