Differences Between The Catholic Viewpoint And The Secular Humanist Viewpoint Essay

Why do we suffer? Humans have spent years searching for meaning in the grievous events that happen in life. Some find comfort through religions that give reason to tragedy and teach that suffering is not always eternal. Others just accept that this is the way the world is and then do their best to adapt to that reality. Religions and philosophies, like Buddhism and stoicism, may try to teach its followers how to end their pain, because no one likes hurting. However, suffering is not necessarily a bad thing. It is painful, but suffering can bring new levels of meaning and appreciation to happiness. Pain is inevitable for anyone who cares about the people or things in his/her life. But if we were to eliminate suffering then life would become meaningless, because real joy is not possible without the risk of pain, and those who find contentment after enduring some tribulations appreciate their joy much more.

In contrast to the humanist’s worldview that everything happened by chance, Christians believe that from the beginning, everything that exists, including humans was the result of God. Now Christians do believe in micro-evolution, also known as adaption, where an animal can endure some changes to help itself adapt to a different condition, but will never form into a different species. There is still no scientific evidence that can prove otherwise. God made sure of this when he was creating all living things that he kept all species “according to its kind” (Genesis 1:21-25).

Why Does God allow suffering? This question is probably as old as religion itself. It is a stumbling block for some of us, and for many more at given moments of tragedy. There are as many answers to this question as there are people who care to engage in theological dialogue. One understanding is that yes, God allows "bad" things to happen; God does not cause them to happen.

Why humans suffer and where God is during it are theological questions that have constantly been debated on. Rabbi Kushner in the PBS video Suffering: A Time to Love and a Time to Hate, John F. Haught in his book Responses to 101 Questions on God and Evolution, and the Bible each provide their own analysis on where God is when humans are suffering and persecuted. Thomas West is his chapter “The Human Response of Hope” gives his insight regarding life after death especially hope for salvation. All these sources aid in answering personal questions regarding theodicy: suffering, death, and hope.

Everyone goes through suffering at some point in their lives, but many of them never really understand why a good, loving God allows them to go through this pain. Sometimes, it is even hard for them to trust God in their lives when they are going through suffering. They start to question God because if He is such a good and loving God, why would He not just take away their suffering. What most of them don't realize, though, is that God never actually wanted people to go through suffering. It was actually the fault of mankind that there is suffering because they sinned and turned away from God. Although it is not God who causes suffering, He still uses it for good. Many times, God uses it to draw people closer to Him because if they are going through pain, they are very likely to turn to Him. He also teaches lessons to those who suffer and shows who He wants them to be. God is at work in many lives transforming suffering into something great even if it does not seem good at the time. Although humans view suffering as horrible, God has a plan for the future.

The Church explains how humans have grown hateful and abusive to each other. Humans have also became more selfish and arrogant, hence establishing sins, and forgetting about God. This is seen in Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Thus, the Catholic Church believes God is creating suffering, in order for humans to turn back to him and become renewed from sins. God has unconditional love, towards humans, as a result he is waiting for sinners to ask for forgiveness. Therefore the Church response to why humans experience suffering is, in order for humans to turn back to

Leithart begins this book by talking about the controversy surrounding the church in the 4th century. Athanasius, a young man brought up in a pagan household, was taught to fear the Lord from a man named Alexander from a young age. Athanasius’ main opponent during his lifetime was to discount Arianism, a heresy that tried to propose the “subordination of the Son to the Father,” a view that outright “denied the eternal generation of the Son,” making Jesus less than God. The Arians believed that “the Father exists prior to the Son, since the Son is not eternal, that is, not timelessly self-subsistent” to the Father. This is to say that the Father does not eternally generate the Son, but instead came into being at a certain point in history, a blatant heresy that was corrected by Athanasius and the Church council in the 4th century.

What is “freewill”? Freewill is the ability for us and only us as humans to control our faith and to a certain extent, our destiny. Without the attribute of freewill our lives would become very simple and meaningless, with no end goal to our lives. Did God create suffering so we could choose between good and evil? As children of God, He gave us the power of freewill at birth, whether to be upright or malicious. He gave us the choice to be blissful and go to Heaven or to sin and suffer then go to Hell. Suffering is a key component in every aspect of freewill. Without suffering freewill would not exist. There needs to be consequences for every action we take throughout our lives, without consequences our lives would be pre-determined and extremely

The question of God’s existence has lingered in the mind of man since the dawn of religion. The simple fact that billions of people consider themselves to have some allegiance to a deity means that this question deserves to be seriously considered. In this paper I will argue for the sake that God does exist and the reasons why. I will include many of the arguments found in our philosophy book and those covered in class as well as other subjects such as human suffering and the reasons God chose to make the world as it is today, also including examples from life and the movies we watched in class.

Author explained in his sermon why God allows Tragedy and suffering in .... He said that God did not create suffering; mankind did. God gave us free will in order for us to truly love Him, but mankind decided to turn away from Him. When humans rebelled, sin entered the earth and corrupted nature and human morality. We are the ones who choose whether we sin or not, and that creates an effect resulting in a tragedy or a blessing.

This outright dismissal of pain and suffering arises because religious theology cannot answer the fundamental question as to why there is evil and suffering in the world. The result is a morality that can have a profoundly negative effect on human

Why does God allow suffering? This is the age-old question of Christians and non-Christians alike, and it's unlikely to be answered to anyone's satisfaction this side of heaven. Even though I'm just an ordinary guy, I'd like to take a stab at it.

Does God Exist? Is there any evidence for his existence? These are questions that all people ask themselves and other people at some time in their lives. These questions are written in the hearts of all mankind, the seeking for happiness and truth, which is found and fully satisfied in the Perfect Being, God. In this paper, I will briefly state the Arguments for the existence of God, and then focus on the moral Argument.

Why does god allow suffering to happen in our world? The first five words of that sentence have been repeated probably since the beginning of religion itself. The majority of people have more than likely asked this question when they were present in a moment of suffering or tragedy. God does “allow” suffering, but he does not “cause” it. In order for the people of God to be completely free to love and serve the Lord in the greatest way possible, there has to be free will and free choice. We are free people not robots that are controlled by a superior being. This enables us to enjoy the gift of life that god has created for us. If there was not any suffering in our world we would have nothing to be thankful for. Granted, there are very extreme cases of suffering that have came and gone throughout the years, but on the other end of that, there is also an incredible amount of rejoice and happiness that occurs everyday. Rejoice and happiness would not and could not even be conceivable by the human mind if there was no suffering. “Consequently, such a world, however well it might promote pleasure, would be very ill adapted for the development of moral qualities of human personality” (Hick, p.25). We wouldn’t know what suffering is, therefor, not knowing the difference between happy and sad, therefor, causing us to be boring and lack our greatest ability, to love one another.

We see this in The Book of Job too. To Job, suffering happens as a result of God testing us. A Satan questioned the followings of God's people. This led to God testing his best subject, Job. God made Job suffer in the worst way any human being could. This would be physical suffering and mental suffering. When God took away Job's family and possessions, he suffered mentally. All of his possessions and loved ones were gone without a reason known to him. It was physical suffering when he was struck with sores about his body. This also gives reason to suffering that happens when you can't explain it. Even a person who thinks that they are perfect can suffer. You could be just like Job, almost a perfect worshiper. That would be even more the reason for you to be tested. The Book of Job is one of the teachings of the Bible, a spiritual and religious guide. A person reading this would believe that suffering is a test. It is a test of your faith, your faith in God. Therefore, if we were suffering, as long as we keep faith, the suffering will end. As long as we keep faith the suffering will stop, and better things will happen and develop.