Comments on: Can’t Have the Sweet Without the Bitter

By: Dave Chiu

Dave Chiu — Tue, 07 May 2013 04:50:12 +0000

paraphrasing Jesus’ answer to the question

“Was this man born blind because his parents sinned, or was it for his own misdeed before this life?”

“Neither, but that the glory of God might be made manifest.”

In that case He performed a literally spectacular miracle, but the 99.99+% usual application of manifesting the glory of God is via good people helping/dealing with raw deal unfairness.

By: JMarkAlbright

JMarkAlbright — Mon, 06 May 2013 22:08:20 +0000

My father, one of the best men I have ever known always let me stay up and watch The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits and Alfred Hitchcock. The TZ and OL were very good examples of moral tales. A modern mythology of humanity and our place in the universe and society. I do believe God exist in the minds and hearts of mankind. After all God is an invention of man as is heaven and hell are consequences and rewards for our behavior. It is said that the best that man can hope for this side of the grave is to know the great evil he is capable of. The TZ and OL also showed the great good that mankind is capable of through love and selfless behavior. People believe what they want but in the end it is our actions that determine the quality of our lives not a mythological being. The mystery of God is shallow. The mystery of Man is deep. As for the episode itself the message I got was a simple be careful what you wish for. Needs are as different from wants as deeds are from words. To paraphrase Tom Waits, Bad writing has greatly diminished the quality of our suffering.

By: osled

osled — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:05:36 +0000

So how long to we have to suffer before we’re satisfied? The “villain” in TTZ episode above can’t enjoy anything because he’s selfish. True happiness comes from sharing the good things in life, not from suffering. The only real purpose of suffering is to transcend it.

By: jerry

jerry — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:30:28 +0000

I have come to the conclusion after many years of life that we are not defeated by the pain of life…we are defeated by the unfulfilled unrealistic expectations that we foist on ourselves trying to find meaning in life. Believe in God or not…I don’t care but please don’t harm me or mine because you think that there is no God to set you straight in the end. Those that overbear their beliefs are as annoying to me as those that overbear their lack of belief.

By: Aaron Bailey

Aaron Bailey — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 20:35:49 +0000

I’m interested in your use of the phrase “opposition in all things”. Were you conciously quoting 2 Nephi 2:11? That phrase, printed in 1830 in the most profound discussion of this topic recorded anywhere (2 Nephi 2), should be cited in the article.

By: Bekk

Bekk — Fri, 25 May 2012 03:30:19 +0000

A good article and an issue I have mulled over for sometime, which lead me to the Stoics, Aristotles, etc and now here. There are some really good arguments among the commenters , I would say that to a degree it is relative, but not in a short term or long term framework. All can agree that contrast through whatever means creates stimulus, it makes us see perspective, opens our eyes in other words, comfort or living in ease doesn’t allow for much stimulus, therefor growth, be it the body or mind, and this is the circumstances in our lifetime, we don’t have to get up at 4am or 5 to fish for breakfast or till the land or forage in order not to starve, but to allow our physical and mental abilities to deteriorate isn’t good either, so we push ourselves through exercise and challenges(mentally and physically) to grow, stimulate or renew ourselves. That pain or discomfort makes us feel alive. The suffering in the world (hunger, cruelty, war, rape etc)is a different kind of suffering, and we must separate between man made and natural causes, man made is due to(or results from) the human condition and as such, falls on our responsibility, as a whole, we cause it through our ignorance, our compliance, our ‘good intentions’, our laziness or apathy. Evil does not exist, the potential is in us all, and start with childhood, what our genetic condition responds with as in sensitivity or adrenalin and how we respond or learn to respond, to individual social stimulus from society or culture and family exerted on us, while growing up, will cause ‘evil’, or good to manifest later in life(escape from freedom, man for himself -Eric Fromm). In the case of Nature, it is like bad weather, nothing to blame for, but endure and try to learn from it and prevent future occurences(i.e tsunami’s, volcano’s).
Regarding God’s place in the world, I prefer to let it be a personal matter, but the argument can be philosophical, if God gave us free will, then, if he interfere in any way to save us from harm or choices, we are not free anymore, we become an object or subject to his will(manupilated). We are made in his image, I would assume with the same capacity for free will included.
Live or die and hunger and ease is to some degree a mixture of luck, fate or our choices, if we were given one, not that we can ever be as free as the word suggests, we are always subject to our genetic conditions(phlegmatic or choleric, disabilities etc), our immediate environment(political authority etc) or acts of god(nature) or the illusions or lack of self awareness we have since childhood, to some degree, but those are only the limitations we live in, the boundaries or rules, once we understand them we are free to decide our place in them, once we break loose from our illusions and immature narcissism, we become more aware of our real condition and the real issues, the reality that face us and as such can change those to some degree, if not, you’re always able to remove yourself from it. In the end constant education, self or formal or constant knowledge is the beginning and answer IMHO
@Aaron, I like the premise of the author argument, I haven’t come across it before,
I must say I enjoy most of the comments as much as the article

By: Matt_TheCatholic

Matt_TheCatholic — Thu, 24 May 2012 09:03:10 +0000

Brilliant article =)

By: Sean

Sean — Sun, 20 May 2012 15:36:00 +0000

@Stephen

I noticed no one replied to your extremely valid point. While I like this post as a reminder of bitter/sweet… you sir are correct that we sweep the cancer stricken and starving out of our minds. When a person faces bitter for the remainder of their life… this concept does not resound quite so triumphantly,

By: Andrew Hill

Andrew Hill — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:05:32 +0000

Thank you Brett and Kate. Fantastic article and great job tying together Serling and Seneca.
I apologize to all of those who have been slighted or wronged by Christians. I think if you take a moment to stop and look around and reflect on our awe-inspiring universe, you can see and feel that God is real and He loves us. It is not God’s fault that the world suffers. Mankind is responsible for the evil bestowed on one another. God allows suffering in order to bring us back to Him. God loves us and wants us to return our affections back to Him. If he didn’t let us make our own choices, it wouldn’t be love.
He lets us make our own choices and He offers us a better alternative: His alternative. And His alternative alleviates all suffering eternally. While we may suffer here for a moment, the true glory of victory and salvation will last in the age that is to come.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:57:17 +0000

RJ – It isn’t that this became an anti christian blog for non-Christians, when you don’t believe in a certain religion then you don’t see out of that lens. As a christian you run your life through the lens of Christianity and as a non christian I don’t. So you have this other set of knowledge that you think is absolutely true and so you know there is bad things in the world and you have to process that information in a way that lines up with your belief. I don’t. There is nothing wrong with either viewpoint but we are going to come to different conclusions.