The Most Difficult Religious Question

HOW CAN THERE BE AN ALL-LOVING AND ALL-POWERFUL GOD IF THERE IS SO MUCH SUFFERING IN THE WORLD?

There is a article on this in the Catholic News, 12 October 2008.

Since the day I believe in the existence of God, I have been asking this question. I have not found a satisfactory answer. But after several years, I have stopped asking this question.

During the Old Testament times, God responded to the pleas of His people to deliver them from disasters. For example, God, through Esther, delivered the Jews from Haman's plot to exterminate them (Esther 3). Another example, God answered the prayers of Moses when Joshua was fighting the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-13).

With the birth and then the resurrection of Christ, the 'Age/Dispensation of Grace" had commenced. Before this new era, I noticed that God would deliver his chosen people (Jews) from disasters when they prayed for help. Now, in the Dispensation of Grace, God does not seem to respond to prayers to avert natural disasters and suffering anymore. Not that I know of. After the Auschwitz Holocaust during the second World War, someone asked how is it still possible for Jews to believe in God! But they do.

When Hurricane was expected to devastate the land in 2 days time, and Christians knelt down to pray, the hurricane still came and caused loss of lives and properties. When earthquake victims prayed for no more aftershocks, the aftershocks still continued to cause casualties and damages.

Many writers had given their views on God's seeming inaction in the face of suffering and evil. A few perspectives were also given in the Catholic News article.

But for sure, there is an All-loving and All-powerful God. He was here among His people. He even sent His Son to died on the cross for our sins. It was a mystery to my finite human mind why He allowed sufferings to persist. You can pray to Him for help, but He will not always help you the way you would expect. However, if you pray to Him for comfort and inner peace - these, the Holy Spirit will always grant you.

Praise the Lord. He is real.

Alzheimer's Disease - When a Person's Soul Hibernates

The Straits Times carried a report on Alz Disease Last Saturday, 27 Sep 08.

My mother suffers from Alz for over 10 years. This disease degenerates the mind, the soul and finally the physical body progressively. In fact, the mind and the soul is dead long before the physical death.

At the start of the illness, forgetfulness and absentmindedness set in. The mind fails, along with the nervous system fail gradually. The patient regresses to the mental state and the faculty of a 3 years old, then a 2 years old, then a 6 months old child. Finally, the patient does not know how to open her mouth to suck or swallow food, the stomach and intestines do not know how to digest food. And then, the body succumbs to malnutrition or failure to breathe...

Unlike other illnesses, the patient has to be cared for 24 hrs by 7 days a week. It takes one to two full-time caregivers to manage one patient at the ending stages.

Looking at the situation my mother is in, I could see the different entities of the human being -- the physical body, the mind, the soul and the spirit. My mother is a non-christian, so she may not have the spirit. With the mind 90% destroyed, she is only capable of basic involuntary functions like breathing, digestion, slow walking, and secretion of waste matters.

Since she is without a lucid mind, I would not detect her soul. There is no expression of joy or sadness, no thoughts of goodness or evil, no thoughts of love or hatred, no thoughts of earthly or spiritual things, no thoughts of right or wrong...

Without a mind capable of thoughts, I believe an alz person's soul is de-activated. One day, when the soul is liberated from this earthly body, it would recall or be aware of the eternity of life again.

Alz is a terrible disease. Honestly, it's a mystery why we are plagued by it.