GENS4010 Week 8

Suffering is probably my main reason that I renounced myself as a Christian. God in Christian sense is suppose to benign, all forgiving and all loving. But if he exists, and He has the power to to anything He wishes, then His inactions have allowed countless tragedies to occur. In other words, what was so special about the people of Moses that he chose to intervene to save their lives, yet at the same time, allowed the six million Jews to die pointlessly? Why should I get to live when roughly 3,000 children in Africa die everyday?

It's probably not entirely wrong of me to say that, assuming God exists, He speaks through suffering and pain. After all, he allowed his son Jesus to go through so much suffering on our behalf. But if this is so, then what can we possibly gain from pain and suffering?

A lot of students in the discussion have continuously pointed out that suffering that doesn't kill us strengthens us, and the experiences we gain from such event will help us be strong in the future. To be honest, I think such statement is very naive, and, after hearing it repeatedly, somewhat frustrating as well. As I've mentioned in the discussion, not all experiences are worth it. What marvellous experience do parents learn from having their baby born with life-threatening defacts? Not to have a baby? Given the choice, I think people will gladly subtitute the experience for no suffering.

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A student brought forth an argument using a passage written in Roman, saying that it is our freewill that has caused these tragedies, and not God. This is a valid point indeed. God doesn't control every aspect of our lives. But then again, I'd like to raise my previous point and ask why he saves some people and let others die. I honestly can't see him as a just God or all loving as Christians would like to claim.