The medieval walls of \u00c1vila, built between AD 1090 and the 1300s, are still remarkably intact.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eric Metaxas, Life, God, and Other Small Topics: Conversations from Socrates in the City<\/em> (New York: Plume\/Penguin, 2011) includes, among others, a transcript of a 23 January 2003 New York City speech by the philosopher Peter Kreeft, of Boston College.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Suppose you throw God into the package. \u00a0What\u2019s God\u2019s answer to the problem of suffering, when he finally appears and gives Job, the archetypal sufferer, his answer? \u00a0Job asks all sorts of great questions, and God doesn\u2019t answer a single one of them. \u00a0He says basically \u2014 if I may summarize his great rhetoric in a few much less great words: \u201cHush, child, you couldn\u2019t possibly understand. \u00a0Who do you think you are, anyway? \u00a0I\u2019m the Author; you\u2019re the character.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nAfter the first shock, we realize that makes immense sense. \u00a0If, in fact, we are characters in a story written by a transcendent Author, then for us to understand each syllable of this mysterious play would refute the hypothesis that there is a transcendent Author. \u00a0He would no longer be transcendent. \u00a0He would be us; he would be a projection of us. \u00a0In other words, it\u2019s utterly rational that life be irrational. \u00a0(52)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, though, Kreeft offers several \u201cspecifically religious arguments that depend upon faith in the supernatural and in a divine revelation\u201d:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
One answer to why we suffer is basically God\u2019s answer to Job: \u00a0\u201cTrust me.\u201d \u00a0It\u2019s an invitation to trust \u2014 what parents give to children: \u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re a child; you can\u2019t understand, but you can love, you can trust. \u00a0You don\u2019t have to, but you can.\u201d . \u00a0. . \u00a0Look at Jesus\u2019s first words in John\u2019s gospel: \u201cCome and see.\u201d \u00a0What an open-ended invitation!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nSecondly, there is hope, which is faith directed toward the future. \u00a0Suppose the entire universe is a very small thing, a womb. \u00a0When you were in the womb, you probably thought that was the whole universe; it was enormous. \u00a0Is there life after birth? \u00a0Maybe so, maybe not. \u00a0You found out that there was. \u00a0Well, maybe that\u2019ll happen again when you die, in which case you couldn\u2019t possibly understand the meaning of suffering here. \u00a0This is only the womb. \u00a0When you were a little fetus, you probably said, \u201cWhy do I have feet? \u00a0Why am I kicking? \u00a0There are no sidewalks.\u201d \u00a0But now, you know. \u00a0Probably 99 percent of what we do here is preparation for the next life, which we can understand about as well as our cats and dogs can understand our life.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s possible to believe the astonishing claim of Saint Teresa of Avila, who suffered a lot and asked God about it and got some answers. \u00a0She said, \u201cThe most horrible life on earth filled with the most atrocious sufferings will be seen from the viewpoint of heaven to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.\u201d \u00a0If that\u2019s not true, then heaven is not heaven. \u00a0(53-54)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Eric Metaxas, Life, God, and Other Small Topics: Conversations from Socrates in the City (New York: Plume\/Penguin, 2011) includes, among others, a transcript of a 23 January 2003 New York City speech by the philosopher Peter Kreeft, of Boston College. \u00a0 Suppose you throw God into the package. \u00a0What\u2019s God\u2019s answer to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Avila](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/11\/800px-Avila_001.jpg\")
<\/a>