This article is included in my coming weekly post, but it is important enough to merit a post on its own - especially as it is a view I grappled with and came to, without the theological commentary, in the 80s. This is much better worded than I ever put it - for instance:
Hinduism and Buddhism teach the concept of karma – the idea that actions in this life impact our conditions in future lives. That’s what you get when you combine cause and effect with a belief in reincarnation. So far so good. But when you take karma and reincarnation out of their dharmic context and mix them with the de facto religion of the contemporary West – which says that the autonomy of the individual human is the greatest good – you get the idea of “soul contracts” and other such nonsense. ...
Telling suffering people “you chose this” is unabashed cruelty. They’re hurting and you tell them it’s their own damn fault? Maybe there are lessons to be learned in a job loss or a relationship breakup. But what “lesson” is there in cancer, or Covid, or children killed in a mass shooting? “You signed up for this” tells a hurting person “this is your fault.” ...
Even if you can’t do anything to make things better, at least you can listen compassionately and make sure they don’t suffer alone. And that’s a lesson we all need to learn.
The article is at https://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2021/07/no-you-didnt-choose-to-suffer.html. It is well worth a read.
