Suffering.

[wildhunt]

As Wiccans, how do we explain all of the terrible suffering found in the world? I understand that the Christian god cannot solve this dilemma, for he cannot be what he is claimed to be...Omnipotent and Absolutely Good. If he were, he would end the suffering. The Bible even says, with God all things are possible. So how do we* explain it?

-LotH

[Kaleesie]

Man, I have to give it to you, you are very inquisitive. Great minds usually can be!
However, until we can find cures for cancer, virus's , mental illnesses, etc... People will suffer.
It never says " through the Lord and Lady, we can end all suffering" and if there was a book like that, dont buy it, cause they are just selling something.
For example, a child is born. It has to learn to crawl, before walking. And even then, the child falls and bumps something. A head, scrapes a hand, etc... Hell, I'm grown and I fall...
All of us suffer from something. It could be small and insignificant to others, but it's there.
Just my humble opinion.

BB
Kaleesie

[LupusStormDancer]

Let me put it simply if the world was perfect and there was no illness we would be feeble spoiled beings. It's better to suffer than to have never suffered at all it makes you who you are and it makes you stronger. Even though nobody enjoys suffering it is part of life. It's almost like the yin yang concept there can't be good without evil to balance it out since there is good within evil and evil within good.

[Michael]

Wicca's core element is polarity. There simply cannot be harmony without suffering. We have immanence from deity instead being outside their omnipotence, so part of the mysteries is to know ourselves, and how we apply to the universe, harmony, suffering, and all, whilst seeing this present in, and celebrating the cycles of life.

[Phoenix82]

In my opinion this covers a broad spectrum of things:

1. Deity let's us make our own choices (free will), guiding us and hopefully we're actually listening.

2. My believe is that those are also lessons we have to learn in our lifetime(s), for us to be able to grow on a spiritual level when we reincarnate into our next live. Including dealing with karma, let's say that in this life you are rich, selfish and cruel and in your next live you might come back very poor, hopefully learning to appreciate the little things in live.
Come down to it, you are free to walk this earth, do what you want to, good or evil. Whatever you do can basically come back in your next cycle and bite you in the rear.

3. Yes, for the natural balance, you cannot have good without evil. How could you determine what's good if you only have evil in the world, or vice versa? How can you appreciate the good things when you know no suffering? We would be incomplete without one or the other.

This is just my opinion of things, 
BB
Phoenix

[LupusStormDancer]

1. Deity let's us make our own choices (free will), guiding us and hopefully we're actually listening.

2. My believe is that those are also lessons we have to learn in our lifetime(s), for us to be able to grow on a spiritual level when we reincarnate into our next live. Including dealing with karma, let's say that in this life you are rich, selfish and cruel and in your next live you might come back very poor, hopefully learning to appreciate the little things in live.
Come down to it, you are free to walk this earth, do what you want to, good or evil. Whatever you do can basically come back in your next cycle and bite you in the rear.

3. Yes, for the natural balance, you cannot have good without evil. How could you determine what's good if you only have evil in the world, or vice versa? How can you appreciate the good things when you know no suffering? We would be incomplete without one or the other.

Very well put I could not agree more

[SnowAngel]

In all things, there needs to be balance.  There is joy and suffering, times that are lean-and times that there is great abundance, health and illness....

[ThunderWolf]

1. Deity let's us make our own choices (free will), guiding us and hopefully we're actually listening.

2. My believe is that those are also lessons we have to learn in our lifetime(s), for us to be able to grow on a spiritual level when we reincarnate into our next live. Including dealing with karma, let's say that in this life you are rich, selfish and cruel and in your next live you might come back very poor, hopefully learning to appreciate the little things in live.
Come down to it, you are free to walk this earth, do what you want to, good or evil. Whatever you do can basically come back in your next cycle and bite you in the rear.

3. Yes, for the natural balance, you cannot have good without evil. How could you determine what's good if you only have evil in the world, or vice versa? How can you appreciate the good things when you know no suffering? We would be incomplete without one or the other.

Very well put I could not agree more

Ditto LupusStormDancer.

[wildhunt]

So basically it's the same argument as the Christians...."free will."

And LupusStormDancer, you're hot. lol

[LupusStormDancer]

The argument is somewhat similar in that retrospect.

(*Blushes* I'm flattered, but this really isn't the place to post that You could always comment on my pictures on my profile page)

[ThunderWolf]

So basically it's the same argument as the Christians...."free will."

That's only part of it. That's the part that involves us having to deal with the repercussions of our own choices. If you read through the thread again I think you'll see that there are some more signifigant ideas here than simple free will.

[Ken Ra]

We are growing.
The Lord and Lady are growing
Every child gets hurt growing up, It is the parents job to keep that from being permanent.
Nobody is perfect or all powerful,  that is Xian marketing hype.
If you don't make mistakes how will you learn?
Our suffering would be heaven for our ancestors of 4,000,000 BCE
Our future looks rocky but good.
Time for us is not the same time for the Gods.

[LupusStormDancer]

We are growing.
The Lord and Lady are growing
Every child gets hurt growing up, It is the parents job to keep that from being permanent.
Nobody is perfect or all powerful,  that is Xian marketing hype.
If you don't make mistakes how will you learn?
Our suffering would be heaven for our ancestors of 4,000,000 BCE
Our future looks rocky but good.
Time for us is not the same time for the Gods.

That sums it up perfectly!!! k+

[malewitch42]

I don't know if I've limited it to a single lord and lady or anything I've only really discovered a single goodess but seen a lot of evedence of other deities but from what I have seen (and I really hope no one is offended by this) just as we are not all powerful or perfect neither are the gods they are much closer than we are and us and them is like comparing us and a infinityly small bactiria but they too have made mistakes and although I agree its neccesary I'm not sure that the gods could prevemt all evil if they wanted to

[Arx]

As Wiccans, how do we explain all of the terrible suffering found in the world? I understand that the Christian god cannot solve this dilemma, for he cannot be what he is claimed to be...Omnipotent and Absolutely Good. If he were, he would end the suffering. The Bible even says, with God all things are possible. So how do we* explain it?

-LotH

There's really nothing in the  core tenants of Wicca that say that the God and Goddess are "good." Similarly, Gardner never really saw them as being omnipotent either. So the problem of an absolute good and omnipotent deity don't really arise. If anything, the God and the Goddess are more appropriately seen as the masculine and feminine expressions of a unified and unknowable Godhead. The God and Goddess in this sense are just as present in the laugh of a child as they are in the slaughter of a battlefield. They simply "are".