Why do the gods allow suffering?

[Riverwolf]

Some cause it, some don't care, some try to stop it but are powerless to do so on a grand scale.

Pretty much.

 

[Riverwolf]

Polytheist base their beliefs on reality?

As a matter of fact, yes.

But many of us have also rejected the notion of reality that the Church propagated after the Western Roman Empire's Fall, and then was inherited by modern Western Civilization. That is, the notion that things deemed "real" are wholly separate from things deemed "unreal." Instead, we recognize that reality is, while certainly not wholly subjective(walking off a cliff will make you fall regardless of your own subjectivity), it is largely so. It is impossible for a human being, or small groups, to view the world in a 100%, or even close to that, objective way, because we're all limited by our own subjective experiences. That is to say, subjective reality is no less valid than objective reality. Both are reality; it's just that one the is the reality for the subject, while the other is the reality of the object. Rather than being wholly separate, in fact they are related to one another.

That's why the peer-review process was developed in the first place, and the sciences have largely rejected the notion of "scientific law," which implies 100% certainty. Things are only theories so long as experimentation and observation consistently reinforce them.

 

[Jainarayan]

If they do not interfere, what good are they?

Maybe so we can figure things out for ourselves. Never saw a parent do that with their child?

... only man creates and defines deities.

Maybe through divine inspiration.

 

[Riverwolf]

I would agree that some polytheist adhere to reality closer then others, and have less fanaticism then traditional religions.

But I also see a deviation from reality at the same time, or they would be atheist.

At some point faith comes into play.

Read my post again.

Subjective reality is still reality. It's not a deviation from reality at all, unless you mean to argue that the only reality that can possibly exist is objective reality, which is nonsensical.

Objective reality is the nature of a thing, independent of any observer. Subjective reality is a subject's perspective on that object. That perspective is going to vary wildly from subject to subject. Some of them will be closer to the objective reality than others, sure, but it's impossible to be 100% accurate. Its accuracy is also irrelevant, since subjective reality influences the subject's behavior.

Besides, those of us not part of the scientific community basically have to take what they say, to some degree, on faith. That faith is not blind, sure, but not all faith is blind.

 

[idav]

I've asked this question concerning the god of monotheism, so now I think it only fair to pose this question to myself and other polytheists.

Basically its this: why do the gods allow suffering?

I'll begin by stating for my part that I don't ultimately know. I can speculate based on pondering the attributes of the gods. I think one reason could be they see a bigger picture than we do, and death might not concern them as much. We being mortal sometimes think death is so terrible.

What would be your view as to why the gods and goddesses allow people to suffer?

In our realm death is because of being stuck in time. This isn't the case for god or really for our building blocks, everything really being god. I think life is a means of survival in this state that we find ourselves in, and it is fleeting. Life managed, over a great deal of time, to last longer and longer, only by means of replication. So there is suffering cause all of this is fleeting, suffering exists because death is an inevitability. Beyond this it is ever lasting, death is really an illusion, things just change, the energy that kept us going just keeps going in various forms. Life is an opportunity to glimpse an existence that has existed pretty much forever.

 

[arthra]

In my view it's not an issue of whether God allows suffering.. It's more the case that as we are beings with freedom to choose can deviate from truth and fairness and spiritual life. In allowing freedom of choice we can choose to reject higher teachings and principles.

 

[Gnostic Seeker]

From a Hellenic outlook that's part of it, but I don't know about other traditions. The Greek writers have said Zeus holds hospitality as the greatest law and will not help along a greedy person. Speaking of how disregarding the lessons of the gods can bring suffering.

 

[Poeticus]

From a Hellenic outlook that's part of it, but I don't know about other traditions. The Greek writers have said Zeus holds hospitality as the greatest law and will not help along a greedy person. Speaking of how disregarding the lessons of the gods can bring suffering.

GS, have your read the Golden Verses of Pythagoras? If not, I believe you'll highly enjoy them. And they are a short read, too: Pythagoras: The Golden Verses of Pythagoras [Demonax | Hellenic Library].

Shoutouts go to Sees, of course.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

You don't think the gods couldn't have their reasons for not interferring? You assume lack of intervention means non-existence?

It doesn't necessarily mean non-existence, but it certainly robs their believers of rational support for their beliefs.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Suffering, pain and death are simply a part of this grand thing that is life. As has been noted in other posts, the problem of evil doesn't really exist for polytheists. There are Gods Who enjoy causing suffering and strife. There are Gods of Death. We may not like it, but even those things are Divine in their own way. Ares, for example, delights in gory battles. The Norse have a multitude of Deities connected to war and death.

None of the Gods are wholly "good" or "evil", since those are human concepts. They are multifaceted and complex. Even Apollo, the beautiful God of Light, was connected to plagues. Freya, Goddess of sex and beauty, is connected to bloody warfare, too. (Goddesses of war, love and sex are a popular occurrence all over the world, going back to the Sumerians.)

Ultimately, life isn't human-centered. It's not about our comfort and happiness. We are just one little species out of a vast number throughout the Cosmos. Life would be so boring if we were just happy and content all the time. Life is an adventure.

By the way, I suggest that if you want the perspectives of follow polytheists alone on a topic, you make the thread in one of the Pagan DIRs. That's a lesson for me to learn, too.

 

[Quintessence]

I think others have pretty well hit the nails there are to hit here. The "problem of evil" doesn't exist in Paganisms. Not only do our gods "allow" what we choose to label as suffering, they cause it. When hurricanes decimate communities on the coastline, my theological response is "yup... my gods - Storm Spirit as Spirit of Hurricane - did that."

 

[outhouse]

Suffering, pain and death are simply a part of this grand thing that is life

And those are the words of wisdom in this thread.

 

[Sees]

It doesn't necessarily mean non-existence, but it certainly robs their believers of rational support for their beliefs.

Sure, for omnibenevolent, micromanaging, pro-interferance beings who would want women and men to remain sheepish/infantile.

Polytheists and atheists have about the same level of belief in those.

 

[psychoslice]

For me there is no god, there is what we call suffering, because we don't like certain things happening in our life, it maybe pain, hurt, or whatever, but that is all it is. There is no god out there causing all this, and there is no devil out there also. Its called, life, we only need to live our life, and except all that comes with it, if we don't, we suffer.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Sure, for omnibenevolent, micromanaging, pro-interferance beings who would want women and men to remain sheepish/infantile.

Polytheists and atheists have about the same level of belief in those.

In the original context of this thread, I agree: the problem of evil isn't about the existence or non-existence of gods; it's about the character of those gods if they do exist.

However, the point I just made is a problem for all sorts of god, whether monotheistic or polytheistic. A god that has never done anything that humans can observe is a god with no evidence to support belief.

Yes, this is more of a problem for people whose theology implies that God ought to be intervening on a regular basis, but even someone who brushes off the lack of intervention by his god by saying that his god just doesn't care still doesn't have any evidence to use as rational support for his beliefs.

It's like Russell's Teapot: justifying belief in a teapot orbiting Mars that's too small to see is problematic. It's less problematic than justifying belief in a teapot that's so large that we should be able to see it with the naked eye, but it's still problematic.

 

[outhouse]

However, the point I just made is a problem for all sorts of god, whether monotheistic or polytheistic. A god that has never done anything that humans can observe is a god with no evidence to support belief.

.

Exactly.


It is like asking

Why does my yellow squeaky plastic ducky let people suffer.