Ultimately it is a
matter of free decision : either for the plan of God leading to
eternal happiness in heaven or for one’s own plan and refusal of
the
central demand of
love . This way man becomes the creator of his own destiny.
But
the ultimate true happiness with God is made possible through the
Son of God who became man and took upon Himself all the sinfulness of
humanity.
What does it all
have to do with evil and suffering in human life? Actually all
people consider suffering, pain , torture , war as evil and all this
evil is done by man. To a great extend this creates the misery of
living together in the society of sinners and it takes away the
certainty and stability of life. The suffering coming from the
natural causes like diseases, old age, sickness and death are
also part of the evil confronting man after his fall and rebellion
against God. It all has to be accepted as part of growing in this
life towards complete absolute trust in God no matter what happens.
Only this strong faith in God in spite of misery and tragedy hitting
one’s life and leaving it in ruins, will make man strong enough
and acceptable to God who is love Itself.
Leo Tolstoy one of
the most talented Russian writer experienced in his fifties a deep
doubt about the meaning of life and felt a growing desire to
commit suicide . He was hiding any guns and knifes visible around
afraid that he will kill himself . He says that the desire for
ending his life became more powerful than his former joy of living.
He learnt from the simple peasants who lived in poverty but were
happy to exist and live. Tolstoy concluded that life no matter how
difficut must be meaningful.
Man according to
Christianity has an immortal principle (soul) and therefore death
is not really such a great tragedy and horror as it may appear in
the eyes of an atheist. For a Christian death is a transition from
this life in space-time, into eternity.
The Judgment
implies not only eternal salvation in heaven but also the
possibility of hell.One cannot say much
about the judgment of God. All knowledge about it comes from the
teaching of Christ who very often mentioned the reality of judgment
and man’s eternal destiny. For many there appears the difficulty
to reconcile the loving and forgiving God with existence of hell .
Hell is existence in complete isolation from God and others in
eternity without possibility of any change. To many this seems
absolutely unacceptable and too cruel, it seems ridicules and
absurd part of Christian teaching. How can God who is
love and who wants salvation of all men throw someone into hell
knowing human limitations and mistakes even when the sinfulness
is clear like deliberate murder, torture , exploitation of others
and even intended extermination of millions of innocent people.
After all when Christ was dying on the cross did He not pray to
the Father: “ forgive them for they don’t know what they do?”.
All this is true. However one should not approach the problem of
hell on emotional level only but try to see facts as they are.
Suffering is the very center of the human condition in a world of
fractures, conflicts, dichotomies and tragedies. Suffering is
therefore inscribed into the very core of human existence. This
fact is recognized by most religions of the world and also stressed
by the ancient writers like Sophocles in the story of The Blinding
of Oedipus. In Buddhism, which some consider a religion, life is
suffering and the human soul is gradually liberating itself
from it through a number of reincarnations until it attains the
state of complete bliss in Nirvana.
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