SUFFERING.....part two

Some suffering is a mystery, especially where the spiritual life is concerned. But some is clearly explainable. Death may have entered creation with the sin of Adam and Eve in the Genesis account, but we know it was throughout the natural world before there were any human beings on the planet. Birth, a life span, and death all follow the natural laws that God established in the very beginning. We can deny all of this and defend creationism as the fundamentalists do, but the last three popes were clear that the Catholic Church is open to what science is discovering about our planet's origins and that of all life. We,must, however recognize that God gave homosapians a rational soul as a specific act of creation. (St. John Paul ll)

A terrible tornado kills 20 people - in a city that sits in the middle of tornado alley. This is totally explainable suffering. The same is true of floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and the whole world of diseases and genetics. I have terrible allergies. I also have a higher than average amount of Neanderthal DNA - from Neanderthals mating with my ancestors in Europe. When I mentioned that to my Allergist he said, "Oh, we've known about that relationship for years!"

When two people marry, and one or both are really selfish, both suffer. When a man or woman suffers PTSD as a result of their service to their country, that suffering is also explainable. And of course, there are many other examples. My next post will take up some aspects of spiritual suffering. Give me a few days ☺