(March 19, 2021 at 11:21 am)Angrboda Wrote: It's a funny thing, but misfortune tends to bring out the best in us. Maybe God isn't involved, but there seems to be a kernel of truth obscured by the religious explanation.
Yes, it can in some cases. I agree. And my problem isn't with the idea that struggle and adversity can bring about change and healthy growth in people. The thing I disagree with and find sad is the intent when God is behind it. Because not everyone is taught lessons through pain. Some people learn things through being given opportunities and good fortune. Some people learn through hard work and earning and creating things for themselves. And who's to say a softer lesson might not have worked just as well? A God who says to me, "You were just too prideful! I HAD to humble you through crippling you in a horrific way!" is one that doesn't deserve to be called God and it is not a being worthy of my worship. Abuse is not a teaching tool. The God of everything, if it existed, if it wants to stand up as the ultimate standard of good in this world, if it wants to reassure me that it knows me and understands what is best for me, better than I do, does not get to inflict pain upon me and talk about my arrogance and how it's my fault that I am hurt and how much I deserve suffering.
That's what I hear when my friend spoke about this to me. That he was given pain and he couldn't just take a lesson from something that happened and grow from it. He had to twist it to make it so that his struggles are something he earned, that his suffering was how his Creator shows him love. That's how God loves him, in his mind.
I also empathise because I had that same mindset when I was a believer. That everything good that happened was because God loved me and wished for me to be happy. And everything bad that happened to me was also because God loved me. I existed at the whim of some being that said it wanted the best for me, but really, I was nothing but a toy and a tool for it. It taught me that love comes with a price.
