How do you know God cares?

[awareness]

Originally Posted by Trapped

awareness, self-medication is at this point the only thing that has gotten me through. God has put me in the LC so that I have no real friends in the LC or outside of it either. This means no human comfort. For God's sake, as I type that right there, how do I know God cares when He has put me in a place where I, as a human, can get no human comfort and then He doesn't step up and fill in the gap? Why create a person to endure that kind of thing?

Well that's brutally honest, to say the least. I didn't mean to run straightway to God-is-dead-Nietzsche. But on second thought you and Nietzsche seems to share in the same despair. I won't get into it out here -- in Nietzsche hate land -- but Nietzsche was actually despairing that God was dead.

My initial response, in my head, to 'does God care?' was, I'm here, so He must care. Same for you.

But you make a good point. If He cares because we're here, then why make us suffer? That age old question, well shaped in classical antiquity ... and echoed in the book of Job.

Originally Posted by Trapped

When God also doesn't show up, that leaves self-medication or a mental breakdown. I'm not talking about destructive stuff, just crutches that get me through and occupy me in a positive or neutral way.

I hope this forum is helping. I actually know of mental breakdowns after leaving the LC. The answer provided of 'turn to the Word' brought one to mind. I grew close to a very intense , driven, and given, brother due to heading up service groups with him.

Long and short of it, during the turmoil I was going thru in the c. in Ft. Lauderdale this brother took off to Anaheim, to be closer and more given to 'the flow.' But there the contradiction between teachings and practices caused so much cognitive dissonance that he ran north to a locality where he could get far away. Ultimately, even there he was losing his mind so much that he had to let it all go or go out of his mind. I remember him telling me years later that he had to even let go of reading the Bible.

Originally Posted by Trapped

I'm not gonna turn to Nietzsche for actual help, but I have been thinking recently of reading more things like that. I have respect for the Christian apologists who are clearly well read and get into this stuff so they actually know what they say and can speak to it.

Open up a little. Good things have been known to happen.

Originally Posted by Trapped

You are more than welcome to go ahead and get into it with zeek and Igzy and others; I'm checking in every day or so and can contribute when I have time. I don't feel like I own the thread; more just started it to create discussion and I'm glad to let that lead wherever it does. If it veers off way far I can pipe up.

Somebody other than Untohim needs to keep me in line. Thanks.

And I might get into it with zeek and Igzy, if there's a point. There's no point in calling into question subjective perspectives.