Of suffering. Who knew.

I was at the gym today, as usual, to pursue my sadistic pleasure. In my blurry vision ( I don’t wear my glasses at the gym) I made out the form of an Asian girl. If I was any more short sighted, I might have missed her altogether! She was put new meaning to the adjective “stick figure”! I knew I shouldn’t, but just as boys can’t leave a dead insect alone, I couldn’t help looking. Honestly, if you looked from an angle, you could mistake it for a piece of hair in front of your eye. Don’t get me wrong. I am not making fun of her. Nor am I pitying her. I, for one, would be first to volunteer that my self image and eating habits aren’t entirely related to hunger. It did, however, lead me to think, what drives her. I have blogged (evidently, this is not a word in Microsoft Word) about body image and my views on that before. I won’t repeat myself. Instead, I wondered about pain…and perhaps suffering. To distract myself from staring, I started thinking. I was listening to the BBC yesterday (yes, it’s a fetish of mine). An Anglican bishop was giving a talk on Lent, on giving up pleasures. He said that Christians emphasise the suffering of Jesus too much. There were, afterall, more painful ways of dying in those days. He felt that the Jesus’ mission was to spread the Good News for the living, not for the dead. So He said, Let the dead bury the dead (don’t know which bit of scripture it’s from) to people, which was outrageous to the Jews in those days. The reason for Jesus’ death on the Cross was for the redemption of life. Thus the ultimate important issue is Life not death or suffering. A point he felt, is lost, in today’s pre occupation with explanations for why God allows disasters. I guess he’s trying to say that it’s important to look at life, and live it, not trying to explain it. Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people. Perhaps Christians have a defensiveness around suffering – why their God, my God (given that I do identify myself as a Christian), allows it to happen. Understanding is important to enable “getting through” but when it becomes an all consuming pursuit, it can be a hindrance. And there has been a lot of talk along this line around me presently…Hmm, I hope no one from my church reads this… Anyway, God meant for all things to be good and beautiful. It is the interference of sin (original sin is often cited here) that it doesn’t work out that way. God therefore chose to atone this by Jesus’ sacrifice. It is along the idea of a judge, wouldn’t simply annul a law, to acquit a murder, even if the murderer is his blood brother. Did God allow it to happen? Apparently so. Did He want it to happen? Doesn’t seem like it, otherwise why bother with the atonement? Could He have stopped it? Probably, if you believe He can do all things as the Bible claims. Why He didn’t stop it? That is the question. At this point, I think it is also important not to loose sight of the ULTIMATE goal – for people to be fulfilled and happy. But because of the problem with sin (original sin and all), it had to be atoned. Hence the Cross and Jesus’ death. But what God truly wants, is for people to be happy – contentment, perhaps is a better word. For I’m certain God does not condone partying all night, take drugs, get #@$%%^. I guess I take a very pragmatic view of things. I, for one, cannot explain suffering, why it happens to good people, why it happens to bad people. I have had shit happen in my life. “shit” – dad having a stroke, the best person I know developing a horrible mental illness, I don’t know if it is “shit” in God’s eyes but it feels like it to me. The way I look at it, it happens to everyone, some more than others. One has no choice about it. One does, however, choose how to react. I hope I’m not sounding self righteous. I have many, MANY weaknesses, skeletons in the Olivia Lee closet is stacked! Granted that understanding “why” it happens helps one to deal with it, I wonder, if the reason it remains an enigma may be the God doesn’t want it to be understood…just now. PERHAPS, if we understood it, we would become complacent. Maybe, not knowing, thus constant questioning, leads to pursuit of improvement, even if, the ultimate eradication of suffering, is not, within human means. Part of the purpose of being human, is getting there… Back to reality. Sweat and heat of the gym floor. I wince at her every movement. I fear she might snap at any moment. Plus the fact that she keeps dropping these silent farts that are quite frankly…lethal. So I went home promptly. PS. The second bit of the title refers to the Eminem song…and yes, as an Asian female, I agree with that line referring to driving :-P