Count your blessing every single day.
When I was a kid I use to lay awake at night wondering why some people didn’t have enough food to eat. I use to wonder why some kids weren’t loved by parents, who were there to guide and protect them. I’m talking about Parents who take thier kids to movies and museums every so often provide them with decent clothes and at least show up at some of their football/basketball/soccer practices or games. As a child I considered myself lucky to have a safe home, enough food to eat and my own good common sense. I was never expecting god to bless all people equally but I have always wondered why some people have so much and others can barely get by and to be honest some people don’t get by at all. Some folks don’t even have the opportunity to improve the quality of life for either themselves or their families. Like the 2 men pictured in this article from India and Africa who will always be severely disabled and greatly pained by their conditions, these 2 men are just 1 of over 1 hundred million at risk of this hideous affliction. These conditions which I consider to be way out of the Karmic bounds of fair play, do not allow afflicted people to enjoy any kind of balanced or prosperous existence whatsover.
The pictures in this article are of two men infected by elephantitis ( Lymphatic filariasis) which is named after the so called" elephant man" a gentlemen named John Merrick (1862-1890) who lived in England during the 1900 century. The pathogen that causes Elephantitis is a round worm infestation spread by mosquitoes the worms attacks the Lymph Nodes in the joints and in the case of males, sometimes the scrotum.http://www.videovat.com/videos/308/balls.aspx, Elephantiasis of the scrotum their are cases of men afflicted whose scrotums have grown to over 50 pounds making it impossible to move even short distances without assistance from people in their community. The worms cause, swelling and pus accumulation which leads to huge cyst like growths that sometimes break the skin and become infected. Much like John Merrick these Human beings are often shunned and made fun of by many people in the villages and communities they live in. In one African village a women was introduced to her potential husband in an arranged marriage but he refused to marry her when he saw her ladies deformed limbs.
All my life I have heard people say things such as "God blessed me with a good life" wife or husband. I have heard people say things like pray and everything will be alright. Ive seen opposing sides of championship teams praying to god for victory. I have even heard professional athletes such as Reggie White and Charles Barkley claim that god told them their teams would achieve victory in a championship game. I have seen people pray for the Redskins to beat the Hated Dallas Cowboys in a regular season game, I have heard people say things such as god blessed them with a bike, TV, fresh gear or various other sorts of material items. Now, what I can’t understand is this, if god is in the business of answering prayers and wishes then how come he doesn’t relieve folk’s likes the ones pictured in this article of their suffering. I can understand people going through, pain, I can understand someone loosing all of their money, I can even understand a good man or women never being able to find a husband or wife or two people who once loved each other ending up in a painful divorce. I’m not asking for a perfect world or for happy endings all of the time. I’m pretty sure that the people afflicted by these terrible deformities have prayed for relief from their suffering. In fact I am sure that many family members have prayed and prayed and prayed as hard as they possibly could for relief from this abominable affliction but yet over 26 million people have this affliction and 1 hundred million people world wide are in constant danger of catching this affliction including children. From the way I look at things it doesn’t make sense for a merciful god to bless people with frivolous things they don’t need but then allow people who are suffering from painful, disabling and disfiguring diseases such as lymphatic filariasis . This disease by definition robs its victim of their dignity, freedom and many times their lives. It is my opinion that no just god who is in the business of listening to and answering peoples prayers would ever allow this to happen to any of his children especially if he loved them.
19 comments:
Mark,
Thanks for sharing that video and pictures I saw the video of the man with the enlarger scrotum. Physical defomity does leave a painful mental and emotional scar on the victims it reminds me of the dark skin light skin thing that afflicts the black community. Even though it is just skin and the the elephant mans dis-ease it mentally and emotionally torments some of our fellow blacks.
So just imagine how these people with physical defomaties feels. And women feel worse if they have a deformity example loosing a breast or something. Whether it be deformities or skin tone it is always something about the way we look that torments us if we look at certain way, it makes you admire people who love and have compassion all the more. You have done a good job intellectually over at Dell's blog holding it intellectually down Mark. And, I am glad you paticipated over at Dell's blog good post MAN.
