Bias 1

Photo by M.Smith

We have all acted upon biases, seen biases and have even read about biases.  Biases are made by how we see the world and understand the world.  We are either for someone or something or against someone or something.  We often think about bias in terms of prejudice, favoritism, a preconceived notion or forgone conclusion.

Biases can be based on mere speculations and perceptions that “look” as fact but are not.

Biases built “on” facts help us rule out counterfeits, lies and deception meant to build up strongholds and arguments in our lives and other people’s lives.  As the saying goes, “Not everything or everyone is as they seem.”

I find biases can be emotional responses or feelings, which can be influenced by our own desires and temporary impulses.  They can be based on our selfishness and even fictitious imagines.   

Biases can be dangerous and yet some are the most beneficial.  

As I scrolled through pictures of abandoned places in this world I saw castles, mansions, cathedrals, libraries, subways, and even cities…

 

These were places where people once lived and worked but now, for one reason or another, they were left behind as useless. 

 

I wondered how these places that seemed so beautiful, wise, beneficial and useful for a time came to be considered “nothing”.

 

I began to ponder the things people construct, study, work, and are educated to great degrees but how it benefits them nothing when they take their last breath.  

 

Why stop there… look at the bodies in which we live in now… how we go to great efforts appease the mortal flesh but do little or nothing to secure the immortal soul within which will live on into eternity in either heaven or hell. 

 

Is life really what we consider “life”?  I find this place and time in which we temporary exist is not really life but where we see if what we believe stands true or not in all the experiences and conditions we face in this place and time.  In other words, God allows us to see our ignorance of what we think “life” is about.    

Think about it…. How can something that isn’t meant to last and is temporary be life?  If the tangibles are to temporary define us in this life what defines us when the tangibles are left behind?  What gives life to the soul?  What gives life to the soul when the tangibles are gone?  What gives reassuring hope to the soul? What gives peace to the soul?  What gives grace and mercy to the soul?  It certainly isn’t things or myself.  

C.S. Lewis wrote: “If you think of this world as a place simply intended for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place for training and correction and it's not so bad.”

 

This place and time is not so much about the tangibles but the finding and understanding the intangibles in God that are life but when we think about life only in the tangibles we are biased to life itself- who is GOD.

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Johns 14:6

Where is life?

Jesus said “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” John 10:10

Where is life?

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” Matthew 19:23-24

Where is life?

Jesus said “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?  Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?  Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.  And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?  So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God  above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” Matthew 6:25-34

Where is life?

I am reminded of a lake.  It mirrors the day and night sky.  It shows the colors and moods of the mountain cradling it.   The lake like our existence is occasionally rippled.  It is ripped by mountain trout living underneath its surface and by the tiny bird taking a bath along its edge.  It is rippled by a tossed stone and the fallen branch.  It is dotted by cold raindrops and brushed by winds and even cools the occasional bear but after those things have gone… the surface returns to its glass like state.   The water “reacts” to what lives within it and what surrounds it.   

How do we “react” to what lives within us and surrounds us?  Are we just a biased as that lake surface- are we at the mercy of whatever befalls us?  

How IS the frailty of the human condition soothed? In what must a man be invested in intimately to focus and encourage and stabilize his soul?  I say this with knowledge of failure and success… God. 

Any other source gives only headache, heartache, shame and hopefully some heavenly correction. 

GOD by his loving grace and mercy should set the sails of our soul and be our course of daily influence.  

HE alone needs to be our bias.  Honestly it takes some time to find our bearings…. but this might help.  I had a friend who was a marine.  One of the trainings was to fall backwards off a speeding boat where it was easy to temporary lose your equilibrium but he found if he just relaxed, his body would naturally float upward towards the surface of the water.   Spiritually it is the same with us.  If we just relax the Spirit of God living us will guide mentally in the right direction and lead us out of dark swirling circumstances around us.

GOD doesn’t want us to succumb to peer pressure or feelings or thoughts or circumstances but be succumbed in HIM.   GOD wants us to be biased to anything that wants to take HIS place in our mind and heart. 

 Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

People may know there is a GOD but the reason they don’t have peace and strength in GOD is because they don’t acknowledge HIM as GOD of their life. They make others and things gods of their life.   And the bible says when people don’t acknowledge GOD he abandons them to their foolish/biased thinking.

