Categories and Causes of Suffering

[Terry_Sampson]

With a similar prompt, I mangaged to get this list of “Categories and Causes of Suffering out of ChatGPT”. Can anyone improve on it or add to it”

---

Categories and Causes of Suffering

Category / Cause	Examples and Theological / Philosophical Interpretation
I. Natural (Non-Moral)	Geophysical / Climatic: earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis — the cost of a stable, law-bound universe.Biological / Ecological: disease, parasitism, predation, genetic flaws — the price of evolutionary freedom.Cosmic: asteroid impacts, radiation — vulnerability of life in a dynamic cosmos.Entropic / Temporal: decay, mortality — the finite structure of time-bound creation.
II. Moral (Human-Caused)	Personal: addiction, vice, self-destruction — misuse of freedom.Interpersonal: cruelty, betrayal, violence — relational corruption of love.Institutional / Systemic: war, oppression, inequality — collective sin and structural evil.Negligence: failure to prevent harm — moral omission, moral blindness.
III. Existential / Psychological	Anxiety, guilt, loneliness, despair, loss of meaning — the suffering intrinsic to self-conscious, finite beings; the “dark night of the soul.”
IV. Relational / Vicarious	Grief: sorrow over another’s death.Empathic pain: compassion that suffers-with.Sacrificial love: choosing to bear another’s burden — redemptive suffering as imitation of Christ.
V. Metaphysical / Ontological	Finitude: awareness of mortality.Alienation from God / Goodness: estrangement as a universal ache.Imperfection of the world: tension between being and oughtness — “the groaning of creation” (Romans 8:22).
VI. Spiritual / Demonic (Traditional)	Temptation, oppression, affliction by dark powers — symbolizes the radical disorder or opposition to divine harmony in creation.
VII. Redemptive / Transformational	Suffering used to forge virtue, humility, compassion — “soul-making” (John Hick). Christ’s Passion: the prototype of suffering transfigured into love.

---

Optional Summary Statement (for top or bottom of chart)

All suffering arises from tension between created freedom and divine order.
Some suffering is destructive (disintegrative, chaotic); some is redemptive (integrative, transformative).
The mystery of faith lies in discerning which is which — and trusting that none is beyond the reach of meaning.

---

[RichardG (Richard Gillett)]

Seems to ignore any suffering due to physical damage or illness, nether of which have and spiritual or divine inclusion. Perhaps that is off the subject? I can’t be sure.

Richard

[Argon]

Add one category: Unknown.

Example: Lower back pain. In many cases it’s hard to tell: Could be purely physical or could be demons.

[Terry_Sampson]

My personal objective was to obtain a list of categories of suffering as comprehensive as possible, so that no critic could or would, without difficulty, say: “But what about … or you forgot about …” And my personal objective was also to obtain a list of causes of suffering as comprehensive as possible, so that no critic could or would, without difficulty, say: “But what about … or you forgot about …”

My question to both of you is, “Why wouldn’t your proposed ‘additions’ fall in the First Category and First Cause: “I. Natural (Non-Moral)?”

As for the classification of lower back pain as Demon-caused, I’m going to go way out on a limb and assume that a bona fide exorcism should fix that OR rule that out.

[RichardG (Richard Gillett)]

@Terry_Sampson

My question to both of you is, “Why wouldn’t your proposed ‘additions’ fall in the First Category and First Cause: “I. Natural (Non-Moral)?”

Perhaps it is the rather pretentious language. You could claim disease, yes as being Biological, but simple injuries as a result of freedom is stretching a point.

I think the point here is that to make this whole thing as arising from tension between created freedom and divine order is to involve the divine in the mundane which, unless you are Jewish, is not the usual belief or thought.
Suffering can be, and often is, without reason or intended cause. The accidental element does not seem to fit into the OP (IMHO)

Richard

[Terry_Sampson]

Some suffering may be accidental, without intent or moral design behind it. My goal wasn’t to dress it up in lofty language, only to name the broad kinds of circumstances in which suffering arises. Categories help describe where meaning might be present — and where it might simply be absent.