By Chance
Hey Mark, welcome back! I was wondering where you disappeared to.
Your post kinda covers alot of ground, but the overall question seems to be, "Why does God allow good people to suffer and bad people to prosper?"
This is a common question as we all try to think of God as fair, while He doesn't seem to exhibit that based on the condition of the world.
I believe EVERY disease we deal with in this world is a result of the original fall of man in the garden. Since then, the earth has been cursed by sin and the pictures you posted of those poor fellows with that terrible disease is evidence of this. I do not want to trivialize their suffering in any way by over simplifying, I can;t imagine how they must feel and my heart goes out to them.
I also believe that giving God the ultimatum, "Fit MY definition of fair, or else I will not believe in you" is foolishness and I would liken this to a small child holding their breath until Daddy gives them an ice cream.
I have experienced many terrible things in my life, some of which I am glad to have gotten through in one piece and God has been consistently faithful without exception as He is always there at just the right time with comfort and peace (this doesn't necessarily mean I was absolved of any suffering). Can anything good come from suffering? I believe absolutely, as God has demonstrated time and time again in my personal life.
As for God being a genie that we rub when we want our wishes granted in the form of material wealth, I believe wealth can (and is) be achieved without knowing God at all, so to say God is blessing them isn't altogether accurate. I think there are those who prosper from their wickedness that are subsequently ruined by their wealth, and ultimately everyone goes before the Judgement Seat where the playing field is level.
God is who He is and says that if we earnestly seek Him, He can be found.
Damn Mark, I was just about to chow down on a turkey sandwich after riding about five miles on my stationary bike. Yeah, we are blessed!
And you show me this!
But nice post, you made me feel guilty. But I will be still ranting tomorrow :)
Peace.
Physical defomity does leave a painful mental and emotional scar on the victims it reminds me of the dark skin light skin thing that afflicts the black community. Even though it is just skin and the the elephant mans dis-ease it mentally and emotionally torments some of our fellow blacks
mb: Chance you are correct this desieas does bring out behaviors that are reminiscent , the difference is this affliction is 100 times worse because some of these preople cat function, I think some of the wounds get infected so flies will lays eggs on any esposed flesh. These people are utterly revolting to just about everyone including thier families. I mean thing about the guy with the enlarged scrotum, he can go no where, he cant play any games, how many women are going to give some of these cats any play I mean even on a joking bases. These affliction destroys thier ability to have any semblance of an indepedant, normal, diverse life. What that affliction does is over the top
YO Field sorry I about your turkey sandwich. I saw some of these pictures a few days ago and I got mad.
My logic tells me this if god could stop this but he dosent then god must have another purpose than to answer prayers and wishes of man.
If he is in the wish and prayer business then he is clowning these folks in my business because according to christians he knew all of this sh#t was going to happen. Whats happening to some of the people who suffer this affliction is way over the top by anyones standards.
mb: Good to have you back bullfrog thank you for stoping by. If you read the article carefully you will see that I never said anything about a fair world. Just a little more equity in how that suffering is distibuted.
In america and the west we dont suffer from such afflictions, partially because we are rich, partially because we do not live in tropical areas. That afllictions are tropical . So since we were born here (a prividge not I, you or anyone else in the west earned) we dont have to suffer from such humiliating painful affliction. I aint asking for a perfect world I never did I never will pray for such a world. But innocent children suffer from this affliction and god knew those children who would suffer from this because he created the affliction and he set the game up knowing the end result. That is real I and millions of other people can see what this affliction does to people with my eyeballs. Now also were talking about maybe a so many more people suffering from this condition over the span of mans history. This is how I look at it, I at least expect my god to not allow a diseas he created to rob people of thier dignity. Especially if he is in the business of answering prayers I assure you some of these people pray a lot more than I do or probably even you so my logic says this if god is in the prayer answering business I would think over the last howevermany years man has existed would have ended this diseas from rotting people limbs of at the very least. I dont think that is unreasonable
09 02 06
Mark, I feel you. I must admit that I have been rather pissed at God and the universe lately because there is NOTHING fair in this universe. But I had to step back from my anger (due to grief) and think about how blessed I am and how the only thing I can control is MY actions. I think that we were given free choice by GOD and what we do with that free choice is on us. Regarding suffering, there are many Christian books entitled: Making sense of suffering. The story of Job never seemed to help me understand this. If you take a more Buddhist attitude, you could view suffering as a way to a purer soul.
