I do not claim that this makes any sense, but I wrote it anyway... 
Pain and suffering is an idea and concept very close to my heart. A question I often ask myself is: Did Jesus really suffer more than any other human being? While I have no doubt that being nailed to a cross and crucified is a painful experience, Jesus was not the only person ever crucified, and I can imagine that certain forms of torture and abuse are far worse.
That is just a personal opinion and in the grand scheme of things how much suffering Jesus, or anyone for that matter, endures is not important. The fact that Jesus did suffer; however, is, and so also is the fact that we suffer. Now the question is can anyone hold the title for person who has suffered most? I dont believe so. I believe suffering is relative, and that we all suffer the same amount even though we may find it hard to comprehend at first thought.
Tyler, you mean to say that someone who is tortured and beaten to death hasnt suffered more pain than a relatively healthy person who dies of old age? Yes, thats what I mean to say. To explain this, Im going to use my own life experience in which certain people I know believe that because of all my surgeries and other experiences I have been through more pain than most.
At hospitals around the country, they have instituted what they call a pain scaled. The scale goes from one to ten with ten being considered the worst possible pain. The highest number I have ever reached on that scale is nine, and I only said it once when I was under the influence of heavy narcotics and pain killers. Looking back, I would say the pain I was feeling at that time (after a fifteen hour surgery) was more like a six or seven.
Late last year while taking out a pizza from the oven, I burned my thumb pretty badly. I would have put that pain at a six or seven as well. In fact, looking back at all of the things Ive been through, I cannot think of one thing that has been the most painful. Also, some every day happenings like that burn have been just as painful (maybe more so) than any medical procedure I have been through.
I cannot pick a pain that seemed worse than any other, but I can pick out a spot where pain ceases to get worse. In my own experience, Ive noticed that my own body only has the capacity to feel pain to a certain degree. After that degree is reached, the pain remains the same and the added stress or pain does not register with the brain. Of course, there are actually people with the capability (or the curse) of not being able to feel any pain due to nerve damage and/or other things.
Okay, so pain for the people who cant feel pain, well thats not relative, is it? Pain and suffering dont always have to deal with physical pain. It can be emotional and mental as well. Im going to explain the relativity part with pain first, and for the sake of simplicity, let you do your own transition to what it means in the emotional and mental sector of the mind.
As explained, I believe that I have a pain capacity that I have reached many times in which I cannot possibly feel more pain. I believe everyone has this capacity. However, I dont think many people ever reach that capacity, and also, the capacity differs from the situation. For me, a paper cut has sometimes felt just as painful as a shot, when under normal conditions, a shot would be much more painful. The difference being that when I had the shot, I have just prior had pain that was on a much higher scale and thus made the pain of the shot less.
Thus, when people around me complain of headaches or of bruises or of sores, I have no doubt their pain is real and genuine. The pain is what it is because in recent memory, they have not experienced a pain much greater than the one they are currently feeling and thus the pain hurts more in their mind. Thats the relativity part. Pain is relative amongst people because people all have different experiences, nerves, and maximum pain capacities, but pain is also relative in a personal standpoint when considering how far away it is from a period of greater or lesser pain.
What Im trying to say is this: I find it quite probable that I could be sitting on an operating chair, awake, having bones chipped out of my skull and feel the same or possibly even less pain than a person who just got bit by a mosquito.
Now, while emotions and mental things are somewhat different than physical pain, and can be much more lasting, I think the same principle applies. A person born into a rich family whose gotten everything he has ever wanted could live a life of much more torment than the poverty-stricken teenage mother of three.
In the end, I think some people lead happier and more fulfilling lives than others due to their ability to adapt, but I do not believe that anyone suffers anymore than another in the fullness and completeness of our lives. For certain periods and at certain points, yes, but as a whole, when combining physical and mental strain, I think we are all equal and we all have an equal responsibility to endure.
Pain and suffering is an idea and concept very close to my heart. A question I often ask myself is: Did Jesus really suffer more than any other human being? While I have no doubt that being nailed to a cross and crucified is a painful experience, Jesus was not the only person ever crucified, and I can imagine that certain forms of torture and abuse are far worse.
That is just a personal opinion and in the grand scheme of things how much suffering Jesus, or anyone for that matter, endures is not important. The fact that Jesus did suffer; however, is, and so also is the fact that we suffer. Now the question is can anyone hold the title for person who has suffered most? I dont believe so. I believe suffering is relative, and that we all suffer the same amount even though we may find it hard to comprehend at first thought.
Tyler, you mean to say that someone who is tortured and beaten to death hasnt suffered more pain than a relatively healthy person who dies of old age? Yes, thats what I mean to say. To explain this, Im going to use my own life experience in which certain people I know believe that because of all my surgeries and other experiences I have been through more pain than most.
At hospitals around the country, they have instituted what they call a pain scaled. The scale goes from one to ten with ten being considered the worst possible pain. The highest number I have ever reached on that scale is nine, and I only said it once when I was under the influence of heavy narcotics and pain killers. Looking back, I would say the pain I was feeling at that time (after a fifteen hour surgery) was more like a six or seven.
Late last year while taking out a pizza from the oven, I burned my thumb pretty badly. I would have put that pain at a six or seven as well. In fact, looking back at all of the things Ive been through, I cannot think of one thing that has been the most painful. Also, some every day happenings like that burn have been just as painful (maybe more so) than any medical procedure I have been through.
I cannot pick a pain that seemed worse than any other, but I can pick out a spot where pain ceases to get worse. In my own experience, Ive noticed that my own body only has the capacity to feel pain to a certain degree. After that degree is reached, the pain remains the same and the added stress or pain does not register with the brain. Of course, there are actually people with the capability (or the curse) of not being able to feel any pain due to nerve damage and/or other things.
Okay, so pain for the people who cant feel pain, well thats not relative, is it? Pain and suffering dont always have to deal with physical pain. It can be emotional and mental as well. Im going to explain the relativity part with pain first, and for the sake of simplicity, let you do your own transition to what it means in the emotional and mental sector of the mind.
As explained, I believe that I have a pain capacity that I have reached many times in which I cannot possibly feel more pain. I believe everyone has this capacity. However, I dont think many people ever reach that capacity, and also, the capacity differs from the situation. For me, a paper cut has sometimes felt just as painful as a shot, when under normal conditions, a shot would be much more painful. The difference being that when I had the shot, I have just prior had pain that was on a much higher scale and thus made the pain of the shot less.
Thus, when people around me complain of headaches or of bruises or of sores, I have no doubt their pain is real and genuine. The pain is what it is because in recent memory, they have not experienced a pain much greater than the one they are currently feeling and thus the pain hurts more in their mind. Thats the relativity part. Pain is relative amongst people because people all have different experiences, nerves, and maximum pain capacities, but pain is also relative in a personal standpoint when considering how far away it is from a period of greater or lesser pain.
What Im trying to say is this: I find it quite probable that I could be sitting on an operating chair, awake, having bones chipped out of my skull and feel the same or possibly even less pain than a person who just got bit by a mosquito.
Now, while emotions and mental things are somewhat different than physical pain, and can be much more lasting, I think the same principle applies. A person born into a rich family whose gotten everything he has ever wanted could live a life of much more torment than the poverty-stricken teenage mother of three.
In the end, I think some people lead happier and more fulfilling lives than others due to their ability to adapt, but I do not believe that anyone suffers anymore than another in the fullness and completeness of our lives. For certain periods and at certain points, yes, but as a whole, when combining physical and mental strain, I think we are all equal and we all have an equal responsibility to endure.
