TO SUFFER

I have a dear friend whose central attribute of character is compassion. She questions why some people have to suffer so much in this life while others don't? It positively wrecks her soul when she hears of someone's pain.  I have thought about her question long and hard and I offer here my understanding which admittedly comes from a finite and limited mortal view.

I believe fully and completely in the principle of free agency. Because of it we can never blame God for anything we experience. I believe we exercised the privilege of this agency even before we were born as spirits, while we were so called 'intelligences'  (Abraham 3:22).  It makes sense to me that back then  we chose to be born as spirits with a view to be embodied in flesh on our journey to godhood.  I believe that in the spirit world we advanced on different levels and that each of us mapped out a plan for our mortal experience which would enable us to work out our salvation. In other words, we each chose our life's difficulties. We wanted to advance ourselves and because of that there were certain qualities, characteristics and attributes we wanted to acquire and develop. Our lives were planned with  challenges that corresponded with the goals we had to give us the desired end. We also opted for difficult situations for the benefit of others who we wanted to help. I do not believe that we are here to be subjected to random and arbitrary experiences . To randomly have to suffer without any cause  would be supreme injustice. Since God is just this  theory of random suffering does not ring true to me. Hence my belief is that we chose our suffering. That's justice and justice can only exist where there is free agency. The idea that we chose afflictions such as abuse, neglect, physical pain, mental anguish, starvation, poverty and horrific earthly experiences is a bitter pill to swallow now that we are here and are experiencing it. Our understanding is finite and our eternal perspective difficult to maintain.

Two questions arise out of this theory of free choice. Firstly, did we really understand what suffering was having never experienced it prior to mortality? Many of us would argue that we did not. For instance, a woman does not know what child bearing is like until she is wheeled into the labour ward. The interesting point is that she chooses it again even after experiencing it once.  I would argue that we understood exactly and perfectly what suffering would be like and that this understanding was given to us by the power of God's spirit, He himself having experienced mortality and having experiential knowledge thereof. This truth is confirmed to me by the fact that a third of God's children backed out of the Plan because they understood exactly what mortality was going to be like and therefore opted for Satan's plan with the promise of 'free lunch' (D&C 29:36). The understanding must have been incredibly comprehensive and thus Satan's plan very appealing for those spirits to forsake the all consuming love of God the Father and his promise of eternal life with Him.

Secondly, if we understood it so well how could we possibly choose to suffer so cruely? Those who kept their second estate and were brave enough to embrace mortality with the full understanding of what that actually meant must have been brave enough to embrace it for only one reason: they had explicit faith in Jesus Christ and His power to save us from it. So dependable and honourable was Christ from the beginning that we knew with certainty that He would see the task to the end and save each and every one of us. I believe even those who were not to know Him in this life chose His plan because they knew that in the end the Atonement would bring them healing.

I see other reasons for suffering in mortality besides our desire for self-advancement such as a test of faith but all of these reasons pale in significance to the greatest reason of all. Jesus plainly demonstrated this principle when He healed people of their physical infirmities during this ministry. He didn't heal people  just out of His compassion. There was an important lesson to be learnt from it. It is most obvious in the story of a woman who suffered from 'an issue of blood' for 12 years. The Gospel of Mark records that she suffered many things at the hands of many physicians and none could heal her while she grew worse. Imagine hemorrhaging for twelve years with no end in sight. Out of desperation was born faith that Jesus could heal her and heal her He did merely by the touch of His garment. Both Matthew and Mark cite Christ saying to her that her faith had made her whole but Luke adds something more that the Saviour said to her: "Go in peace" (Luke 9:48) denoting spiritual healing as well as the physical one. What was He trying to teach the people He healed?  That the greatest suffering is not of the body but of the spirit and it is this suffering that we stand to be subjected to if we do not come unto Him. The Saviour expressly said if we do not repent of our sins and allow His Atonement to pay the price of sin we will have to suffer even as He (D&C 19:15-18). The suffering of this life would pale in significance compared to such suffering.

The greatest lesson of suffering is that it is meant to bring us to Christ, the fountain of our salvation. I hear people say, "God won't give you anything that you can't handle" but I believe quite the opposite is true. He will give us whatever it takes to bring us to Him for our eternal welfare is His primary concern. Whether we learn that suffering is meant to bring us to Him here and now or are taught this principle after this life, it matters not. By experiencing suffering here we learn what it actually is and most importantly, that we don't want it and that lesson is of eternal advantage. We live in a fallen world where Satan reigns supreme. We will experience suffering from physical bodies, mental illness, from sin and from actions of others.  It all comes for a purpose even if we don't understand what it is. What we need to know and have faith in is that the Saviour has atoned for it ALL. In Him there is freedom, in Him there is peace, in Him there is joy. May we strive to live so that one day we may find refuge and rest in the shadow of His protective arms where rests eternal life.