^“Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.   Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.  They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents.  They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.”  Romans 1:28-32

GOD- THE LIFE CHANGER. Pt. 1

FAITH

While reading Deuteronomy 6... I could not help but see what FAITH does in GOD.  It is a very different landscape and new world with God.   It is an indeed a very “unexpected” journey.  Though once part of "this" world we now become like foreigners and nomads living and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with our fellow man while we look forward to the time when we can finally fall asleep and the angels lift us out of these bodies and we go to our rightful HOME... that is if we are not taken up or ruptured first.

 

TO SEE JESUS... the one when we think about -brings all good things to our soul.   Though HIS smile, I have only seen in visions and dreams , it instantly lifts and lights my burden soul.  How wonderful this affect is on the soul - I do wonder how much more wonderful it will be when there is nothing separating us from HIM.  

Like a child who loves the embrace of a parent or relative, I look forward to JESUS' embrace.    To hear his laugh and hear the voice that called everything into being.  Can you imagine? We will hold the very hands that made and formed us and even took the punishment for us.    

John 1:3 says: “God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.”

GOD the FATHER thought it, JESUS spoke it, and the Spirit created it.

 

Can you imagine the hands lifted in such JOY and PRAISE!  Hands raised in golden rain that soaks and saturates our smiling faces (I do not how this will be because I have only seen glimpses of this in vision.) I look forward to be without fail in his continual presence where no fleshly hindrances interrupt - for full surrender is that what will be lived in heaven of every moment of eternity.   The peace and energy that will encompass us.  It will be beyond comprehension.  

We gave nothing compared to GOD who gave everything to become personal with us.  We gave ourselves and GOD gave us HIMSELF which is everything!   

Now we draw water from cisterns we did not dig and eat from vineyards and olive trees we did not plant.   The Spirit gives us living water and we are anointed and baptized in HIS Spirit.  The LORD has broken the chains of our slavery and rescued us from Hell.  We have opportunities everyday to stop from our basic cluttered thinking and start afresh- abiding in His SPIRIT of GOD who is richly stocks us with unlimited goods and resources to encourage and relieve us from our load.   Where we receive understandings and spiritual food we did not produce or thinking up on our own.  He is the one who becomes our guide of the day- organizing the tasks at hand and we often don’t thank GOD for doing such thing- and for this I am sorry for not recognizing the efforts you have put forth for me. 

By GOD’s patient teaching, we realize LIFE is about trusting GOD with holy surrender and reverence knowing in doing so he blesses and preserves our soul.

Religion does not do this for how could it if GOD is absent and it only preserves the traditions of man.  Religion is acting.  Religion is left to it's own unsatisfying devices; it is absent of the assurances, hopes and leadership of GOD. 

GOD is the GOD of FAITH not RELIGION.

Faith is finding GOD is GOOD and FULL OF MERCY.   FAITH is KNOWING GOD is SPIRIT and HE ALONE renews the SOUL and makes us RIGHT with HIMSELF.       

RELIGION can use God’s name or not use God’s name and even those who claim to have no religion have the religion of their own understanding.  Religious people like to crawl into the seat, which is rightfully GOD’s.  They are like kings and rulers who kill their predecessor so they can be ruler but GOD cannot be killed and no one can sit on HIS throne but HIM. 

    

RELIGION is dependent upon all the accomplishments and deeds of the USER and excludes GOD from being SOLE SAVIOR.   

JESUS said: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” JOHN 6:63

JESUS speaking of himself said: “There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him.  But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God.  Their judgment is based on this fact: The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than light, for their actions were evil.  They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness.  They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished.  But those who do what is right come to the light gladly, so everyone can see they are doing what God wants.” JOHN 3:18-21

  

Religions may seem wise in appearance because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial and even serve bodily discipline but they provide no help in godly maturity and conquering a person's evil desires. (Note Colossians 2:23).  Religion is blind to the path of GOD's grace and prevents others from experiencing the transforming power of JESUS CHRIST.  

ASK any Christian; if they were not saved by some religious rule of man.  Did they break free of some stronghold on their own?  Of course not....  They were saved by GOD who birthed them into the realization of Himself/ JESUS CHRIST.   

