Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyboosh
This is what I've come to think of as 'the mysterious ways' explanation. I find it entirely unsatisfactory. If I were a theist, I think I would believe much more easily that God is simply a monster. A great many things make sense in that paradigm.
I understand where you are coming from by thinking "mysterious ways" a cop out. That's why our beliefs are not on logic alone and it's a combination of faith and logic. I'll try to break it down a bit further on how I view it even though it may still not work for you.
We know that suffering can build towards good things happening such as accomplishments in this world. For example, a marathon runner suffers by putting themselves through a bunch of pain to eventually be able to run a marathon There is suffering behind virtually any accomplishment worth noting such as long marriages, business success etc.
If there was no suffering there would be no point to achieve anything. We'd be feeling okay all the time and essentially dilute ourselves into being robots. We wouldn't be happy or sad but always in a normal mental state.
God doesn't want us to be robots but wants us to freely experience joy and love and be united to Him. It's through experience suffering can this happen.
He loves us so much that that he sent His son Jesus to us knowing that he would suffer the worst death possible to restore the bridge to heaven and save us from our sins/fallen nature.
So as a Christian, the mindset is to nail ourselves to our own cross and align ourselves with the suffering of Jesus Christ to grow and love Him more. That is why we mediate often on the Sorrowful Mysteries: Agony in the garden, Scourging at the pillar, Crowning of Thrones, Passion, and Crucifixion.