Boon or a Curse

cuddly · Joined: 13 Mar 2011 Posts: 49

I have a strange feeling that God is punishing those who have troubled me at some point of my lifetime. There are several instances which prove this action. Ultimately I end up feeling guilty seeing them suffer. What to do? Can I feel happy to see that God is helping me or feel sad as my near & dear are punished.

Agentscott · Joined: 08 Feb 2011 Posts: 1042 Location: Essex

Hi Cuddly,
Have you ever heard of calmer?
I don't know if it's for real but it sounds relevent here, it is said that...

Supposedly like a balance, say someone causes someone else distress of some kind, that level of distress will upon that person later on.

Say you punch someone, it doesn't mean you will get punched back but it could be something that causes the same amount of distress, perhaps you may loss something instead.

I don't know if it's real or not I have just heard of it.

flossy · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 10:25 am Post subject:

D B Sweeney · Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 12:26 am Post subject:

Hi Cuddly,

Firstly I think 'the feeling' that god is punishing those who've troubled you is just that, ie - a feeling and as such it's purely subjective with no actual connection to anything going on in the wider world.
Secondly you're possibly seeing certain events that relate to these people and creating your feelings about gods punishment in order to substantiate (probably unconsciously) your beliefs.
This is called The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy, see the link below.

http://www.skepdic.com/texas.html

Alternatively god may indeed be acting on your behalf but for various reasons that's highly unlikely.

DB