Good Stuff And Bad Stuff Happens

In the work of professional psychology, we have now a forray of theories, therapeutic techniques, and modern psychotherapies which has all too frequently ignore the spiritual element in human life. In Care of Souls, Dr David Benner recaptures the place of the spiritual in psychological work. Among the many benefits of the use of modern therapies and medical science, he has also emphasised putting God's priorities above one's own in the practice of Christian soul care.

There is one question that everyone asks but to which no one knows the answer: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" The misfortunes of good people raise problems not only for those who suffer, but also for everyone who wants to believe in a just and livable world and in a fair and compassionate God. Rabbi Kushner, author of "Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People", attempts to bring light to this difficult question. In doing so he evaluates past attempts to explain suffering, offers his own approach to the justification of suffering in today's society, and makes suggestions for how one can deal with suffering and continue his or her journey into the future. This essay will examine these

The book is neither meant to be a theological treatise nor an academic exposition but a toolkit to unleash human potentials; a resource for intervention in dealing with human life hurts and as a channel of Gods healing and liberation through Jesus Christ.

The spiritual significance of illness and suffering is a topic Christians continue to grapple with, as Larchet points out in The Theology of Illness. Scripture offers a wealth of wisdom and cues for understanding illness, health, and healing from a Christian perspective. Larchet analyzes the various and often contradictory Christian positions on health and illness, revealing how attitudes have shifted over time and with changes in medical technology, practice, and ethics. For example, St. Barsanuphius presents a comprehensive analysis of the spiritual significance of illness and suffering. One view holds that illness signifies a lack of faith; another presents illness in terms of a person who is offered the opportunity to develop a stronger faith, or whose faith is being put to a test like the story of Job. Ultimately, the latter remains the most helpful way to approach illness and healing from a Christian perspective. The essence of Christian health care is that, "Healing itself, while resulting from natural processes, actually comes from God," (Larchet 116).

We reflecting the author’s own culture, she like many people in the United States are a blend of many different cultures and ethnicity. By not having one single ethnic culture her family views health traditions based on their religion of Christian Scientist. Being raised in this religion molded views of health promotion, prevention and treatment that influence her health behaviors today. There is a difference of opinion between Christian Science and traditional medical views. “Christian Scientist interpret disease from a spiritual view where medicine interprets disease from a material point of view” (Stoddard, 2010). As a child our family was raised with the belief that good nutrition, physical activity, and the role of positive thinking and mind over matter, would provide health and help us remain strong and healthy. Not having over the counter medications or turning to traditional medicine for simple medical issues was chosen as our families way of viewing illness. Growing up with the view of health and illness as spiritual using techniques such as meditation, prayer and positive thinking, has stayed as a health tradition among our families beliefs and practices to this day. Today modern medicine is looking at the mind as a valuable tool to prepare persons and bodys for wellness and rehabilitation. An example of this would be biofeedback. This is a technique where people are

In Module Five, Dr. Bryan Maier discusses “The Problem of Evil,” is the question of “How God can be all sovereign and all good at the same time?”. As a counselor, I can’t remember any client, who has experienced suffering, who doesn’t struggle with The Problem of Evil.” Maier reminds counselors that our role is not to provide a reason for the client’s suffering or God’s role in it because counselors cannot know the answer. The counselor’s proper response when the Problem of Evil is brought up by the client is to simply state, “I don’t know.” A caregiver’s role is not to give their opinion or to speculate what the answer may be.

The human experience is what connects people to one another. What we experience defines who we are and who we become. It also defines how we interact with others. The amazing thing is that not only do the events that bring joy, peace and happiness connect us but also those that bring anxiety, fear and despair. This brings to light the fact that God somehow in his sovereignty uses all things for the good of those who love Him. These ideas are brought to light in Jerry Sittser’s book, A Grace Disguised which is his personal journey of loss and the insight and experience that was gained in the face of great tragedy. In his book, Sittser discusses various insights he has gained, such as how Christian’s view sorrow, how families recover when

Most often, students ask me how I cope with such variety of situations especially with dying patients, or telling a family member that there is nothing more to do. I immediately tell them that I fully rely on God for my strength and compassion. I cannot image a day without constant access to God for strength and comfort by simply praying silently throughout the day. Sharing situations that I have witnessed opens the door to plant a simple seed of faith and that there is always hope even in times of pain, suffering and sorrow. “Hope is essential to life.” (Townes 2007) With repeated exposure to tragic events often resulting in death, it is easy to question God’s

In my opinion, it may be difficult to define health because it may vary from one person to another depending on one’s perception about health. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not just the absence of disease (Saylor, 2004). However, I feel that the WHO definition of health misses a very important aspect of health which is spirituality. According to Anye et al. (2013), spirituality is associated “with a more positive outlook and better quality of life”. In fact, they found that in patients with advanced stages of cancer, religious belief was associated with higher life satisfaction and patients who engaged in religious activity reported higher levels of happiness and had positive outcomes (Anye et al. 2013). In addition, studies have shown that mental health patients who have consistently identified spiritual needs as an important issue to them had symptoms of relief and general well-being (Chidarikire, 2012).

However, God does not provide either. Instead God gives us a brutal and tormented life with no love and support. Though God is supposed to be able to prevent all the evil from occurring, Blackburn argues, that God instead provides a crappy life. He gives an example of how too many people are living a tormented, disastrous, sad, hurtful and extremely short life. All this while, somehow, he supposedly “loves us” (p. 169).

It is perhaps one of the most frequently asked questions of all time: if there are gods who have control over humans’ lives, why do they allow good followers to suffer? How can there be any justice in that kind of world? Philosophers and thinkers like Seneca and authors of the Bible have debated and written about these questions since ancient times. Perhaps because hardships affect every person, many people continue to debate the same topics today. Seneca writes extensively about the topic of suffering in his essay “On Providence,” which is contained in The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca. Likewise, Paul writes about how to face hardships in his letters to the Romans and the Corinthians, and the book of Job in the Old Testament contains

Often the best things in life come with sorrow before the joy. This is true in the life of Katie Davis, who is a missionary in Uganda. She wrote a book about her life there called Kisses from Katie. It tells of the hard times, the good times, and all sorts of things that she has experienced during her time in Uganda. Katie is always talking about the joy and the peace she gets from living the life God has called her to, but that does not mean she doesn’t experience trials and hard times too. This is shown in one specific situation with one of her daughters that displays the idea of healthy confusion which is a situation that has both pleasure and disquietude.

One major effect of well-developed spirituality include having a positive and meaningful view of life and developing a sense of coherence that allows survivors of abuse and neglect to comprehend and make meaningful sense of trauma, and manage personal resources to deal with stressors in life (Glenn, 2014). As a Christian it is easy to make the correlation between a strong, confident spiritual relationship with the ability to overcome struggles and trauma of our past. It is encouraging to see empirical research to support our beliefs.

Life’s sufferings offer us a lesson to build character and faith to ultimately gain judgement.

Two central themes to understanding the human condition are suffering and morality. Humans contrive morality to be a set of values deemed right or wrong in a society, and are often defined by institutions. These guidelines shape the way people live and how they react to life’s circumstances. Suffering is one emotion crucial to the understanding of existence. In a time of pain, an individual often seeks direction from a higher power, like the church. Institutions such as religion are a way of expressing morality and a means to cope with suffering, a crucial understanding of the human condition.