False Teachings in so-called “Christian” Churches

There seems to be an increasing amount of false teachings about Jesus Christ. To be quite honest, it pains me the same way a woman were to watch her loving husband be falsely represented/ depicted in a court room.

Watching and hearing Oprah (Video of Oprah) say there is more then one way into heaven other then Jesus Christ is a giant dangerous problem. It not only ignores that fact,

In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

But questions if the bible is absolute truth. Oprah is not the only one pushing these ideals but so-called “churches of change, progressive or off shoot congregations of different denominations. There are television programs with "so-called experts" and books like "Conversations with God" and "Conversations with God for Teens."

They present crosses on their signs and steeples but deny and question why the cross and/or the saving power in Jesus Christ.

Certain churches within different denominations have made it easy to make this transition simple to these so-called “Christian” churches, by slowly allowing morals and truths to be swept aside. These issues range from allowing homosexuals clergy to lead their congregations, to allowing same sex marriages, to questioning and denying the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to have an emphasis on money and prosperity rather then a heart of giving… to name a few. Some churches are so planned and scheduled down to the minute that they completely alienate God. They have become routine, impersonal, ritual, machines. Clergy, pressured by numbers and figures end up preaching to the wants of people instead of what God wants them to hear. And of course you have the baby boomers children, who were seldom or hardly taken to church, going to these so-called "Christian" churches to seek truth, purpose and encouragement having no idea of the false teachings being taught to them.

Recently I read an article in our community paper about a local church called “The Branches”. They say they are a Presbyterian/Lutheran congregation but the clergy did not sound sold out for Jesus or the bible. When asked how people get into Heaven. They answered, “I’m not sure. I think we begin by how we live on Earth.”

WHAT? JESUS is the only way to eternal life in Heaven.

When asked if the bible represents absolute truth and is without error, they answered with ‘No. I think it is a document produced by people like you and me. They are fallible like you and I. They were inspired, but they were not free of short-comings and it needs to be read as such.” The church is defined as a 'church of change' that is interested in living the genuine questions about life as opposed to handing out the answers.”

WHAT? How can a person live their life if they live by questions and no absolutes? If your thoughts are only based on the standards and ideals down here then you are no different then a person who says they don't believe in God because the people who have made up such false teachings have made up their own false gods who can not save them or empower them to change. The devil has tricked and blinded such people. They think they have tasted enlightenment but in the end they will find out the only god they were serving is Satan himself who wants to take as many of God's chosen creation with him to the eternal pits of hell.

The clergy then quotes a Boston University Professor Harrell Beck that reads, “Asking the questions for which there are no answers is the beginning of wisdom.”

HUH? Questions about how to live life, that do not start in truth, they only lead to "disaster". You must start with Jesus Christ as your foundation to find true wisdom.

The article then sits on a nice large ad that points out that you can pay to take sessions for these, “Living the Questions” classes on Thursday nights from April to June developed by two theology students from Boston University

Note: (Newspaper quotes came from page 9 of "THE ADVISOR!" Issued on (April 9, 2008) written by staff writer Caroline Turney.)

My heart deeply sinks and I want to yell out, “NO!” I want to literally throw up because I worry about those who follow such false teachings. I want tell people going and participating in these death traps, “I know the truth because the TRUTH has set me free. Jesus Christ is not some far away messiah who can’t hear us but He is very near and His Spirit resides in me! There is no other way to Heaven except through Jesus Christ. Through him there is not just eternal life in heaven but a “NEW” lifestyle and outlook on life. THERE is encouragement and hope and absolute truth! There are "absolute" answers to your questions.”

All that being said, I want to conclude with this:

2 Peter 1:12
I plan to keep on reminding you of these things – even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth.
1:13
Yes, I believe I should keep on reminding you of these things as long as I live.
1:14
But the Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that my days here on earth are numbered and I am soon to die.
1:15
So I will work hard to make these things clear to you. I want you to remember them long after I am gone.
1:16
For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming again. We have seen his majestic splendor with our own eyes.
1:17
And he received honor and glory from God the Father when God's glorious, majestic voice called down from heaven, "This is my beloved Son; I am fully pleased with him."
1:18
We ourselves heard the voice when we were there with him on the holy mountain.
1:19
Because of that, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. Pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a light shining in a dark place – until the day Christ appears and his brilliant light shines in your hearts.
1:20
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves
1:21
or because they wanted to prophesy. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God.

