The Causes and Significance of Human Sufferings - Essay Example

The Gospel According to By, Religion and Theology 3rd April, The Gospel According to (Student Name) Jesus Teaches His Disciples on the causes and Significance of Human Sufferings Jesus Said to His disciples: suffering is an integral part of human life, when you face sufferings in this world, do not think that God has abandoned you. Your father in heaven loves you tenderly and He cannot abandon you under any circumstance; your father in heaven understands the pains of human suffering and He cannot abandon you in times of sufferings when you need him most. When you are faced with all manner of sufferings in this world, trust in divine providence and pray for God’s strength and comfort, your loving father will not turn a deaf ear against your petition when you earnestly ask for assistance during times of need. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Matt. 7:7).Do not let human sufferings therefore weaken your trust in God and separate you from your loving father. After saying these things, Simon Peter asked him: master, what exactly causes human sufferings, is it sin? Jesus answered: there are three causes of human sufferings. First, human suffering is indeed caused by sin. By sinning, human being scorns the infinite mercy and love of God, for this reason, sin actually severs the good relationship between man and God. For this reason, the sinner feels alienated from God, and from life itself because it is only in God that man can find his life. Again, sin calls for direct punishment from God because God is just, and for that reason God ensures that justice is done in the world. Sin causes moral imbalance and for that reason, sin must be punished so as to restore the distorted moral balance. The second cause of human suffering is for spiritual purposes. Although human sufferings can at times take one away from God, human sufferings however can strengthen one’s faith in God. By bearing one’s sufferings gallantly trusting in God’s love and providence, one’s faith in God is strengthened. As the example of Job in the Scriptures shows, God allows his elect to undergo sufferings, so as to test their faith and to purify and strengthen their faith. The third cause of human sufferings is for the glory of God. God allows some forms of human sufferings in the world so that through the sufferings, God’s power and glory may be made manifest. For example, a person may be born blind so that through him the works of God might be displayed (John 9:3). Judas Iscariot asked Jesus: teacher, but why would an infinitely loving and omnipotent God allow His children to undergo the terrible sufferings that we experience in the world? I am unable to reconcile the infinite power and love of God, with the concept of human sufferings. Jesus said to Judas: when God created human beings, he created them as rational beings with freewill. For that reason, God has given human beings the freedom to choose good or bad; those who choose good choose life while those who choose bad choose sin and they end up suffering. God respects the freedom of human beings and He does not therefore force them to choose good. But God is always with his people and through the natural law imprinted on each person’s heart, God guides his people in the knowing the good and the bad, and through this knowledge, one can voluntarily choose either the good or the bad. This therefore explains why God allows human beings to sin and suffer, if they so choose. Simon Peter asked Jesus: Master, but why did God give free will to human beings and yet He knew that some human beings would misuse the free will. Jesus Answered: As the Scriptures says, God ways are not our ways. Again, God’s foolishness is better than human wisdom. For this reason, God created human beings according to his wisdom and not according to human wisdom. God created all things according to His wisdom and we cannot therefore question him why he created things the way He did. God has reason, which is completely different from human reason, why He created everything the way He did. Again, God has a reason why He allows human beings to suffer so that through sufferings their faith may become stronger. God as an omnipotent being is, of course, able to strengthen human faith in him, without necessarily subjecting them to sufferings, but God chose this particular mean of sufferings, according to His wisdom. Also, it is according to God’s wisdom that He chose to manifest His glory in the world through some forms of human sufferings. God’s ways and wisdom, therefore, are different from human ways and wisdom. Judas Iscariot asked Jesus: Teacher, will human sufferings not make some people to lose their faith in God, has God chosen some people whom He will protect from losing faith in him, while allowing other people to lose faith in him because of human sufferings? Jesus said the following in response to Judas’ question: It is God’s wish for everybody to be saved, and God has welcomed everybody into His kingdom; God has not specially chosen some people whom he protects from sin while allowing other people to fall into sin and lose their soul. Everybody is invited into God’s kingdom unless those who will voluntarily refuse to respond positively to the invitation. Simon Peter Asked Jesus: Master, what would make someone to voluntarily decline an invitation into the kingdom of God? Jesus Answered: the