BUT WHO ARE YOU?

The book of Acts records that "God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul" (Acts 19:11). So powerful and effective was Paul in his ministry that handkerchiefs were brought from him to the sick and they were healed from diseases and the evil spirits departed from the ones so afflicted  (Acts 19:12). So well known were Paul's  works that a certain group of vagabond Jews attempted to cast out an evil spirit by his name. During the exorcism an unexpected happened. The evil spirit said to them: "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" (Acts 19:13-15) Undoubtedly this evil spirit was referring to  the priesthood authority by which devils could be cast out but when I read this story it made me feel that the evil spirit also  knew Jesus and Paul because of how mighty they were and what they did. I immediately wondered how I would feel if I was trying to dispel the adversary in some way and he said to me: "Who are you?" How would I feel if the adversary didn't know me; if he thought I was "in the bag" and didn't merit his attention; that I didn't need to be on his radar; that he didn't recognise me as a threat and a defender of the truth.  I am by nature a warrior. I like to think that I was in the front ranks with the best of them during the war in heaven.  And I like to think that I am one of adversary's  worthy opponents here in mortality. 

Reflective in Paul's letters is his unwavering commitment to Christ but we know it was not always so. Paul was a devout Jew, and a strict Pharisee no less (Acts 26:5) and he was intent on destroying the Christians (Acts 26:9-11). It's hard to believe that Christ would choose a man such as this to raise him up to such power that he could heal people and cast out devils merely by sending his handkerchiefs. Paul endured terrible hardships and paid an enormous price for his discipleship and thereby  became the greatest missionary of early Christendom. Out of these hardships was born an iron clad commitment to the very person whom he persecuted. When Ananias was given a vision in which he would heal the newly converted Paul from his blindness, he was hesitant to even meet the man who openly persecuted the believers but the Lord told him that Paul was a chosen vessel to bear His name before the Gentiles and then He added: "For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake" (Acts 9:10-16). And suffer Paul did. Repeatedly imprisoned, thrice beaten with rods, once stoned and left for dead, survived three shipwrecks, spent a night and a day in  waters' deep, dwelt in perils of robbers and of his own countrymen, lived amongst heathen, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness (2 Corinthians 11:23-27). And this supercedes all....he was scourged by the Jews 5 times. One might wonder why Paul subjected himself to these scourgings? Many other times he escaped persecution by claiming his Roman citizenship which means the Jews couldn't touch him. So why these scourgings? According to Mosaic law, a wrong doer was to be lashed 40 times (Det 25:3) but no more than that for fear of death. Paul says he received 'forty stripes save one' (2 Cor 11:24) meaning he received 39 lashes. In their meticulous administration of the Mosaic law the Jews administered 39 lashes instead of 40 in fear of a miscount. Once the recipient was scourged he was viewed as being fully restored, having paid completely any debt incurred by his wrongdoing. The alternative to scourging meant excommunication from the synagogue. Why would Paul care about such excommunication? He was after all, a converted Christian so synagogues should not have meant so much to him, only they did.....because Paul's first point of contact in his missionary journeys was always the local synagogue. This is where the majority of his preaching took place. Paul was a missionary called to the Gentiles, and this mission he fulfilled admirably,  but in his veins ran the blood of Israel and I believe his heart rested there. Imagine going into a Jewish synagogue and telling the people you were preaching to that they had crucified their god. Now imagine doing this repeatedly knowing that you will be apprehended, imprisoned and scourged to the brink of death. But this Paul did without fear because of his commitment to Christ. Is it any wonder that the evil spirits knew him? 

And is there anyone greater than the adversary in his cause to destroy our pledged commitment to the source of our salvation? The scriptures tell us that Lucifer was "a liar from the beginning" (D&C 93:25). What did he lie about? He lied about his commitment to sustain God's plan for redemption of mankind. He had an ulterior motive, to forfeit his sustaining vote and present another plan which would give him God's glory (Moses 4:1-4; D&C 29:36). He is an upstart and a wannabe. His one goal is to steal, kill and destroy. He seeks to steal our spiritual identity, kill our faith in God and destroy our commitment to Christ. In his subtlety 'he will use his logic to confuse and his rationalisations to destroy. He will shade meanings, open doors an inch at a time, and lead from purest white through all the shades of gray to the darkest black' (Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, p. 152). He will stop at nothing and he will lead even the very elect away from the truth (Matthew 24:24).  But when all is said and done and the earth is rolled together as a scroll he will become nothing and those that see him will say in amazement: "Is this the man that made the earth  tremble, that did shake kingdoms?" (Isaiah 14:16). He knows nothing of loyalty, integrity and commitment. But Paul did and when his time was up he was able to say:

 "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" 

(2 Timothy 4:7)