2 Peter 2
2:1
But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach their destructive heresies about God and even turn against their Master who bought them. Theirs will be a swift and terrible end.
2:2
Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of them, Christ and his true way will be slandered.
2:3
In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction is on the way.
2:4
For God did not spare even the angels when they sinned; he threw them into hell, in gloomy caves and darkness until the judgment day.
2:5
And God did not spare the ancient world – except for Noah and his family of seven. Noah warned the world of God's righteous judgment. Then God destroyed the whole world of ungodly people with a vast flood.
2:6
Later, he turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into heaps of ashes and swept them off the face of the earth. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people.
2:7
But at the same time, God rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a good man who was sick of all the immorality and wickedness around him.
2:8
Yes, he was a righteous man who was distressed by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.
2:9
So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while punishing the wicked right up until the day of judgment.
2:10
He is especially hard on those who follow their own evil, lustful desires and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at the glorious ones without so much as trembling.
2:11
But the angels, even though they are far greater in power and strength than these false teachers, never speak out disrespectfully against the glorious ones.
2:12
These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, who are born to be caught and killed. They laugh at the terrifying powers they know so little about, and they will be destroyed along with them.
2:13
Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They revel in deceitfulness while they feast with you.
2:14
They commit adultery with their eyes, and their lust is never satisfied. They make a game of luring unstable people into sin. They train themselves to be greedy; they are doomed and cursed.
2:15
They have wandered off the right road and followed the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong.
2:16
But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.
2:17
These people are as useless as dried-up springs of water or as clouds blown away by the wind – promising much and delivering nothing. They are doomed to blackest darkness.
2:18
They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With lustful desire as their bait, they lure back into sin those who have just escaped from such wicked living.
2:19
They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves to sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.
2:20
And when people escape from the wicked ways of the world by learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up with sin and become its slave again, they are worse off than before.
2:21
It would be better if they had never known the right way to live than to know it and then reject the holy commandments that were given to them.
2:22
They make these proverbs come true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and "A washed pig returns to the mud."

Scriptures came from the New Living Translation (NLT) Bible


All other ways are sinking sand. Jesus Christ and his true way is where we must stand. He is our solid rock.

Spiritual Truths

A friend and I were having a conversation about spiritual truths and how individuals know these truths instinctively but they either ignore these truths or interrupt them in human ways of thinking and understanding. (Find it in Romans 1)

The culture of the day has many spiritual truths. Our ear instinctively appreciates them when we hear them because God has planted them in every human soul. But throughout time we have watered down these truths into a human understanding instead of a Godly understanding. These truths that originated in and from God now have become mere words - that we have dis-attached from the owner of these truths (GOD).

Spiritual truths, to the world, have essentially become a tootsie roll pop without the tootsie roll in the center. They are sweet on the outside but no deep meaning or understanding in the inside. They are so because we have ignored the original of their meaning.

Look at these movies: The Matrix, Starwars, Lord of the Rings, Kingdom of Heaven, The Four Feathers, Narnia, Hidalgo…. We like and enjoy the message of these movies why?

God's truths are far greater and deeper then our own limited understanding and because of this they sound great to us but because we don't look to God for deeper understanding into these truths they quickly get washed away in the cares of life and are forgotten. God puts the one seeking Him (faith) on a foundation in which these truths not only sound good and make sense but also grow in deeper understanding.

Job 12:13 "But true wisdom and power are with God; counsel and understanding are his.

Read 1 Corinthians 2:12-16

We must give our lives over to God for these great truths to be revealed. He will make them plain and he will make sure we will remember them by his Holy Spirit. He will also give us clarity, direction, caution, and insight in "questionable" situations.

In every level and aspect of the human intellect there is either a certain level of vagueness of God or vagueness of the wisdom of God. And you will find that even well studied and faithful followers of Christ find there is no end to seeing the dots and greatness of God. There seems to be this constant turning key of knowledge that allows us to see a bit more into the endless insight, enlightenment and encouragement of God as we stay mindful and reliant on God and his love and grace.

