On the subject of God teaching through suffering, we are talking about an omnipotent God, right? Could this omnipotent God not have created a way to impart the exact same knowledge that we learn through suffering without the actual suffering? Why is the pain necessary?
When I hear people talk about suffering having a higher purpose, I simply hear a human grasping at straws to make sense of an indifferent universe. Humans have the ability to become stronger from adversity, but I see absolutely no reason to assume that the strength gained from the adversity is the reason for the adversity. Bad shit happens, and we learn from it. Just because we learn from it, however, does not mean that bad shit had a purpose. Learning from adversity is a coping mechanism, not the purpose for the adversity.
When I hear people talk about suffering having a higher purpose, I simply hear a human grasping at straws to make sense of an indifferent universe. Humans have the ability to become stronger from adversity, but I see absolutely no reason to assume that the strength gained from the adversity is the reason for the adversity. Bad shit happens, and we learn from it. Just because we learn from it, however, does not mean that bad shit had a purpose. Learning from adversity is a coping mechanism, not the purpose for the adversity.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
