Slight rant

I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, No.
Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.

I take issues with this statement. Many, many issues. But I’ll name just one.

This is the kind of statement that rich people can use as an excuse to say, “Well, it’s a good thing that the poor suffer because it brings them closer to God.” Okay, maybe two issues.

TWO: Suffering alone does not bring us closer to God. I do think that God is in suffering. Just because things are bad does not mean that God is excluded from it. Just like when things are good does not mean that God is there. HOWEVER, suffering does not equal good experience. Cross bearing SUCKS. It is meant to suck. It is not alleviated by the thought, “At least this will bring me closer to God.” Pain was not created to bring us closer to God. I am not in the God killed Jesus camp. Jesus did not die for my sins – he died because of them. Jesus would not have suffered had it not been for human crappiness – I can’t believe that is a word. Suffering is NOT a badge of honor. Suffering is BAD and should be eliminated. Will it be? No. That is not the point. The point is that statements like the one above make suffering seem like something holy and spiritual because it will “bring[s] [us] closer to [God].”

I think I’ll pass.