A love and grace that we should not take lightly or for granted.

A journey of Christian faith brings spiritual truths to light and helps us grow in our assurance, peace and love that God has for us.

In a world of limited understandings, who dares to reach your hand to lead you and help you see the truth? Who?

Jesus says this:

John 10:9-10 "Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. Wherever they go, they will find green pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all it’s fullness."

John 14:6 Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is. From now on you know Him and have seen Him!"

Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to those who call on Him as Lord and Savior. He is our foundation and where true understanding comes from.

John 16:13-14 "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not be presenting his own ideas; he will be telling you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever he receives from me."

Why God Allows Pain

A relative recently sent this to me in an email and I thought I would share it with you.

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists."

"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.

"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving a God who would allow all of these things."

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument.

The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here and I am a barber! And I just worked on you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is that people do not come to me."

"Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens is that people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

From: "Faith is a journey, not a destination."

Sidenote to this email:
I think suffering does happens to those people who believe in God but it's a person's level of dependence (or faith) on God in how a person will successfully and unsuccessfully get through it. There is a book in the bible called Job. God called him righteous and a friend of God. He suffered more then most of us can even imagine but it was his dependence, reliance and belief in God that got him through it. Job's life was to prove to Satan that even when God's people suffer for reasons beyond their understanding - their faith in God still remains strong.

God has given us all a choice to love and know Him. He doesn't want us to perish in the fires of hell - by us not believing in his Son Jesus Christ, who paid for our sins and made us acceptable by His own blood. He also didn't want his creation to be forced to love Him -because what kind of love and relationship would that be then? God paid the price for us by giving His Son, Jesus Christ, to die a criminals death on a cross for us. And Jesus' obedience to His Father and his love for us made him give up his life for us. Jesus died for you and me and rose again to prove that he was God's son and - so we could have the fullness of life and eternity in heaven and not hell. He was the messiah that all the prophets of old had talked about in the bible. Jesus was the ultimate sign of God's love for us. God and Jesus have done all the work for us to come to him and it's only our choice to believe or not.

God also has given us a choice to do things that are wrong or do things that are right (to sin or not sin). These things are spelled out in the bible. God hates sin. For us to be right in God's sight is to strive to do right with the help of God's Holy Spirit and depend on Jesus Christ as our "interceder and sole priest" for the forgiveness of our sins. There are no payments to get your mother, father, brother, sister, or uncle Joe's big toe or anything else out of hell. It was their faith in Christ that saves them - NOTHING else. Jesus was our payment and to say we can buy someone's salvation over God's only son's body is CRAZY!

Bad things (also) happen to the innocent because individuals choose to sin which affect other people. They choose to drink and drive. They choose to kill and steal. They choose to have prematerial sex. They choose to have to multiple partners who may carry and spread diseases such as herpes and HIV and AIDs. They choose drugs over their own children. They choose to believe in a false god who tells them to kill millions of people. They choose to pick and choose what they want to believe in God like He is some salad bar god. They choose to rape. They choose to hold on to all their hurts, worries and anxieties. They choose to believe more in their circumstances then the power of God. They choose to not listen to God and not believe in what God says is true. We curse only ourselves in our non-belief in God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Innocent people get poked and stabbed by the thorns of others because "these" others don't have their eyes focused on God but themselves and their situation.

Does pain allow us to see in the mirror? Here's an example: If a person says they are a Christian and then they get crushed by someone- what is going to come out of their mouth and actions? Is it going to be something sweet or something bitter? Is it something that Christ would approve of or not? If it isn't something we know God wouldn't approve, then we know we need go to God to and have him minister to us and encourage us to do better.

Pain also shows us all that we are in need of help and we need to give that pain to God instead of holding onto it. Have you noticed that we aren't vessels capable of carrying around hurt and pain? We don't function the way God wants us to - when we hold on to the hurt and heavy burdens. God made us very dependent on him but when we try to handle hurt and pain ourselves we don't do a very good job (Frankly we stink at it) and often it affects others around us.

Well I am sure there are more reasons why their is pain in this world but this is what I was given.