Just thought I'd add my two cents
🙂
Christianity's God is a God who became man and so was susceptible to all of the pains of the body and temptations of the devil that all men are open to. What is so compelling about this is that Jesus (God Incarnate) became a whole man. Thus, he took on the flesh and so was every bit as capable of sin as you or I. Look at the Rosary, the Sorrowful Mysteries tell us clearly that Christ was human and was subjected to the worst pains and tortures imaginable.
Sorrowful Mysteries:
1. The Agony in the Garden: Jesus goes to the garden with his apostles, knowing full well that he is about to be handed over to the Pharisees. His own friends, the only ones he has, can't stay awake and be with him in this hour. They fall asleep when he needs their comfort most. Scripture tells us that in this hour the mind of Christ was deeply torn. Jesus, God Incarnate (God in the flesh), was struggling. He was struggling as you and I struggle everyday of our lives. He was struggling with the temptations of the flesh. He knew the horrors that were going to befall him. He knew he would be tortured and he feared the pains of the flesh. So his spirit was at war with his flesh, his physical desire to avoid pain and torture. Scripture tells us that in this hour Jesus was so torn, so afraid that "he sweated blood". Yet knowing full well his destiny, and no matter how great his desire to escape it, he said, "let Thy will be done."
2. The Scourging at the Pillar: Here Christ is brought before Pilate. He has never hurt anyone or anything. Quite the opposite. He has cured the sick, raised the dead, given sight to the blind and preached a message of peace and love. Yet he is brought before Pilate so that the Jews can get permission to crucify him. On this day of Passover Pilate is allowed to release a criminal to the Jews. Perhaps fearing to persecute this strange and powerful man, Pilate urges that Christ be released to the crowd. But they scream in opposition. "We want Barabas!" they cry. They want a zealot who forced religion by the sword and who had murdered countless numbers. Those who shout for Christ are quickly silenced. Barabas is released and Pilate orders Jesus to be flogged. His body stripped and his wrists tied to a pillar, his is whipped by leather tongs with sharp shards of bone at their ends. He cries out in pain and agony. His mother, Mary, stands by helplessly.
3. The Crowning of Thorns: Jesus, now stripped of his clothes and bleeding profusely from the wounds of the whip, is in the hands of the Roman soldiers. They mock him. They beat him. They spit on him. They drape him with a purple cloth mocking his kingship. They fashion a crown of thorns and beat them into his head with clubs. God, who made himself man for our sakes, is humiliated, mocked, spit on, beat and bashed with a crown of inch long pikes.
4. The Carrying of the Cross: Already severely beaten, Christ's wrists are tied to a heavy piece of wood (imagine a railroad tie). He is still wearing his crown of thorns and his mocking purple drapery. He is bleeding profusely. He is exhausted beyond imagination. And now he is forced to march barefoot up the stony path to Golgatha (Skull Place). Crowds are lined along the way to curse at him and throw stones and behind him march the Roman soldiers with their cruel whips. Christ is so exhausted from the beatings and the weight of the cross that he falls three times and in the end has to have someone (Simon) nearly carry him to the place of crucifixion. All of his energy is spent. He has reached the threshold of human pain and exhaustion.
5. The Crucifixion: The most terrible of deaths it is marked for ordinary criminals: murderers, robbers, and the like. Now a man who has never committed a crime is brought to feel the pains of this terrible death. Christ falls to the stony earth in exhaustion. His energy is spent. The Roman soldiers now pick up their hammers and their iron spikes. They place the spikes in Christ's wrists and hammer down on them with all of their might. Jesus, cries out in pain and agony, drawing breath from the torments of his torture. Mary stands near at hand, again helpless to aid her beloved Son. Christ, his wrists nailed to the wood, is raised up on the cross, his nailed wrists supporting the full weight of his body. He again cries out in anguished pain. The cross is set. A resting place is set about his feet. His mother thinks they are giving him some resting place, some comfort amidst his tortures. Then, to her horror, they drive the iron spikes through his feet. What little breath was left for Jesus to cry out? Thus crucified, there he hung through the long hot day, struggling for breath, the weight of his own body crushing his lungs. The Roman soldiers beneath him are laughing and playing games for his clothing. His anguished mother is staring up at her beaten and tortured Son. There is nothing she can do to help him now.
It goes on for hours, Christ is atoning for all the sins of mankind, though they scarcely know it. In the end he cries out, "Father, forgive them! They know not what they've done.........It is finished. Into Your hands I surrender My Spirit."
I posted this in answer to the question of "if there are any other religions that present a deity who has or does suffer?"
There are many religions in the world. But I think what it is important to understand is that there is only one God. There is only one truth. Our separate religions are simply interpretations or grasping inklings of truth. We may believe there are many Gods and many different stories, but in truth there is only one God and only one story. It is our own desire to bend God to our will and lifestyles that creates multiple religions. God came to earth as a man, God suffered terribly to atone for our sins and God was murdered at our hands.
Thus we have been saved.
As always, interested in any responses or differing views.
Peace,
Scott
www.calltochrist.com
