Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
Suffering is an evil, plain and simple. It's a product of the fall. What places it in the limelight of virtue is when someone is willing to endure it out of love for another. Suffering in and of itself does not produce character. It is the endurance of suffering for the sake of another or for a higher cause which produces character.
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Igzy,
I agree with everything in your post except the part quoted above. I'm not sure that suffering is "evil." It is, as you said, a product of something else like a symptom is of a disease. The disease I'll accept as evil but the sympton ... isn't it actually sometimes a good thing? Pain, for instance, signals we need to take care of something.
Tony Dungee, Indy Colts coach (until recently), has a son who doesn't sense pain like the rest of us. He has said that because of his experience with his son he now realizes the necessity of pain.
Anyway, I don't want to hijack the thread either but this point matters to me. One of my lurking concerns is how eternity is going to be very enjoyable if all suffering is taken away. What provides the contrast? It is truly a conundrum as far as I'm concerned. I never get all misty-eyed when people start waxing rapturously about "heaven" and how it will be so perfect and joyful with no sorrow or pain. Something about that tale doesn't ring true with me.
SC