WHY DO WE PUNISH OURSELVES?
Condensed from John Werner's book BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH
Is there no other way to escape wrong-doings besides self-punishment? As we see people inflicting mental, emotional and physical pain on themselves, we begin to ask "Isn't there another method to atone for our sins than by inflicting self-punishment and enduring the punishment given by others?" Our first impression maybe that it is proper to pay back for the wrongs we have done in our past and present lives. Although we may not remember a specific reason for suffering, we believe that we are resolving our spiritual shortcomings. We further conclude that it is God' will, and we have heard that Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
I remember an incident many years ago that I questioned through the years about violent outbursts.. My brother, Al, sponsored a dance and I made extra money checking hats and coats. As we secured the dance hall and were the last to leave, I heard a whack and the moaning of a woman in pain coming from the parking lot with the car facing the opposite direction. It was a bright moonlight. I could see a man with a shiny forehead and receding hairline. With the back car door opened he would reach in and give the woman laying on seat another whack and we heard more moaning. I turned to my brother and said,"Al, do you hear the way he is hitting that woman? My brother, always a gentle person with the ladies, opened his door and yelled, "Leave that woman alone, you old bastard!" The man yelled back in a demanding voice, "Come over here, Mack." My brother pauses for a moment and back the car a few feet. The man reached in the back seat of his car where the woman lay and came out with a 2 by 4, grasping it as a club. After a moment of silence, we drove off. I turned to my brother and asked. "Would you have taken this further?" (Obviously not.) He quipped back, "Well,he stopped hitting that woman, (At least momentarily I assumed.)
In my prime as a single man dating the ladies, I remember escorting my date with her sister and newly married husband. To my amazement, her sister would punch her husband in a fit of temper. Being gentleman, he quietly took the blows without defending himself or even saying a word. All four of us went out as few times. One night while I was taking them home, she asked him "How did you get those welts on your face?" He quietly answered, "You did that." She did not apologize. A friend who witnessed one of her violent outburst later commented,"I wouldn't take that. I'd knock the hell out of her." I later heard the couple had divorced.
As I searched metaphysical books for answers to such immoral behavior, channeled spirits were consistent in relating that our Lord is not God is not violent, nor does God hold grudges nor wishes His people to suffer. According to the spirits, we suffer because we believe it pleases God. The spirits claim, this type of action is not called for. You may ask, "Why do you see good people, trying to live the righteous path to God have accept so much suffering and pain in a life time. The spirits content that if one would see the overall picture of the person's past lives, and the imbalance that the soul is trying to correct, we might understand their suffering. However, there is a way out of pain: SELF-FORGIVENESS. Until we can learn this method of wiping away our mistakes, we will continue to suffer, thinking this is the way to heaven.
Is there no other way to escape wrong-doings besides self-punishment? As we see people inflicting mental, emotional and physical pain on themselves, we begin to ask "Isn't there another method to atone for our sins than by inflicting self-punishment and enduring the punishment given by others?" Our first impression maybe that it is proper to pay back for the wrongs we have done in our past and present lives. Although we may not remember a specific reason for suffering, we believe that we are resolving our spiritual shortcomings. We further conclude that it is God' will, and we have heard that Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
I remember an incident many years ago that I questioned through the years about violent outbursts.. My brother, Al, sponsored a dance and I made extra money checking hats and coats. As we secured the dance hall and were the last to leave, I heard a whack and the moaning of a woman in pain coming from the parking lot with the car facing the opposite direction. It was a bright moonlight. I could see a man with a shiny forehead and receding hairline. With the back car door opened he would reach in and give the woman laying on seat another whack and we heard more moaning. I turned to my brother and said,"Al, do you hear the way he is hitting that woman? My brother, always a gentle person with the ladies, opened his door and yelled, "Leave that woman alone, you old bastard!" The man yelled back in a demanding voice, "Come over here, Mack." My brother pauses for a moment and back the car a few feet. The man reached in the back seat of his car where the woman lay and came out with a 2 by 4, grasping it as a club. After a moment of silence, we drove off. I turned to my brother and asked. "Would you have taken this further?" (Obviously not.) He quipped back, "Well,he stopped hitting that woman, (At least momentarily I assumed.)
In my prime as a single man dating the ladies, I remember escorting my date with her sister and newly married husband. To my amazement, her sister would punch her husband in a fit of temper. Being gentleman, he quietly took the blows without defending himself or even saying a word. All four of us went out as few times. One night while I was taking them home, she asked him "How did you get those welts on your face?" He quietly answered, "You did that." She did not apologize. A friend who witnessed one of her violent outburst later commented,"I wouldn't take that. I'd knock the hell out of her." I later heard the couple had divorced.
As I searched metaphysical books for answers to such immoral behavior, channeled spirits were consistent in relating that our Lord is not God is not violent, nor does God hold grudges nor wishes His people to suffer. According to the spirits, we suffer because we believe it pleases God. The spirits claim, this type of action is not called for. You may ask, "Why do you see good people, trying to live the righteous path to God have accept so much suffering and pain in a life time. The spirits content that if one would see the overall picture of the person's past lives, and the imbalance that the soul is trying to correct, we might understand their suffering. However, there is a way out of pain: SELF-FORGIVENESS. Until we can learn this method of wiping away our mistakes, we will continue to suffer, thinking this is the way to heaven.