If I rewrite the list to reflect that, it looks something like this:

Categories of Suffering (revised and expanded)
• Natural / environmental: earthquakes, storms, fires, and other forces of nature.
• Biological: disease, decay, inherited conditions, aging.
• Accidental / contingent: harm that comes through chance or physical vulnerability — a fall, a crash, an unintended injury.
• Human-caused (moral or systemic): suffering through malice, neglect, oppression, or injustice.
• Psychological / existential: grief, anxiety, despair, guilt, and loneliness.
• Spiritual / moral: the sense of alienation from God or loss of moral direction.

This way, “accidental” suffering has its own place. The list doesn’t try to justify pain — only to describe the ways it enters the world we actually live in.

[St.Roymond]

@Terry_Sampson

As for the classification of lower back pain as Demon-caused, I’m going to go way out on a limb and assume that a bona fide exorcism should fix that OR rule that out.

Just needs a good soak in a hot tub filled with holy water.

[Terry_Sampson]

[Theangeloffury (Liam C.)]

On #6:

I struggle with this one, particularly in a post Enlighented world.

“If God wasn’t hidden, belief wouldn’t be trust” (paraphrase).

For most of human history, the transcendent/ spiritual realm was a given. The question was more like “what do the gods/God want from us” rather than “do we believe in God at all?” God hiding himself in order for humans to freely believe in Him to me only makes sense when that reality of gods/God isn’t a given. So I struggle to see divine hiddeness could be solved as simply a matter of trust/belief.

Then, you can wonder why God seems to appear to others, especially when some people weren’t expecting those encounters. My friend walked away from God for many years after highschool, and he had a crazy vision of “heaven” and “hell” from which God appeared to him and he totally turned his life around. He wasn’t asking for God (as i remember the story) and yet God appeared to Him (reminds me of Paul a bit in his surprise encounter). It makes me wonder why those expierences happen because they don’t always seem to fit in the picture of God’s hiddenness.

So it does make you wonder why God allows some to flounder in the wilderness in silence and others God shows up to those who aren’t seeking. That doesn’t seem to fit with God hiding so we can seek him.

Any thoughts or better perspectives I can take?

[Terry_Sampson]

Liam,

You’re right that for most of human history, belief in a transcendent order was simply assumed; the world was “enchanted,” alive with gods and spirits. In that context, God’s “hiddenness” couldn’t mean what it does for us today. In the modern, disenchanted world, hiddenness has shifted: it’s not that God is less real, but that His presence is no longer woven into the background of culture. The silence we now perceive may be less a withdrawal than an invitation—to seek freely rather than to conform by default. As Charles Taylor suggested, we now live in a world where belief is one option among many, and that new condition itself may be part of God’s pedagogical design for human freedom.

Hiddenness, then, shouldn’t be confused with inaccessibility. The biblical idea is less that God is absent, and more that His presence is non-coercive. Were God to manifest with undeniable force—like a thunderclap of glory in every sky—belief would collapse into self-preservation. There would be no room for trust, love, or moral growth, only submission before power. Hiddenness preserves the conditions under which faith can still be faith, and love can still be freely given. Even when God does appear in unmistakable ways—as in Paul’s vision on the Damascus road—those moments are almost always vocational rather than preferential. They serve a purpose in the larger story, not as rewards for the seeker or proofs for the skeptic.

The diversity of divine encounter follows from this. God discloses Himself in many registers: sometimes in inward conviction, sometimes in historical revelation, sometimes through extraordinary experience. The mistake is to treat only the last as the “real” evidence of His presence. Hiddenness can be the context in which subtler forms of revelation—beauty, conscience, the pull of love or meaning—are meant to awaken us. For one person, a vision may be the only way through a hardened resistance; for another, silence may be the only way to cultivate endurance, humility, or dependence on others. God’s self-disclosure seems tuned not to fairness of experience but to fitness of soul and calling.

