Eastern vs Western Suffering
By Julie Briscoe
We may wonder why must we endure such harship? I think we have our theology of suffering wrong in the West. I think eastern christians, because of what they have been through, have their theology right.
I was in Nam Pen, and I was talking to a girl whose entire family was killed in the Killing Fields.
And I said, "What did this do to your concept of God? How could you become a christian in the middle of this?
She said, "maybe because we have a different view of suffering from you christians over there. You say, as soon as the stom comes, "get this off my back, something's wrong." We say, "strengthen my back to bear it."
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"Someone once asked Mother Teresa is she thought we didn't suffer in the USA like other people did because we were a righteous nation, and Mother Teresa said, "Oh no, I'm afraid you're so wrong." They said, "What do you mean?" She said "I don't think you suffer because you are not worthy to suffer."
