Ok, i wrote this for one my classes, thought some of you might be interested
The Ethics of Justices Pain Removal
As the
As we look at pain we find there are basically four causes. First off, Nature. This is basically the effects that natural law has on our bodies, if we step on a nail we are going to get hurt, if we jump of a cliff we are going to die. These aren't punishments for our heinous crime of *gasp* stepping on a nail, they are merely the results of an action. While God could quite easily make the nail turn soft as rubber when people step on it, the same properties that make stepping on the nail painful (its sharp, and doesn't bend easily) also make it possible to build a house with the same nail. If every time something was going to cause another pain God changed its natural properties, our free will would be torn away, and the laws of nature couldnt exist.
Second, Mankind. After the fall, man became evil. Due to this and having free will its only natural to assume that peoples free wills would eventually collide in a painful way. Once again, God could stop this pain, either changing the physical properties of an object intended to harm, or removing all desire to harm others, but both of these would again remove free will from society.
Third, the devil. He, like men, has a free will and is evil. And his will collides with ours and Gods in the same way.
People often wonder how God, being so merciful, can allow pain. The say, "Sure Ive sinned, but hasn't everyone?" they don't understand, we can't be justified by the faults of others, "We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.[2]" People think of sin like a sunburn, everyone gets one occasionally but with time it will go away and people won't even realize it was there, or maybe they'll see it faded to a tan, and think how strong you must be to have made it through that sin. If people grasped what their sin actually was, understood how it must look to God, they wouldn't wonder why there's so much pain, they'd wonder why there is so little. But people are so wrapped up in there facade of kindness and the wishy-washy political correct terms that they don't realize that there is much more to loving others than being kind. When we look back at the middle ages, one of the cruelest times in history, do we think, "Im sure God will over look their cruelness, I mean they had chastity and courage like no other generation." No, we are horrified by the cruelties committed, just as they, looking on us, would be horrified by our lack of courage and chastity. This horrification must only be a fraction of what God feels when he sees our sins. Pain is Gods way of shaping us into what He wants us to be, making us aware of our sins.
Another good thing about pain is it lets us see our good deeds for what they are. For example, if the doctor tells you that you have to eat carrots every day, at first youre like, Stupid carrots I hate eating um. But as you eat them, you start liking them and you eat them all the time, you enjoy eating them, it gives you pleasure. At that point are you eating carrots to obey your doctor? Who knows, its probably more likely that you just like eating carrots now. Its the same way with Gods rules at times, we get to the point were we like doing things the right way, we like fulfilling our call, but when we get there are we using the call as a means to an end(pleasing God), or an end in itself? We dont know, but as long as there is pain involved in our obeying, in our pleasing God, then we know that we arent doing it for us, but for Him.
Do I mean to say that we should seek pain? Not at all, Im not in the least trying to say that pain in itself helps you do anything, pain is good and totally healthy as a means to an end, but as an end itself it doesnt accomplish anything, in fact I would even call it a sin. Things like cutting, self-injury, eating disorders, and causing pain to yourself whether mentally or physically is wrong. God doesnt desire for us to be in pain, but it is sometimes necessary to get his point across, God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain.[3] Its not the pain thats a good thing; it's what we learn from it.
So pain, while being useful for good, isnt in itself a good or healthy thing. The Bible tells us to Not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. (Proverbs 3:27) so we know that it was right for Justice to remove pain from each person, as individuals, just as it is right for doctors or anyone to remove pain from an individual. It is right to help people through their painful experiences, through their troubles; in fact I feel that sitting back and watching idly-by is wrong.
Now, are things that are good for each individual good for society as a whole? The movie Bruce Almighty gave an interesting look at how this would turn out. In the movie, Bruce - given the powers of God says yes to everyones prayers. If everyone got what they wanted, what was good for them, society would collapse, as the mass riots and chaos in Bruce Almighty showed. The story of John Tinker is another excellent example of why this is. In the story, he came to the town of
Removing pain from a society as a whole removes our ability to make choices. In nearly all decisions the result is either painful or not, if we eliminate one of these possibilities we force people down a path they didnt want to take. The other path may be better, but if God wanted robots he would have made us that way. Love and pain and beauty. They all seem to go together like one little tidy confusing package.[4] We cant have one without the other, if we only experienced good, then one of two things would happen. Life would become like a communistic society of emotions, everything is equally good, but some things are more equally good then others, or happiness would just be an empty blah feeling, the same old thing all the time.
Lessons learned by pain are some of the best and most important lessons, not because of the pain, but what we learned from it. No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.[5] Christ suffered pain more than most people ever will, and only when He had made it through the pain did He complete His goal. Without His death, there wouldve been no resurrection. Without pain, our lifes goals would never be completed, or they would lose their sweetness after completion. Life is filled with pain, but if we struggle through it - push through the cocoon that holds us in we will emerge all the more beautiful because of it.
Bibliography
http://www.quotationspage.com
The Bible NIV
The
The Problem of Pain C.S. Lewis Harper Collin Edition 2001, Copy write 1940 by C.S. Lewis
Conversations with Rachel, Misha, and Gabbie
[2] The NIV Romans 3:24
[3]The Problem of Pain C.S. Lewis, Page 91
[4]Henry Bromel, Northern Exposure, The Big Kiss, 1991
