Sorry, but that link begs far more questions than it "answers."


It actually claims that God "approves" of such things as "poverty," "injustice," and, of course, "war."  

What a sad, pathetic world the author of that essay must live in, to believe that God -- who presumably "loves" us -- "approves" of all these horrible things. You can try to rationalize it all you want, but to me that is no less ridiculous than saying that Hitler "loved" the Jewish people or that Mother Teresa "hated" the poor, and no less Orwellian than saying "war is peace" or "freedom is slavery."

I can see now why you avoided giving straight answers to the yes-or-no questions I asked concerning whether or not torture victims, rape victims, and concentration camp victims have "cause to complain."

Asserting that God "approves" of such things -- and that said victims have "no cause to complain" -- may, in the eyes of some, constitute "wisdom." But in the eyes of me and I suspect many others, it amounts to nothing more than a sick, disgusting joke dressed up to look like "spirituality."

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but you urged me to give that link some thought, and those are my honest thoughts on the matter.

In our own studies, we understand that we incarnate in order to avail of the special opportunities available on earth for soul growth. We don't see any advantage to returning as lower forms (animals) of life. Instead, once we reach the stage of humans, we continue on as humans and higher.  

Through the ages culminating in our age and time, the teaching on reincarnation and karma have themselves evolved in accordance with our growing capacity to understand higher concepts and teachings.

The Hindus believe in Transmigration which teaches that the spirit entity returns in a form, animal or human, which is determined by the desires and attitudes of the spirit, itself, at the time of its death. Buddhism, however, confines reincarnation to the human form. Theosophy teaches that souls develop progressively upward. Evolved group souls of plants move on to become the group souls of animals. After animal evolution, the group souls become individualized as humans.

Karma is the corollary law that governs the causes and effects that manifest in every life. They allow for the provisioning of the very opportunities we need to develop ourselves, spiritually. They are the necessary practical exercises and applications that will prove all the theoretical teachings.

Hello Sunrise and everyone,

I understand your difficulty and appreciate your honesty. You are in good company. You think pretty much the same way that so many others think. So I must reiterate my first reply:

The key to understanding is in first realizing who we really are, our true nature. We are not our physical body.

Those who want to understand should now begin to think as God thinks. Think Spirit!

Can anything happen that God does not approve of? Is He not all-powerful, loving and wise? Don't you think it more reasonable that at our present stage of development, we are just unable as yet to fully understand his reasons why? But we can begin to learn.

Who are we? What are we? In times of poverty, injustice, war, rape, torture and murder, what is harmed? What benefits. And what is the benefit? In death, do we die? Or do we live again in the Real World? Which then is the real us?

How can we learn if we don't experience? Can we learn from books alone or from the experiences of others? The mystics tell us that we live in a world of illusion. But why are we here if not to learn and develop ourselves?

To many, these explanations are introduced for the first time. It is normal and natural to reject them. Whatever are not understand will be taught, again and yet, again. We will be provided all the necessary experiences and to those who have proven themselves worthy, the Truth will always reveal itself in the end.

Regardless, in line with our God-given free will, everyone is free to believe as he chooses.

While continuing to avoid giving straight answers to the yes-or-no questions I raised concerning that "reply." That's not a real reply; it's an evasion dressed up to look like a reply.


Tell a torture victim that. Tell a rape victim that.


Tell starving Third World peasants to "think spirit." I'm sure that'll make them forget all about their hunger pains.


Why not pose that question to the parents of a child who was kidnapped and brutally raped and murdered? (Now I understand why so many people become atheists.)


This is what's known as a "yes-or-no" question. And my answer to that question is "yes." See how easy that is?


That merely begs the very question at issue -- whether God in fact "approves" of things like proverty, injustice and war in the first place. I don't see anything "reasonable" about pretending there is no obvious, fundamental difference between (a) "approving" of people's freedom to learn from their own mistakes and (b) "approving" of the mistakes themselves.


It is normal and natural to reject a statement like 2+2=5, too. But not because of spiritual ignorance, but because the statement itself is simply and self-evidently false. Feel-good mantras (such as "think spirit") don't make it true.


As evidenced by those choosing to believe -- usually from the comfort of their armchairs -- that the God of "love" looks on "approvingly" as His children are victimized over and over again by brutal acts of "hate," and that the victims of such acts have "no cause to complain."

Those who espouse beliefs of this kind are, in my view, no less sad and pathetic than child abuse victims who've "learned" to equate being beaten with being "loved," and no less disturbing than witnesses to such abuse who not only refrain from intervening, but look on with an air of indifference or, worse, "approval."

No doubt, many of you are inclined to this same trend of thought. So was Peter. But Jesus knew differently. Don't listen to me. Listen to Jesus.

From: http://message-made-plain.blogspot.com/2006/10/lesson-3-bible-passages.html #16

MT 16:21.23

From then on, Jesus began to speak plainly to his disciples about his going to Jerusalem and the fate that awaited him there at the hands of the Jewish leaders — that he would be killed and that on the third day, he would be raised to life again. But Peter took him aside to remonstrate with him. "God forbid it, Lord!" he said. "That must never happen to you."

Jesus turned on Peter and said, "Get away from me, Satan. You are an abomination in my sight because you look at things only from the worldly point of view and not from God’s."