If God is benevolent, then why do we have such a capacity to feel pain? Our nerves are supposed to alert us to dangers; that's the bological reason for pain. Yet we can feel pain far past the level necessary to alert us to danger. We can feel acute levels of pain beyond description. And not only do we have this capacity, as all animals do, but we further have the mental capacity to suffer it again and again emotionally and psychically. No other animal shares that capacity. Does God hate us that much? Or does He love us that much? And if neither, if it's just an arbitrary flaw in our DNA, then isn't the point of all this pain He's given us to inure us? Make us as indifferent to the suffering od others as He is? And so shouldn't we emulate Him, do as John does--revel in and prolong and impro... (查看原文)
patrick,
the issue is pain. understand this.
initially, there wasn't any grand plan. I killed someone almost by accident, really, and I felt all those things you're supposed to feel--guilt, revulsion, fear, shame, self-hatred. I took a bath to clean Myself of her blood. sitting in the tub, I vomited, but I didn't move. I sat there as the water stank with her blood and My shame, the stink of My mortal sin.
then I drained the tub and showered and...went on. what do humans do, after all, once they've done something immoral or inconceivable? they go on. there's no other choice if you've slipped past the grasp of the law.
so I went about My life and then those feelings of shame and guilt went away. I thought they'd linger forever. but they didn't.
and I remember thinking, it can't be this simpl... (查看原文)
