Pain

[s0teric]

Many say that there couldn't possibly be a god because of the existence of pain. Or if such a god existed that allowed pain he would be cruel/uncaring if he allowed such events to occur. However, why is pain considered to be a deterrent to believing in god? I believe the common misperception resides in the nature of God. What are your thoughts?

[seirachan]

Without pain there would be no point in life. It gives us meaning, an end, lets us know out limits and what we are doing wrong. If nobody hurt emotionally or bled, life would be pretty pointless.

[† TheChaosLegion]

I appreciate pain. It really lets me know that i'm still alive as a person. For instance: I almost never get sick, so when I do I really take the time to appreciate the experience. That's not quite the same as pain, but I think it still falls into the same category. Any higher dimensional, omnipotent god-like being(s) would likely have no concept or understanding of pain, so I doubt they would activity seek to inflict it on lower beings just for the shit of it. Pain is simply a natural response system that evolved to warn organisms of environmental and or physical danger.

Pain is also a wonderful tool for getting people to pay the money they owe. With interest.

[† Mute point]

Some would use pain as evidence for the fact that their invisible supernatural being is real.

In mythology, in the beginning there was no pain, sickness, or any of the other things people blame god for. but the gods had placed all of that into a box, leaving the potential for it in the world, but leaving the mortals to make the choice to leave the box alone, or open it and see what horrible things lay within. Pandora opened the box, unleashing all of the evils within upon the world, as well as one final gift from the gods, hope.

While I don't believe it to be a literal tale, the message behind it is that humans cause their own suffering, and can either wallow in it, or hope for a better day.

[DrumRoll]

Pain stops us putting our hand in the fire. Makes us learn from our mistakes, it makes us mentally evolve within ourselves.

If there was a God then he would surely have imbued we with the knowledge of what will result in pain and what will not.

[Avith]

As for the exsistance of a god, I don't know really. I'm not sure if I belive in a god or not, but I do belive in myself. I know what I experience is real, even pain. I belive somewhat in the balance theory and yin-yang theory. We can not know pleasure without pain or have peace without chaos. To have one without the other is impossible. If you were always in pain, how would you know unless you've experienced pleasure also? How would you understand what joy is if you've never experienced sorrow?

[Edder]

Some would use pain as evidence for the fact that their invisible supernatural being is real.

In mythology, in the beginning there was no pain, sickness, or any of the other things people blame god for. but the gods had placed all of that into a box, leaving the potential for it in the world, but leaving the mortals to make the choice to leave the box alone, or open it and see what horrible things lay within. Pandora opened the box, unleashing all of the evils within upon the world, as well as one final gift from the gods, hope.

While I don't believe it to be a literal tale, the message behind it is that humans cause their own suffering, and can either wallow in it, or hope for a better day.

[Sebastian]

Pain proves we are alive. Its who we are,we need pain.

[Monad-Gnostis]

Think of it as being cruel to an ant when you destroy its ant hill what do they do?,

they rebuild as if anything even happened, we do the same regenerate our skin when we are wounded, and heal emotionally stonger then before.., god on the other hand when did he exist?, when did he touch earth?, for all we know never he would never touch earth because he may be scared of what would happen, think about yourself touching dirt or soil you get dirty right?, how do you think god will clean himself?

[Alucard101]

Pain is the body's way of teaching itself how to protect itself from harmful external phenomena. It relates to the concept of the "soul" also. Human bodies need "souls" inside them that feel the pain and help the body learn. Seen this way, the soul is ironically but a means to the end that is the body.

[Monad-Gnostis]

Pain is the body's way of teaching itself how to protect itself from harmful external phenomena. It relates to the concept of the "soul" also. Human bodies need "souls" inside them that feel the pain and help the body learn. Seen this way, the soul is ironically but a means to the end that is the body.

Have ever seen Seven Pounds?

