Suffering In The Old Testament By Mia Turner

They encountered the pain and suffering that came along with

This quarter in IGE 121- Rationalism, Revelation, and Enlightenment: The Ancient World there has been a lot of material covering death, suffering, fate, destiny, and good and evil. Three out of the many readings that cover death and suffering would be “Book of Matthew” and “Antigone” and “Book of Job”. A reading of this quarter that reveals suffering would be “Prometheus Bound” and “Book of Matthew”. An additional text that disclose one of themes is the Mayan book “Popol Vuh”. People often ask what the reasons are on why good people have to suffer.

The USS Congress, Cumberland, Minnesota, and the Monitor all battle it out overseas with the CSS Merrimack and Beaufort. Each ship only has only one goal in mind, to send the other ship and all of their crew down to their watery graves. In this seemingly endless battle the question on everyone’s mind is: does suffering come from God, as a form of punishment or testing, or does it arise from and within man, when man tires to be like God? Afloat in Virginia, upon the USS Congress everything is still and quiet. The crew is talking about their surroundings, talking about the sweet breeze and looking at the stars above.

Everyone has experienced pain, but we all deal with it differently. Some people try to avoid experiencing pain, for they are scared; while others accept their punishment and agony. Moral people tolerate their pain and trauma by making their traumatic experience meaningful and important. They learn from their punishment and try to provide insight. In the stories of Antigone and Boycott, Letter From Birmingham Jail, righteous people fought for their beliefs without violence and dealt with their suffering without hesitation.

Chapter 22, Section 2: Hardship and Suffering during the

It's what they endure. The child knows they won't talk anymore because if he knows too much about what's happened to them, he'll know too much too soon, about what's going to happen to him” (83-84). The “darkness outside” indicates that suffering can be passed down from generation to generation. The parents would like to protect their children for as long as they can. Suffering is an inevitable part of the individual’s life.

And if God is God, why is He letting us suffer?” (1) The lifelong quest for answers to these questions shaped his theology

A “simple creature of flesh and bone”(76-77) is not seen as being capable of understanding god’s will. Unlike god a person’s views may be warped by emotion; someone may “suffer hell in [their] soul and [their] flesh.”(77) After the death of Akida Drummer the prisoners forget to pray for him as a direct result of their own suffering. Unlike a god they have been rendered unable to fulfill their promise to their friend because of their own emotional trauma. Sorrow and other emotional responses are described as a force capable of destroying one’s ability to reason. Furthermore humankind is not seen as having adequate trust in god’s will.

Suffering is something that everyone will experience at least once in their life; however, some people are constantly suffering and feel that they forever will. This idea is shown in many different texts throughout history. An example of is the tale of Prometheus. This story has many different versions, but the original, written in 430 BCE, is Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus. It tells the story of the titian Prometheus and the punishment that he suffers at the hands of Zeus.

Questions of Suffering Many people tend to ask the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Perhaps the question people are actually getting at is, “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?” Suffering occurs to each and every one of us, in different severities and in various ways. Think of the Jews in the Holocaust, a murder of an innocent person, people effected by natural disasters, or a child not knowing when their next meal will be.

Eve was tempted by the serpent, then Eve tempted Adam to eat fruit from the forbidden tree. When they consumed it, they had knowledge of good and evil. They came to the realization of being naked so they tried to cover themselves. God gave them both consequences

Suffering is revealed by the monster's actions in Frankenstein. He just wants to be loved and have a family but he can’t because of what he looks like and what he is. He suffers because he is not accepted and everyone hates him. The monster states to his creator, “ I am your creature. I was good, but unhappiness had made me bad.

In truth, the blessings and difficulties of life happened to good and bad alike~misfortune happened to everyone. In fact, the barbarians who stormed the city spared, for Christ’s sake, their adversaries. It was unusual that the conqueror would show mercy to the defeated out of respect for their gods. The Romans themselves, when conquering cities, did not spare the lives of the defeated. The cruelties that occurred during the capture of Rome were in agreement with the convention of war, but the acts of mercy were the result of the influence of the name of Christ.

Also, in Genesis where Adam and Eve eat the fruit of knowledge and gain knowledge, but the knowledge also brings suffering into their lives. The

For the Lord will not cast off forever, 32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33 for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men. 34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth, 35 to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High, 36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve. 37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? 39 Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?