Board index ‹ The Problem of Evil and Suffering

[Banana]

Why did god make our bodies so susceptible to pain?

We have hundreds of thousands of nerve endings, bones that can break, our bodies are so dense and very pain prone. Why couldn't god give us bodies made of a liquid like substance that wasn't susceptible to pain like bones, nerves, and muscles are?

[jimwalton]

It sounds like you want to know why were aren't all Superman and invincible. What comes to mind first is that nothing that is natural is invincible or unbreakable. Even galaxies are vulnerable to change and destruction. Stars explode. Nothing natural is eternal. Even the universe itself had a beginning and will have an end.

Second, since our bodies are necessarily made of natural substances (or else they couldn't come about naturally), then our bodies are naturally subject to the same characteristics and limitations of their components. Things break down. I believe it's the second law of thermodynamics that postulates that natural processes irreversibly break down. Since we are part of nature, we are subject to the same processes.

But it seems like you don't want an unnatural body, just one of a different character that is more liquid-like than rigid and dense. I would suggest that our attributes allow us to accomplish the amazing things that humans are able to accomplish. It almost seems as if you wish we were natural but with natural characteristics that were stable but unstable (we have a body shape, but flexible in the event of potential injury). Hmm. I'm not sure you've thought this through. Are we susceptible, then, to natural laws and processes or not? If not, have you changed all the laws of cause and effect?

Pain itself is a great instrument of survival. Because of the possibility, we avoid life- and health-risking behaviors. We are often aware of injury immediately so we can cease the activity or deal with the injury. We are aware of illness. We become attuned to our surroundings and their inherent dangers. Pain is a megaphone to guide our lives and motivate our survival.

Also, the same nerve endings that alert us to pain are the same ones that give us sensation, pleasure, and comfort. We can't have one without the other.

Pain is also a megaphone to motivate us to seek out what is beyond ourselves to explain pain, to investigate spiritual matters, and to ponder God, life, death, and eternity.