I will be praying for you and me to get some faith in the world. If we don't have faith, we are drones with nothing to live for.
TO MARK
I HEAR you loud and clear that for answering my comment.
Chance
Yo Mandhi thank you so much for your kinds. Mandhi Im not asking for a perfect world, my argument is this if god exist the way Christians, Muslims and Jews claim he does. And if he is a merciful god, then having people who suffer that kind of disfirgurement is way over the top.
Having said that the world would be a much worse place without religion. We (man) need something to remind us that we are supposed to behave in a socially and spiritually responsible manner. Religion is just a system of specifically how go about reinforce our sociala and spiritual philosophy.
Lastly athough I think Christianity, Islam and Judiism are sexy is hell I have to admit that I too am feeling buddhism. Please remind me to chant every once in a while. Thank you stopping by.
Mark:
You have to understand that it is YOUR judgement that this people are suffering. It is your judgment that they must be relieved of their so observed suffering. You my firend just like me are just another insignificant human beings. We are quick to compare and judge. We are quick to personalize a given circumstance.
And rightly so. We have to question, compare and judge. We are given a mind to think.
You know how sometimes you tell me how I should stop complaining that the white man did this and that... that if I want to make things better I have to do it with my own two hands.
well look at God the same way you look at the white man. "Free of fault." You are free in the mind to find out how you can help this afflicted person... Take some step proactively to volunteer ... etc etc...
I dont think it is fair for you to hold the God you do not know at fault, while leaving the criminal untouched.
@ ugz
mb: You Ugz its not my judgment that these people are suffering from. From the articles I have read these folks are ocstrasized from thier community by the people in the community.
To be honest thier are worst pictures that I was going to post but blogger was acting up. These men and women who suffer from this affliction are shuned by thier community especially when the affliction becomes noticeble and.
Also this affliction is so reprehesenble that it causes peope severe pain, but even worse the swelling and disfirgurement actually breaks the skin at times leading to infection and amputation of the afflicted limbs sometimes.
Also Ugz Im not blamming god, my point is this god as expressed through religion is bogus. I have no beef with god just at the religious interpretation of god that even suggest that god would bless people with frivilous things that they dont need but ignore folks with serious problems. To be honest I dont think its god's purpose to worry about what goes happens on earth on a day to day purpose. I persoanally believe that god may be doing some other sh#t. As far as my finding no fault with the "white man" statements like these are the reason why I am not able to communicate effectively with you or do a whole lot of intellectual business with you.
You never heard me deny that the goverment has blood on its hands. I just also hold black people responsible for thier actions as I do everyone. I never ever said or implied that the "white man" is free of fault.
But the things that the white man is guilty of I think most races are guilty of including blacks and africans I also believe that not admitting it will only lead to more dying by black people and further neanderthal behavior on the part of 2 many black people as well as our continued stay at the bottom of american society. I am absolutely sick of it.
"my point is this god as expressed through religion is bogus."
You don't believe in God because of Elphantitus?
Hello Dell nice of you to stop by. I never said I dont believe in god, I just dont believe in god as presented by religion. All my life I have heard people and preachers saying that god answers the prayers of those who call on him but how can that be true when you have millions and millions of people suffering from this good awful affliction as well as others. All the stuff the bible talks about I cant see, but I can see the people who have testicles the size of beach balls because of this affliction and I dont think a god who answers prayers and is merciful would allow such things to happen to human biengs. It just dosent make sense to me, so I have come to the conclussion that god does not exist as expressed in any religion.
Are you sure you are being logical though Mark? Let's look at it purely as an excercise in logic and not from any emotional standpoint.
