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Tough Questions from a Reader of THE DRAGONS OF SHEOL

It’s no bother …

Accessibility is to one’s readers is one of the benefits of being an indie author. So it’s no bother at all when someone sends me a question. Indeed it is a special delight.

I asked permission to share this conversation with my blog readers and it was granted providing I maintained the reader’s anonymity. I propose to do so by using the Latin name Aulaire (means…

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#Evil #Problem of Pain #Thirty Years War

Another Look at God In Light of the Evil in the World (Part 3) I have been blogging on the problem of pain. (See the Introduction, Part 1 and…

#good and evil #Pain & Suffering #Problem of evil #problem of pain #sovereignty of God

Valvlog #8: On the Problem of Pain and the FreeWill of the Beforelife

My Musing about Suffering

Good evening y'all! My name is Iwan. Tonight, I had a privilege to lead our bible study. I am an engineer not a seminary student or a pastor. I am not fool enough to suppose that I can preach like Mulenga or Aaron.I am just a husband of seminary student. I will be a discussion leader instead of a preacher. I will give everyone an opportunity to share your story. Our topic tonight is about pain and suffering. I will ask all of us to share story about our suffering. While y'all preparing your story about how suffering in your life affects your belief and how your belief and your culture gives meaning to your suffering, I will start by sharing my story and my musing about pain and suffering. My musing is more like a lecture type but I still hope I can amuse and entertain y’all. Later, I will give you chance to share about your suffering that shape your identity and your belief.

First, let us have some review. On the first bible study we learn from Mulenga on the importance of the Bible, God's word. If we can enjoy and delight in ice cream which contains God's work, how much more can we delight in Mulenga's sermon which is from God's word. Do you still remember the verse? I still remember it because it is one of the 3:16 verse. Donald Knuth’ a very famous mathematician and computer scientist try to apply stratified sampling to Bible. He gather all the 3:16 verse from every books in the bible and assign world famous calligrapher to make a beautiful calligraphy from every 3:16 verse.

On the second bible study, the previous meeting, Aaron taught us the importance of prayer.

We learn about the private and personal aspect of prayer. We learn this in Abraham’s life. Being blessed to be blessing. We also learn about public and communal prayer from Psalm 100. We learn to pray continuously, not only talking all time to God but always want to know him more by be still, listening to his voice and dependent on his grace every hour. In the last meeting, I made a comment that sometime I forget to pray. Well, it is an understatement. "I always forget to pray" sound more correct. I am not praying continuously but there is a time where I always pray. Every time I suffer, I always pray.

Suffering is a significant part of our identity as an individual or as a community. (Marx - money. Freud - sex. Nietzsche - power.) From childbearing, childbirth, through all the stages of our life, to our deadbed, we always experience pain and suffering with the whole creation. Suffering shapes our character. Like it or not, it become our identity. I will divide pain and suffering into two categories.

The first category is growing pain. The kind of pain that we need to grow. The Chinese called it "eating bitterness" [meaning 'suffering hardship']. We must eat bitter medicine in order to avoid fever. The kind of suffering that we have in order to avoid greater suffering. Good good study, and day day up (Chairman Mao said). The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears. What a wise Indian (Native American) proverbs. No pressure no diamond said Baylor T-shirt. They are all fall into this category. We don’t like but we have to discipline ourselves to do it all the time.

I experienced this kind of discipline and growing pain when my father converted from Buddhism and Confucianism into Christianity. He hit me with a rod and forced me to go to bible study for kids (similar like AWANA here). At that time, I hate my father. But now, I love and honor my father because of his discipline. I owe a debt of gratitude (and moral duty) to him. Why? Because of Proverb 23:13-14 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. In here, we can see love as the source of suffering. Teacher who love his disciple will suffer. Love makes you vulnerable. The students who are being loved also have to go through the loving discipline. We see in Hebrew 12:8-10 that God also disciplines the one he loves. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves. For moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Do not mistaken this with abusive parent. My father hit me because he loves me not to exhaust his anger. When he hit me, he cried and felt my pain. I can imagine in his heart, he would say I do not want to hurt you but I have to do it for your own good. You will not understand it now but someday you will. Abusive parents hit their kids just to vent their anger. This kind of pain and suffering belong to other category, the second category.

The second category is groaning pain. The pointless pain. The Chinese called it "eating loss" ['suffering the infringement of one's rights']. Because suffering also dictates the identity of a community let me gives my country, Indonesia as an example. If you type on Google, Indonesia 1998 without pressing enter. Google will give you three top suggestions. Economic crisis, revolution, and rape victim. We do not want this kind of suffering. We give our best to prevent it. Even in the Lord's Prayer, we pray deliver us from evil. It became complicated when growing pain and groaning pain intermingled together in a communal experience. But one thing for sure, this violation to human right shape my community identity. In a novel entitled Brother Karamazov, there is a description of pure evil. Evil people tore up infant's body parts in front of their parents just for fun. Planned Parenthood also tore up baby's body parts after abortion and sell it for profit. Is it like eating bitter medicine so we can have longer life? It is not always easy to differentiate this two categories because our limited knowledge. But once again for sure, this kind of evil shapes American’s identity.