main reason why many people decline the Lord’s invitation into the kingdom of heaven is worldly concerns and worries. Due to the worldly concerns for reaches and power, many people choose to decline the lord’s invitation in preference to the fleeting worldly pleasures. Jesus gave the following parable to show that all people are invited into God’s kingdom, but some people due to the worldly concerns choose to decline the Lord’s invitation in preference for the fleeting concerns of the world. Jesus said, "A man had received visitors. And when he had prepared the dinner, he sent his servant to invite the guests. He went to the first one and said to him, My master invites you. He said, I have claims against some merchants. They are coming to me this evening. I must go and give them my orders. I ask to be excused from the dinner. He went to another and said to him, My master has invited you. He said to him, I have just bought a house and am required for the day. I shall not have any spare time. He went to another and said to him, My master invites you. He said to him, My friend is going to get married, and I am to prepare the banquet. I shall not be able to come. I ask to be excused from the dinner. He went to another and said to him, My master invites you. He said to him, I have just bought a farm, and I am on my way to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. I ask to be excused. The servant returned and said to his master, Those whom you invited to the dinner have asked to be excused. The master said to his servant, Go outside to the streets and bring back those whom you happen to meet, so that they may dine. Businessmen and merchants will not enter the places of my father." (Gospel of Thomas 64). After saying these things, Jesus taught his disciples on the need to be watchful in prayers lest they be caught off guard when the Lord returns. Jesus Said: Do not let the world concerns and human sufferings become an impediment in your relationship with your father in heaven. You should be vigilant in your spiritual lives lest the world concerns and sufferings of the world weaken you faith, so that by the time you die you will have lost all your faith in God, and therefore lose your soul. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to overcome the temptations of the world (Luke 12:36). Take heed, watch and pray: for you do not know when the time is (Mark 13:33). After this teaching, Jesus took Simon Peter, James and John and they went into the mountain to pray. They spent the whole night in prayers till the following day. Summary Statement of Critical Reflection The following are the different sources that I have used in my personal gospel, Mathew 7:7, John 9:3, Luke 12:36, Mark 13:33, and Gospel of Thomas 64. In choosing these materials, I have gone through the four canonical gospels and also through the gospel of Thomas, and I have selected the verses that have the information that I is relevant to the topic that I was writing on, i.e. the causes and significance of human sufferings. As I wrote this gospel, the audience that I had in mind were the Christian believers who seek to understand the causes and the significance of human sufferings. My audience in this gospel are the people who are seeking religious response to the reality of human sufferings. The difficulty that my audience are dealing with, and that prompted me to write this gospel is the inability to reconcile the reality of human suffering with the omnipotent and munificent nature of God. My audience are struggling to understand why human beings suffer and yet God is omnipotent and infinitely loving and generous. This is the question that I seek to address in this gospel. The message that I hope will reach my audience and whoever will read my gospel is that human sufferings has three causes and that it has significance in the life of human beings. I want to explain to my audience that one of the causes of human sufferings is sin, the second cause of human sufferings is for the good of our spiritual lives-purifying and strengthening our faith in God, and finally, sufferings are meant to reveal the glory of God in the world. The other important message that I want to convey to my audience in this gospel is that, ultimately, although we can give some explanations to the reality of human sufferings, the reality of human sufferings is a mystery that we cannot conclusively explain. The main challenges that presented themselves as I tried to arrange my gospel into a coherent narrative are challenges related to the differences in style of my sources of information. With the four canonical gospels having been written by different authors with different styles and with different audiences in mind, it was indeed difficult to take different verses of the canonical gospels and arrange them into a coherent narrative. Again, the gospel of Thomas is written in completely different style and trying to fit an excerpt of it into a coherent narrative with the other verses of the four canonical gospels was quite a challenge. The stories and saying that were attractive to me were the ones related to my topic. This is because I am personally interested in the topic of the reality of human sufferings. This exercise has made me appreciate the great challenges the first century authors of gospel as they sought to present a coherent narrative of Jesus’ teachings from different and diverse sources. Read More