Part Two

on

Suffering

The selection of the Jews for extermination

The suffering of the Jews was horrific. Here is one reason why suffering happened. Good came from it.

Oscar Schindler is given a ring on which is written “ He who saves one man saves the world entire…”Schindler broke down crying. He had saved a thousand Jews who he had paid for from his own money…

“He who saves one life saves the world entire.” What does this mean?

LUCIFER

A religious explanation for evil….?

Review where we are so far in our understanding of Suffering?

SUFFERING **

Humiliation

Degradation

Torture

Rape

Abuse

Neglect

Apathy

Violence

Cruelty

Vengeance

Wound

Hurt

Sad

Lonely

Unhappy

Cry

Stab

Hit

Slap

Insult

Destroy

Belittle

Crush

Devastate

Punish

Exclude

Exile

Kill

Murder

Manslaughter

‘Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is not omnipotent. Is He able but not willing? Then He is Cruel. Then where is evil from?’

The problem arises if one believes that God is all powerful and completely loving which is a belief held by the three major world faiths: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Final Review of learning in lesson

Peer & Self assessment 4.3

Students encouraged to reflect on what they had learned.4.5

If God existed he would not allow suffering.Discuss showing that you have thought about different points of view.

The gas chamber door

The showers used as gas chambers

killing the Jews was called the Final Solution.

Here soldiers look on as they see a pile of dead Jewish children.

These are from Dr. Mengala’s experiments on children.

The crematorium

OVENS

The ovens designed to burn the bodies after being gassed

Prisoners await their fate

Mass Graves

Bodies piled up after being removed from the gas chamber

A boy arrested for being Jewish

Piles of clothing from the victims being sorted

The badges used by the SS

and a victim

Thousands gathered into this space to be stripped and executed.

Children killed in a truck at a concentration camp

Theists (people who believe in God) suggest that the remainder of suffering is caused by humanity’s free will, which they refer to as moral evil.

The writer and Christian philosopher C S Lewis was a believer of this argument which states that:

‘Humans are free to do good or bad. Even an omnipotent God could not logically create humans who are free to do only good. Therefore evil is an inevitable consequence of human freedom.’

Was Hitler’s freedom to commit evil so precious that it was worth the destruction of the freedom of his six million victims?

Is it any comfort to those who suffer that they do so for the sake of freedom?

Could freedom be possible at a lesser price?

If God created people who can’t fly, why couldn’t God create people who couldn’t kill or injure each other?

VIETNAM The little girl is being burned by napalm.

A boy in South Africa imprisoned by the British

A concentration camp victim today

Can we demonstrate our understanding of what we have learnt about suffering. 3.6

I have learnt…

I have understood…

I can evaluate different interpretations of suffering……

1.Suffering is pointless.

2.Suffering teaches us to appreciate the small details of life. Suffering teaches us the meaning of life.

3.Suffering teaches individuals that their response to it is crucial.

4.Can you make up sentences that show how you have understood what you have learnt?

Students are able to re-organise knowledge & use skills to make something new.3.7

Ordeal

Disease

Cancer

hurricane

Tornado

Avalanche

Storm

Flood

Famine

Poverty

Drought

Unlimited capacity to suffer

Progeria is a disease that has got nothing to do with your behaviour or choice. It is a great suffering.

Did the soldier die a hero’s death or was it pointless.

Does it matter if we rationalise it or not?

It is not fair that many innocent people suffer in this world.Christians say that God allows suffering so that some people can be able to be kind to others. Also some people suffer so that they can grow personally. Experience changes everyone. However I may suffer so much I may not learn but simply exist. Suffering is difficult to describe. There is physical suffering with pain. Then there is mental suffering that you cannot see but is just as cruel. Then there is natural suffering like storms and floods. Then there is man made suffering. This includes murder and war.

Christians would say that suffering serves a purpose. Do you agree or disagree?

If I suffer and believe that God appreciates my suffering then hopefully I will learn. I will learn to be more considerate and kind. Suffering can change a person. It can hopefully make them realise what it might be like to be someone else.

Some Christians will believe that their suffering will gain them some merit in heaven. Some might feel that suffering serves no purpose. But most people feel that suffering changes them for the better. They may be more loving and compassionate and caring. They will respect the less fortunate and those who need our help.

End of part Two on Suffering