The philosophical problem of evil is dealing more with the second category of pain and suffering. God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving. A loving God will never give a snake (groaning, pointless pain which is evil) to his beloved children who ask for daily bread. But evil exists. What this means? Why there is persecution for us? 2 Tim 3 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. In the first category, the problem of evil (growing pain) become a cry out: Dear loving father, if you love me, why don't you do it in my way or just a wishful thinking.

Let me share with you my love story. When I was a young man, I fell in love with a girl. I asked her to be my girlfriend. And she rejected me. I cannot force her to love me. I can only love her unconditionally. A loving God also has to give us free choices to love him. God let us to choose freely between good and evil. He give a chance and a room to decide and chose by themselves. Even Almighty God cannot force love or at least he choose not to. Evil is not created by God but more the consequences God’s love and the cost of our freedom. Once the loving action is taken, the consequence cannot be avoided. Evil just inevitable consequences of loving God. All of us is messed in some way. Some of choose evil instead good. Others become evil by repaying evil with evil. In 1 Peter 3:9 We were called not to repay evil with evil or reviling for reviling, but on contrary, bless, that you may obtain a blessing. By suffering for righteousness sake, we stop the evil.

I will go further, by stating, suffering is not only shaping our identity as individual and community but also defining Jesus' identity. Dallas Willard, one of my favorite author, once wrote, Jesus is not only nice but also smart in his book Divine Conspiracy. I always use this quote in every American Scientific Affiliation meeting at Baylor. I want to be like Jesus, be smart, loving, and caring. I thought if I become more smarter I can avoid suffering. If I can know more, I can have less pain. The fun part, I might create suffering for other by being smart-aleck. But when I gain wisdom and knowledge, I suffers more. I can see suffering is surely coming. Persecution and suffering is certain in Christian’s life. This kind of knowledge and wisdom create a new mental suffering. I have double suffering instead double happiness when I’m smart. What a good grief.

Jesus is not only nice and smart but he also suffers on the cross, died for our sin. Jesus's identity is incomplete without his suffering. Christ is not Christ without suffering. Christian without suffering is not Christian. Salvation is not perfect without suffering. In 1 Pet 2:21, we see that we were called to follow Jesus’ suffering. (For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.) Suffering purifies our motivation and belief. What makes you keep following God when fires and meteors from heaven kills and wipes out all your children and dinosaurs? We should rejoice when we share Christ’s suffering, so we may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

SHARING TIMES.

What is my response?

First reaction, all of this persecution and suffering make me reluctant to follow God more closely. I try to outsmart God by keep a distance. I like the Abraham part, blessed to be blessing but not repay evil with blessing that I may obtain blessing. I tried to disowned and detached from whom I love like the Stoic philosopher. I am become stolid, very cold. When I lose the one that I love I just say it just temporary gift from God. I am become unauthentic, very hypocrite. Loneliness, anguish, and depression is building up inside me.

I need a better response. I chose fight instead of flight. In my opinion detachment and ignorance is worse than hate. Love and hate is somehow similar because we still become attached to those who we love and hate. I try fight like Job with all my strength. I hate God. Keep pressing and asking why to God. I also found that having friends really help in my suffering. Sorrow shared is halved, and joy is doubled. I prefer a compassionate friend to a smart-aleck friend. I will ignore my friend who pointing finger and blame me when I suffers. I need a friend that understand and suffer with me. In Christianity, we have more than just a compassionate friend. We have Jesus who also suffers. Let us read Hebrew 2:17-18 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrew 4:15. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

In our suffering, we see the invisible hand become visible. Jesus become as real as our pain and suffering. In our suffering, we meet God face to face. We worship Him in our suffering.

I will worship you in the midnight hour,

I will worship you when I'm in the fire (fiery trial),

I will worship you when the night seems long,

I will worship you when all hope seems gone,

I will worship you.

Pelangi Kasih.

Apa yang kau alami kini, mungkin tak dapat engkau mengerti.

Cobaan yang engkau alami, tak melebihi kekuatanmu.

Tuhanmu tak akan memberi, ular beracun pada yang minta roti.

Satu hal tanamkan di hati, indah semua yang Tuhan b'ri.

Tangan Tuhan sedang merenda, suatu karya yang agung mulia.

Saatnya 'kan tiba nanti, kau lihat pelangi kasihNYA.

Rainbow of Love

What you are experiencing right now may be beyond your comprehension.

However, one thing holds true: The trials that you face will never be beyond your strength.

My Lord will never give a snake to His beloved children who ask for bread.

This one thing, plant in your heart: Beautiful are all that God gives.

God's hands are carefully weaving a tapestry of life.

A masterpiece so magnificent and glorious.

The time will come;

Yes, it will, when you finally see His rainbow of love.

#problem of evil #problem of pain #suffering #devotion #musing

Again, the freedom of a creature must mean freedom to choose: and choice implies the existence of things to choose between. A creature with no environment would have no choices to make: so that freedom, like self-consciousness (if they are not, indeed, the same thing), again demands the presence to the self of something other than the self.

C.S. Lewis on Divine Omnipotence, the necessity of a fixed natural world & the possibility of human agency, The Problem of Pain

#quote of the day #cs lewis #problem of pain #philosophy quotes #religious inquiry #god & nature #free will #divine omnipotence

Why does God allow trials? This month, we get to study James' letter to Jewish Christians who were living in gentile communities.

#God allow suffering #problem of evil #problem of pain #problem of suffering #why does