Philosophical Ponderings: Pain
Looky! I told you maybe one day I'd write another 'ponderings'. And here it is! In all its length (with some depth, hopefully!).
Again, I'd like to preface this with saying I'm in no way an expert on this topic and not hardly even qualified to write on this one especially. These are just simply thoughts from a simple mind over past months gathered from fellow students in classes, teachers and professors and philosophers, family and friends, and experiences.
This evening I was cooking up (well, just warming up) a blueberry muffin. (Which I'm addicted to right now!). As I took the thing out of the oven a piece of it got on my finger. I shook it off but realized it was a blueberry stuck on there and had to wipe it off to make the burning stop. It hurt! And sometimes still does. And I have a little mark and blister where it happened. I'll stop now cuz I'm starting to sound a bit winy.
Physical pain sucks! There is no second of it that I enjoy. I have such a low pain tolerance and I've not even experienced bad physical pains like breaking a bone or child birth! It is necessary, though. Without pain sensors our body would have no way of telling our brain something is wrong. Without knowing something is wrong, instead of removing your hand from the burning stove, you might literally burn it right off. Pain however, is not experienced on just a physically level.
Take this thought and connect it to your soul. And to the lives of the souls around you. Every single person on this earth experiences pain in the depths of their being. If physical pain tells us there is something wrong on our body, would it not also lend itself that emotional pain (and other types of pain) tells us there is something wrong inside our body (our heart, mind, and soul). We experience more than physical pain which should naturally lead us to the conclusion that something in all of life is very wrong. Simply put, the world is broken and fallen and that 'something wrong' is sin.
"Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." -CS Lewis
Some may use the argument here that if God is a good God why would He allow pain in the world. Now, I understand this is a HUGE argument. I am not even going to attempt to address all the dimensions of it. I would like to state a few facts, though. Firstly, God is infinite and man is finite. Secondly, no one can know the mind of God or fully understand all His ways. And God allows man free will, man chose to sin in the beginning. Then is God not just a good God, but the best God if He can take what man freely chose to mess up (bringing destruction, death, and pain) and create something good, something beautiful, something new from it?!
The ultimate example of this is found in Christ (in God himself). He is the only perfect being. Yet, he experienced complete pain physically, emotionally, and spiritually when He was crucified on the cross. The most horrific event when the creation killed its Creator. Yet, God took that in all its grotesqueness and not only conquered and defeated it when He rose again, but now, allows us to experience that same defeat in our own lives if we only believe Him! He took the worst event in history and used it for the best possible outcome, not for Himself but for us!
Whether you've never believed Him. Whether you do. Whether you have in the past but now don't. Whether you're unsure or whether you're sure. Whether you're confused, whether you have it all figured out, no matter the current condition of your soul, the message is still the same. Believe that Christ has overcome all the pain, all the suffering, all the wrongness, all the sin in this world! Believe that He experientially knows and understands whatever pain you are going through right now (and shares in that pain with you). Trust that He will take that pain and use it for His glory, that He can bring beauty from it, and that He is the only one that can overwhelmingly conquer the death and destruction it brings and make your life (and all life) new again, filled with hope!
When you experience pain, acknowledge it. Acknowledge the brokenness of this life, of your life, of the lives of those around you. But do not stop there! Allow God to use it to speak to you (or shout). To transform you and those around you. To allow you to know Him more deeply and His incomprehensible ways more fully. Allow your pain to show you the deep, deep love and healing your Creator has for you!
(I have read that the harshest, most adverse conditions are the ones in which the most beautiful flowers blossom.)
Again, I'd like to preface this with saying I'm in no way an expert on this topic and not hardly even qualified to write on this one especially. These are just simply thoughts from a simple mind over past months gathered from fellow students in classes, teachers and professors and philosophers, family and friends, and experiences.
This evening I was cooking up (well, just warming up) a blueberry muffin. (Which I'm addicted to right now!). As I took the thing out of the oven a piece of it got on my finger. I shook it off but realized it was a blueberry stuck on there and had to wipe it off to make the burning stop. It hurt! And sometimes still does. And I have a little mark and blister where it happened. I'll stop now cuz I'm starting to sound a bit winy.
Physical pain sucks! There is no second of it that I enjoy. I have such a low pain tolerance and I've not even experienced bad physical pains like breaking a bone or child birth! It is necessary, though. Without pain sensors our body would have no way of telling our brain something is wrong. Without knowing something is wrong, instead of removing your hand from the burning stove, you might literally burn it right off. Pain however, is not experienced on just a physically level.
Take this thought and connect it to your soul. And to the lives of the souls around you. Every single person on this earth experiences pain in the depths of their being. If physical pain tells us there is something wrong on our body, would it not also lend itself that emotional pain (and other types of pain) tells us there is something wrong inside our body (our heart, mind, and soul). We experience more than physical pain which should naturally lead us to the conclusion that something in all of life is very wrong. Simply put, the world is broken and fallen and that 'something wrong' is sin.
"Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." -CS Lewis
Some may use the argument here that if God is a good God why would He allow pain in the world. Now, I understand this is a HUGE argument. I am not even going to attempt to address all the dimensions of it. I would like to state a few facts, though. Firstly, God is infinite and man is finite. Secondly, no one can know the mind of God or fully understand all His ways. And God allows man free will, man chose to sin in the beginning. Then is God not just a good God, but the best God if He can take what man freely chose to mess up (bringing destruction, death, and pain) and create something good, something beautiful, something new from it?!
The ultimate example of this is found in Christ (in God himself). He is the only perfect being. Yet, he experienced complete pain physically, emotionally, and spiritually when He was crucified on the cross. The most horrific event when the creation killed its Creator. Yet, God took that in all its grotesqueness and not only conquered and defeated it when He rose again, but now, allows us to experience that same defeat in our own lives if we only believe Him! He took the worst event in history and used it for the best possible outcome, not for Himself but for us!
Whether you've never believed Him. Whether you do. Whether you have in the past but now don't. Whether you're unsure or whether you're sure. Whether you're confused, whether you have it all figured out, no matter the current condition of your soul, the message is still the same. Believe that Christ has overcome all the pain, all the suffering, all the wrongness, all the sin in this world! Believe that He experientially knows and understands whatever pain you are going through right now (and shares in that pain with you). Trust that He will take that pain and use it for His glory, that He can bring beauty from it, and that He is the only one that can overwhelmingly conquer the death and destruction it brings and make your life (and all life) new again, filled with hope!
When you experience pain, acknowledge it. Acknowledge the brokenness of this life, of your life, of the lives of those around you. But do not stop there! Allow God to use it to speak to you (or shout). To transform you and those around you. To allow you to know Him more deeply and His incomprehensible ways more fully. Allow your pain to show you the deep, deep love and healing your Creator has for you!
(I have read that the harshest, most adverse conditions are the ones in which the most beautiful flowers blossom.)
I Live in Tokyo。。。
ReplyDeleteThat's cool! How did you find this blog? Thanks for reading!
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