[Leviathan87]

great movie............. back on topic, i go through pain pretty much everyday. without it i wouldn't know what i do today it would be a pontless life. and i dont believe in god, but i do believe theres a afterlife of somesort, like a alternate universe.

[† Anras Rune]

Pain is something to be respected and feared. Pain is the means to an end, the thing that drives us forward. It is also the worst thing most people experience. Me, I experience very little pain, something to do with fucked nerve endings or something, so when I do feel pain, I appreciate it. For those who know me from the cb, you know what that means...^^

But the point im trying to get across is that any omnipotent being wouldn't have the concept of pain, nevermind actually experiencing said pain. So along that line of thought, if we are created in God's image then does that mean he feels pain? If God bleeds does that not mean he ceases to be God? Meh, it's either that or He has decided to curse us with suffering just for kicks. He sees all that we do apparently, so why allow us to die in pain? Even thought He shouldn't understand the concept or mechanism of pain, He does understand the idea of sorrow. Pain brings sorrow, grief and anguish. He understands all these things, so why allow it to continue? We may learn from our mistakes, but thousands suffer pain daily for reasons they cannot control, so I ask; Why should we believe in a God that cannot understand us in the fullest? Why should we bow to something that has no concept of one of our basest biological principles?

Well, I believe pain for reason is understandable, but due to my disbelief in God, I believe that its only a natural occurance, that can't be helped. Not proof of God. In fact, imo it proves that even if He is real, we should not believe in Him if he has granted us with something He cannot experience.

[DuLake]

I hear a lot that happiness cannot exist without pain, and I'm not so sure. It seems to me that it could be we just see it that way because that is how it exists in our reality. Like how people deem humanity to be the perfect creation, but if we had three eyes, that would be considered perfect. An issue of pride, so to speak.

Even still, I have a difficult time imagining a world without pain. Maybe it is just our familiarity with pain (as I can't think of a world of pure pain either), but seems to be utopia a fleeting thing. It seems as though we can't define happiness without imperfection or pain, which leads me to my take on the issue.

From my experience, and the people I know, a moment of pain can undo a life of happiness. Sure, you have some who feel pain and use it as motivation, ironically defining their lives with past pains. Still, very few people every go to Disney World and say “this is so much better because I stubbed my toe last week.” In fact, the day after Disney World, when that person return to their normal life, things may seem less enjoyable than before, because Disney was so much better (the person will recall and compare their trip to everything they do that day).

How it seems to me, is not that pain shows us happiness, but that happiness shows us pain. Consider children in developing nations. I went to Honduras twice during high school, and met incredibly happy children (I won't say happier than domestic children, but still happy). Of course, I was new and fun and so they may have just seemed happier, but, even watching them play amongst themselves, they seemed just as happy as American children. Yet they had so much less. The happy children I met lived in a garbage dump, and ate only once or twice a week at a feeding station set up by a charity (any more and they'd get sick for not being acclimated to nutrition). Some of them went to school, but many could not afford a mandatory uniform. Hell, many of them couldn't afford clothes except what they found in that dump. These children smiled through what an American child would consider a very painful existence. How? Because they never knew any better. They were never happier than they had been.

I guarantee that if you took one of those children out of the dump for a year, brought them to America, fed them, educated them, and gave them everything they wanted, then put them back in the dump, they'd hurt. Not just physically (though they'd feel hunger more than ever before), but in a much deeper way as well. The truth is, in my eyes at least, we can only know pain for how happy we've been (or could be).

So yeah, god would be a cruel son-of-a-gun if he existed. Think of how eloquently the Bible starts with perfection, then jukes into reality, only to promise something better, trying desperately to feed our discontent and manipulate us. Not merciful at all. That's one of the many reasons I don't believe in (specifically) the Christian god, because for all the mercy Christian's claim, it just doesn't fit with reality.

[Catwoman]

I don't believe in a God, however, I believe in karma.

I also believe that there can be no good without something bad.