All Things Witness

Thoughts on the mission and power of Jesus Christ

Tag Archives: Pain


by 2 Comments

That was beautiful. Can we do it again?

Twice a year, members of the church from the wider area where we live gather together for what we call ‘Stake Conference’. The conference is held over Saturday and Sunday, and I was asked to speak at the session held last night. I share it here in the hopes that it provides some hope and understanding for others.

***

Many years ago, I served my mission amongst the beautiful people of Chile. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking about a particular experience I had while I was there.

I was in a small town called Coihueco. And my companion and I were teaching a single mother and her daughter who I’ll call Juana, who was about 12 years old. They lived on the outskirts of the town in a small makeshift house of dirt floors. Continue reading →


by Leave a comment

A Faithful Perspective on the Problem of Evil (Part 2)

Image from Flickr, by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Image from Flickr, by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Flash floods wreak havoc in a neighbourhood and a family’s home is made uninhabitable, with many precious items that hold priceless memories lost forever, and with months or even years of wrangling with insurers and living in inadequate temporary accommodation awaiting them. A young father, following years of depression and struggles with school, home and family, is diagnosed with a mental health disorder, shattering his hopes for a life being able to be the father he wishes to be. A child develops leukemia, and she and her parents face many years of expensive hospital visits and painful treatments until finally she passes from mortality, far too young. I could go on, and of course you could create your own list of tragedies that strike either in your own life, or in the lives of your family or friends.

Tragic? Yes, without any shadow of a doubt. Uncommon? No, not remotely. Pain and suffering are things we each experience during our mortal lives. And the questions that will touch each of us during such times will be variations on, “Why me?”, “How can I endure it?”, “Please, Heavenly Father, wilt thou take this pain away?”, and sometimes, “What am I supposed to learn from this?”

Ultimately, a question that touches most of us at some point will be, “What is the purpose of suffering?” Continue reading →


by 5 Comments

A Faithful Perspective on the Problem of Evil

WHERE'SI’ve started this post a couple of times, and then, unsatisfied with what I had written, discarded it. It’s been bobbling around in my head for several weeks now – hence no other recent posts as I’ve been thinking about how to write about something for which I don’t really have satisfactory answers.

A few months ago we had some young people from our local Church congregation come over to our home on a Sunday afternoon and we talked about science and religion. We had an enjoyable time, and we then asked them if they’d like to come back again, and if so what subject they’d like us to discuss. I’d prepared a few suggestions, and the very clear preferred topic was about the unfairness of life. This may go from the “everyday unfairnesses” of things we all experience, for example why maybe one person gets the job they love, and another doesn’t, or why one person gets serious illness and another doesn’t; through to the unfairnesses that appears so cruel: why do tsunami’s wreak such havoc and devastate countless innocent lives; why are some people born into kind and loving families, while others are born into horror? Continue reading →


by Leave a comment

Seeing Colours and Feeling Pains

You may have heard of a condition called Synesthesia.  It’s been known about for some Coloured Numberstime and at its simplest level, is a mixing of the senses. The word comes from the Greek words “syn” (together) and “aesthesia” (sensation).  It is a conscious experience in which the stimulation of one of the senses results in the feeling of a different one. Continue reading →


by Leave a comment

Heart, Might, Mind and Strength (3 of 5)

This is the third post in a series about how, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we gain power within each part of our beings: our Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength.  The first post, found here, is an overview and explains how I understand these principles.  The second post, found here, looks at how He helps heal our Heart – or as I have understood it our spiritual selves.

This third part looks at how, through Jesus Christ, our Might – or the emotional parts of our being – are made whole.

SunriseIn the LDS King James version of the Bible, the Topical Guide, under the heading for pain, refers also to the words: Affliction, Anguish, Distress, Grief, Sorrow, Suffering, Torment.  Emotional pains are some of the most intense we suffer during our mortal lives.  Continue reading →