So perhaps divine hiddenness and human freedom are two sides of the same coin. If God’s existence were proven like a mathematical theorem, love would no longer be relational—it would be acquiescence to an overwhelming fact. The hiddenness of God is not evidence of His absence, but of His respect for the fragile conditions under which genuine love and moral trust can grow. In that light, your friend’s unexpected vision and another person’s long silence aren’t contradictions; they may be different modes of the same divine pedagogy—God meeting each heart in the way that best preserves both truth and freedom.

[Terry_Sampson]

Among my strongest memories of my God’s undeserved blessing is:

My high school roommate’s grandmother and, in 1972 to 1974, my landlady. At the Molokan funeral service for her, I was moved to speak to her daughter, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of God’s blessing to me at a very critical time in my mid-20s. I reminded them of the Bible’s story of the life-threatening presence of God but assured them that He has not abandoned us because, as He had shown me personally, He had had mercy on me through Basha as her grandchildren and I had call her. And I described for everyone, her many human, non-miraculous kindnesses to me, particularly during those few years.

[St.Roymond]

@Terry_Sampson

Hiddenness, then, shouldn’t be confused with inaccessibility. The biblical idea is less that God is absent, and more that His presence is non-coercive. Were God to manifest with undeniable force—like a thunderclap of glory in every sky—belief would collapse into self-preservation. There would be no room for trust, love, or moral growth, only submission before power. Hiddenness preserves the conditions under which faith can still be faith, and love can still be freely given.

Brilliantly said!

@Terry_Sampson

Even when God does appear in unmistakable ways—as in Paul’s vision on the Damascus road—those moments are almost always vocational rather than preferential. They serve a purpose in the larger story, not as rewards for the seeker or proofs for the skeptic.

I’ve thought of them as a divine draft: when there’s a strategic objective to be met, God picks whomever He deems suitable.

@Terry_Sampson

God discloses Himself in many registers: sometimes in inward conviction, sometimes in historical revelation, sometimes through extraordinary experience.

For the latter . . . I was once reciting/praying the 23rd Psalm in my late Vespers prayers and when I said, “He restores my soul” I suddenly felt infused with what I can only describe as liquid golden light, and I knew that my soul had been restored/renewed.
Normally He speaks through the text, but in that instant He added more.

[Theangeloffury (Liam C.)]

Terry,

I appreciate your thoughtful response to my comments.

@Terry_Sampson

In the modern, disenchanted world, hiddenness has shifted: it’s not that God is less real, but that His presence is no longer woven into the background of culture. The silence we now perceive may be less a withdrawal than an invitation—to seek freely rather than to conform by default.

I agree with this with a little nuance. I see that one of our biggest barriers to the presence of God is how we can’t hardly be silent for one darn minute. I do believe that a lot of our problems are due to the free will that God gave us. Our free-will has produced societies and technologies that has created incessant noise. Is God to blame for His silence in the modern day when we, in our free-will, have lost the ability to listen properly for it? I also agree that our disenchantment really hurts us. When the separate the material and the transcendent realm, we can lose on so many opportunities for God to reveal His presence. But I understand that there are many noises and many distractions that don’t make it easy to perceive God’s presence.

@Terry_Sampson

Even when God does appear in unmistakable ways—as in Paul’s vision on the Damascus road—those moments are almost always vocational rather than preferential.

I appreciate this perspective. It can be easy to see those moments in the Bible, where God’s direct revelation could feel coercive in starting a relationship with a human (Abram, Moses, the Prophets etc.) But as you write I’m reminded of Esther 4:14:

“For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (ESV)

I think any of the people God called could have refused him. I still think there was a choice to be had. Though would he interesting how their lives would have gone if that was the clearest revelation of God that they would ever get.

@Terry_Sampson

Hiddenness can be the context in which subtler forms of revelation—beauty, conscience, the pull of love or meaning—are meant to awaken us.