First you have a being that is presupposidely omniscience, omnipotent & omnipresent, the basic ascribed characteristics of the Monotheistic Gods. So he is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere at once.
Then you have a man. Me or you. We are finite, we are limited in what we know, can know, and can ultimately understand.
Now my argument would be that to disbelieve in God because you do not understand the process of God is not rationale specifically because of what God is and what Man is.
If you do not believe in God because you perceive that people should not be suffering if there is a God then don't you first have to know what suffering is to God and then ask why God would allow suffering to exist in the first place?
Being that God can not be understood unless he provides a way for himself to be understood(because of his infinite characteristics versus our finite characteristics) then theoretically we can only understand why God would do what he does if he explains why he does what he does. That brings us to books of faith the Bible, the Torah, the Koran.
So what does God say about suffering and his perspective in those supposed holy books?
If God tolerates suffering, or has a higher purpose for suffering, then is it reasonable to disbelieve in God when he has a higher understanding of ultimate purpose than you?
So you can say religion is bogus and make strong arguments as to why monotheistic religions are false using various forms of argumentation. However it is not logical to say religion is bogus because of the way you personally feel about suffering, when suffering may be an essential part of the religion and how God executes his will.
In other words, you have to first define what God is, and then prove that that God would not allow suffering.
DELL: Are you sure you are being logical though Mark? Let's look at it purely as an excercise in logic and not from any emotional standpoint.
mb: Thier is nothing more emotional and void of logic than religion. Think of how the catholic church use to $ell spiritual salvation or how they threatned to kill gallieo for his beliefs which were true, or how about some of that non sense the nation of Islam was and is perpertrating as the truth, how about religion ( pick whatever one) telling other people they are not going to heaven becaue they dont share thier beliefs. Is it logical for Jehova witnesses to tell all other christians they are going to hell becaus they dont follow thier brand of religion, all religions do this. Religion and logic have no place in the same conversation in my oppinion.
Also dell if I cannot understand god because god is too profound that is not my fault, I have been trying to understand who and what god is for a long time. I have put an enormous amount of energy into this topic.
This is my view of the picture dell. Imagine life as a game lets say football for the sake of argument. From my view point in this context religion would be a system of operation, just as the the run and shoot or a team that uses the run no system is inherantly right or wrong. Now it can be argued that some systems produce better results than others but you can win the superbowl running, passing or a combination of both from what Ive seen.
Also religion makes people say some unbelievably stupid things (think Nation of Islam). The sad thing is they will look you in the eye and tell you thier non sense is truth. The Jehova witnesses say incredibly stupid, prejudice and hypocritical things.
My personal belief is that all righteous people are going to heaven. No one will ever convince me that ghandi is going to hell because he was not a christian although this is what you believe because a christian, that is not logical in any sense of the word.
Lastly I never said that suffering is incompatible with god, what I said that if god is in the prayer and wish answering business then men having testicles that weigh 50 pounds is way over the top. I aint asking for a fair or equal world ,that would be boring Im just asking for more balance in how the suffering is rationed out. Right now its is black people and poor people who are doing most of the suffering worldwide.
Also dell I was reading one of the debates on your blog and you basically told a brother from the nation of islam that you dont believe in Islam when in my oppinion you have absolutely no scientific proof your religion is truth above all others.Isnt that by delfault calling another religion bogus, dont get me wrong I really enjoyed you and Xborg smacking those people from the nation around because they are clowns in my oppinion but all religion spouts clownism in my oppinion at some point and time.
Let me make something clear, the NOI arent clowns because they are muslims, they are clowns because they arent intellectual tiny when they claim they are big or have the truth, the went after christians for slavery against black people, when Islam enslaved black people before and during the time of christian slavery, they are still enslaving black people now. Have you heard about the spaceships and Yacub the brothers from the nation will look you in the face and tell you that nonsense is truth inspite of the fact that thier is no record beyond 80 years of the NOI's form of religion. Plus thier religion and the Nation lives those brothas intellectually defenseless anyone at dell gines could very easily take thier non sense apart.
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