How can sadness not come from a Creator? Chance… I miss you.
Posted on 21. Jul, 2009 by John in Christianity, Everything
My dog (Chance) died today and needless to say there have been many tears in my family over the last 24 hours. My sadness over this got me thinking about sadness in general and how that “feeling” could have possibly have arrived by billions and billions of years using the process of elimination. It just doesn’t fit at all. I say this because I am taking a journey with a friend of mine to hear out the arguments against Christianity and for Atheism. I admit I am not very far in the journey at the moment, but I couldn’t help but bring this up considering the timing.
PLEASE, I know that reading something like this will possibly make you want to interrupt me during it and say “whoa, hold on a minute…”, so feel free to do so in the comment section below.
Sadness has no value (from what I can see) concerning survival of the fittest. However, it has great value if you put it in the context of Christianity. God made us in his image and that is how we got the feelings in the first place (Genesis 1.26). Therefore, God must have feelings as well; which of course the Bible clearly shows.
Truthfully, who can argue that sadness is not something that we all feel at times? It’s not some mind game I play on myself. I really loved my dog and miss him and feel sad. And no I’m not completely sure that animals go to heaven since I have not seen anything in the Bible that addresses the issue, though again I admit I have not done much digging in that area. Regardless, I know and trust that whatever the case may be, heaven will be perfect.
For the record, my definition of God here is defined as follows. God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God created everything we know and this whole account is in the Bible.
Genesis 1.26 (NET)
26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”
Just a man and his ramblings… and his love for his dog Chance who loved and was loved yet never uttered a word.
8 Responses to “How can sadness not come from a Creator? Chance… I miss you.”
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22. Jul, 2009
New blog post: How can sadness not come from a Creator? Chance… I miss you. http://bit.ly/2aJgb
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Jordan DeLozier
22. Jul, 2009
I'm really sorry to hear about your dog. I remember meeting Chance for the first time.
Interesting point you made:
Sadness has no value (from what I can see) concerning survival of the fittest.
It seems to have no point in survival of the fittest situations. In fact, it would seem to have a negative effect for survival from an evolutionary standpoint.
johncolumbo
23. Jul, 2009
Thank you for the empathy my friend. We miss Chance a lot, but life moves on and death is inevitable. You cannot love without a whole lot of hurt… ya know?
WingedPanther
10. Aug, 2009
I've lost several pets over the years, and know that it hurts. Sometimes it's pure agony.
I think there is something about us spending time with animals, however. Heaven is where God lives, but it isn't where we'll end up. There will be a new earth, and a new Jerusalem. I think that is where we'll live. And from what I can tell, there will be animals there as well
Colby
01. Sep, 2009
Hey Jon! I regret that I haven't found your site until now, you've done an awesome job with it, i'm really proud of you! Well, i wanted to comment on your sadness theory. In actuality, there is a purpose for sadness within evolution. During earlier periods of species, sadness was not an emotion commonly felt, but as brain size increased, along with increasing levels of rational, sadness helped a species evolve by allowing it to learn from it's mistakes and thus allowing that particular species to comprehend what is good and what is bad. Mental Health experts came out earlier this year with research expanding on the evolutionary concepts of sadness. Sadness, and the commonly associated pain that comes with it, are chemical signals from the brain that something within a species immediate environment is not right, it essentially allows the species to stop and reflect what is negative and positive for the overall greatest survival.
johncolumbo
06. Sep, 2009
Hey Colby. Thank you for the kind words.
If I may ask an honest question in return.
Sadness, being a chemical signal from the brain, is initiated how?
Barbara Donithan
08. Sep, 2009
Maybe if dogs are in heaven, Chance and Harley are playing right now! (Harley died on July 13) Thank God that He heals our hearts in time…I haven't cried for Harley in a couple of weeks, even though reading about Chance reminded me of how much I miss Harley.
See ya at church!
johncolumbo
10. Sep, 2009
Thanks Barbara. I feel the same!