It’s helpful to be aware of the many ways God calls to us humans, but I try to be sympathetic to those who say they would only be convinced by a more clear revelation, like a dream, or a vision or a miracle. It’s hard to toe that line where a skeptic wants God to reveal himself and questions why God, if He exists, wouldn’t reveal to himself in a clear and direct way. If we truly understood that person’s heart and believe them to be genuine, I struggle when that person doesn’t receive clear revelation. Is it enough to just tell them that they should see the signs of subtler revelation and be convinced? Or say that we shouldn’t demand things from God when He has given opportunities to perceive His presence? Idk I struggle for those kinds of people.

But maybe, I just had this thought, that if God did provide direct revelation to that person, it would be technically forcing the person’s hand. If the person is convinced that they would believe in God if God revealed Himself to the person, then by God revealing Himself, that person would have to reckon with that belief and not be making a decision to freely follow into a relationship with God. (Does that make any sense?) Though with my friend and his vision, there was still room for him to reject God and continue in His destructive ways, and He almost did reject God still despite that vision. So even with direct revelation, there’s still a choice to be made.

@Terry_Sampson

God’s existence were proven like a mathematical theorem, love would no longer be relational—it would be acquiescence to an overwhelming fact.

This kinda follows from my thoughts about people asking for God to reveal Himself because while I think a distinct vision of God could “prove” His existence, I think everything we expierence comes to be understood through subject interpretation, this subjectivity in our expierences would always allow for a back door to deny that anything supernatural happened, even if God actually revealed Himself to that person.

@Terry_Sampson

God meeting each heart in the way that best preserves both truth and freedom.

And how God decides what’s best for each person is a mystery that we shouldn’t be quick to answer.

-Liam

[Terry_Sampson]

A sudden thought occurred to me as I read your post. Imagine a situation in which someone asked for, pleaded for, or demanded a proof . . . and God granted the petition; then the recipient subsequently … after a profound disappointment or a long dry spell, fell into disbelief. Then I thought, what if that’s why God doesn’t handout revelations . . .because He knows humans are fickle creatures with remarkably weak free-will?

Hmmm, I think I’m going to call that an inspired thought.

[T_aquaticus (The Friendly Neighborhood Atheist)]

@Terry_Sampson

A sudden thought occurred to me as I read your post. Imagine a situation in which someone asked for, pleaded for, or demanded a proof . . . and God granted the petition; then the recipient subsequently … after a profound disappointment or a long dry spell, fell into disbelief. Then I thought, what if that’s why God doesn’t handout revelations . . .because He knows humans are fickle creatures with remarkably weak free-will?

It gets a bit more complicated if we are going to suffer eternal punishment for not believing in God.

[Terry_Sampson]

You haven’t heard? Eternal punishment has been canceled. If you can’t be rehabilitated, then you’re sent to the recycle bin. If you can be rehabilitated, you’re sent to the repair shop. (It’s what the Catholics call Purgatory.) There’s only Heaven, which–of course–is Hell if you don’t want to be there. But that’s not eternal. It’s a much more productive use of resources.

[T_aquaticus (The Friendly Neighborhood Atheist)]

@Terry_Sampson

You haven’t heard? Eternal punishment has been canceled. If you can’t be rehabilitated, then you’re sent to the recycle bin.

Reincarnation?

@Terry_Sampson

If you can be rehabilitated, you’re sent to the repair shop.

If you can’t be fixed then you can’t be repaired.

@Terry_Sampson

There’s only Heaven, which–of course–is Hell if you don’t want to be there. But that’s not eternal. It’s a much more productive use of resources.

Will there be suffering in heaven?

[Terry_Sampson]

@T_aquaticus

Will there be suffering in heaven?

The most you’ll get is in the Repair Shop (a.k.a. Purgatory). That’s where you get to make amends to all the people you failed to treated properly in this world and you have to watch how your choices here play out and ripple through the universe in the future.

@T_aquaticus

If you can’t be fixed then you can’t be repaired.

What part of “if you can be rehabilitated” = “If you can’t be repaired”?

@T_aquaticus

Reincarnation?

No, annihilation. Complete dismantling. With any luck some of you may be used to make plants or just flower pots and rocks.