Hi John,

This is an interesting thread you've started.

I don't attend church and have philosophical struggles with various forms of organized religion that I've studied, but I have come to believe that trying to please God, by becoming more like him, results in ultimately allowing us to be closer to him. The more we please, the closer we are to him. The more we don't please, the farther we are from him. Being close feels wonderful (heaven), while being far away feels miserable (hell). Thus, for instance, someone who treats children kindly is getting closer to God, while a child abuser is far away and miserable. So it 's more a matter of degrees of closeness. And if our children are living miserable lives, we're not watching them writhe in hell. We just know that they need to struggle harder, to learn more, to get closer, and there is always hope that they will get closer.

It seems to me this is like the parent/child relationship. The child wants to be close to the parent, to please the parent, and the more he doesn't do what pleases the parent, the farther away he is, and the more miserable. That's why children try so hard to please their parents. And this, I believe, is the same with God. As his children, we try to please him. We want to please him, to be close to him. Because being close to him feels glorious, and to be far away feels hellish. Of course, then the whole debate begins about what God finds to be pleasing...

Also, I believe that if/when we achieve a more "God-like" state, then we will grieve for all those who struggle, not just our children.

Oh, to Big Jim's question about why God would let us suffer...my belief is that while we're suffering, it is leading to something bigger that we can't see. Sort of like when you have a toddler, and he starts walking, you don't go to extraordinary lengths (full helmut and gear, for instance) to make sure he never feels any pain when he falls or hits his head. As a parent, you realize that in order to get to the greater goal of walking without falling, he needs to take his lumps along the way. So, with this ultimate goal in mind, you allow him to feel pain. I believe that this is how God works. He lets us take our lumps, knowing that it is leading to some greater understanding or goal that we may not be able to see yet.

Lisa

Last edited by Lisa Gundling; 12/06/11 01:05 PM.