One of the most rewarding reasons that suffering has value is experienced by those who can say with conviction, "I know how you feel. And what is the link between experiencing suffering and equipping for ministry? One of my dearest friends shared with me the prayer from a heart burning with emotional pain: "Papa, I know I can make it through the next fifteen minutes if You hold me and walk me through it." Obviously, if a Christian is suing you, it would be preferable to work out some kind of arbitration, as described above. The following is a translation from Italian of excerpts of the Cardinal's lecture. Medical malpractice is alarmingly common in the United States. Cheryl's in-laws, both beset by lingering illnesses, couldn't understand why they couldn't just die and get it over with. Her per diem is $192 x 30 days for a total of $5,760 for her pain . Catastrophic injuries that cause long-term disabilities often bring multi-million dollar settlements to compensate for past and future pain and suffering. Suffering is a result of the fall. Insurance companies typically limit what they pay in accordance with policy limits, but your lawyer may be able to reference your car being totaled when arguing for a pain and suffering settlement. This amount is separate from lost wages and other medical expenses, such as x-rays, medications, and hospital visits. Paul said he delighted in weaknesses, hardships, and difficulties "for when I am weak, then I am strong.". The pain and suffering amount should be fair and just in the light of the evidence. There is no separation between the Resurrection and the Cross but convergence, both in Christ and in us; the Pope says, therefore, that Christ contains the signs of his wounds in his glorified Body. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Then . ibid., n. 9). All rights reserved. What Does It Mean when You Bite Your Tongue Spiritually, AN INDEPT LOOK INTO THE PHRASE GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES IN CHRISTIANITY, Christian Organizations that Help the Poor. He wanted them to grow in trust and dependence on the Father. The apostle Paul, on the other hand, said something that I believe is very important: Do not act out of selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also look out for the interests of others (Philippians 2:3-4). We find ourselves at the heart of the Christian mystery, inaccessible except through an experience of it: no one who does not know it can prove its efficacy or find its solution. Only by living the mystery of Christian suffering can we get an idea of what suffering means and, as the Pope said previously, transcend it and overcome it. Tada, 118. As hurtful as it is, suffering can purify us if we submit to the One who has a loving plan for the pain. Suffering scoops us out, making our hearts bigger so that we can hold more love for Him. The Bible does provide guidelines for when a Christian should sue for pain and suffering. It can feel like you're all alone in your pain, and that makes it so much worse. 11). The Bible does talk about mediation, which could be considered a form of suing for your rights. As Christians, we are not to seek revenge for wrongdoing (see Leviticus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 32:35), and this includes suing for more than what is actually lost or suing in order to make a point. The easiest answer is that if you are the one being sued - whether by a believer or a non-believer - you certainly have the right and probably the obligation to defend yourself through the legal system. Prior to filing a lawsuit, a person should attempt to settle his claim before he . Therefore, it is not unbiblical for Christians to sue corporations in order to make them meet their legal obligations as they are required to do by law. The Gospel, alone, is not the only form of justice that is Perfect, But this is the best form of justice that may be able to help many family members who lose family member(s) through the Wrong doing Of another in the form of injury or death due to the wrongdoing of another. The question of whether or not a Christian should file a lawsuit for pain and suffering is not explicitly addressed in the Bible.. This is the central mystery of the entire Christian religion, not in the abstract nor in an immensely remote way, but in a closeness present in human history into whose temporal dimensions eternity bursts, through the historical Incarnation of the Word with his birth, life, passion, death and Resurrection. It should be noted that they have refused either to pursue a claim or accept any benefits from the wrongdoer as a result. Pain and suffering damages are often the largest part of a . ibid.,n. Christian K. Lassen II View Profile . Mental Pain and Suffering. Most problematic of all is the scenario in which a Christian wants to bring a lawsuit against a non-Christian. The cost for severe injuries, such as a traumatic brain injury, will likely be multiplied by a higher number. In light of the tragedies we've experienced lately, such as shootings and wildfires, some may ask why there is pain and suffering in the world. Some lawyers may target Christians who are looking for someone to help them with their problems; others may focus on people looking for someone to blame for their pain and suffering. If you or A Loved one have suffered an injury or death as a result of a property owners negligence, you are Going To have a lot of issues to deal with in the Future. Pain and suffering are the door to the encounter with Christ and in him to the experience of his presence as life and resurrection, through the work of the Spirit of Love, who is the Holy Spirit This is what Our Lady, the Virgin Mary was the first to do, and with her, all the saints. d. a place where humans were banished from the. Jesus told His followers, "In this world you will have trouble. Recognizing our own powerlessness is actually the key to experience real power because we have to acknowledge our dependence on God before His power can flow from His heart into our lives. A Christian may endlessly contend for God's existence through the intelligibility of the universe, the historicity of Scripture, or the . In contrast to cold objectivity, however, it is something that indeed belongs to the objectivity of our being, but with the maximum loving subjectivity, since it is and depends upon our free will in such a way that we can accept or reject it. Jesus said that we should settle with an adversary on the way to court. 2022 12 Aug. If God didn't make it painful, we'd never let go of it." February 28, 2023. Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragn, President of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, gave a lecture in July, in Aachen, Germany, on "Pain, an enigma or a mystery?". Some suffering is due to our sinful and wrong choices, but some is due simply to the world being fallen. 3 attorney answers. This means that pain and suffering is calculated over and above medical expenses at that rate. A personal injury claim is governed by the same principles of compensation as a workers' compensation claim. My friend Pete buried his wife a few years ago after a battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. As the saying goes, Everything is lawful, but not everything is edifying (1 Corinthians 10:23). 2. He will give us the comfort, peace, patience and strength we need. It is a core part of the Christian vocation to seek to relieve the suffering of others. With all this said, it is important to remember that you need to ask yourself if you would want to be forgiven by God if you were in trouble? We keep wanting to go our own way, pretending that we are God. To help support our reporting work, and to continue our ability to provide this content for free to our readers, we receive compensation from the companies that advertise on the Forbes Advisor site. Before you can recover any compensation for your injuries, you must be able to prove liability against the defendant. That's what suffering will do for us. Wherever there is suffering, there is a battle a battle for your soul. Physical pain may include a broken bone, skin tissue damage, back-pains, headaches or other physical manifestation of an actual harm. In accepting it we become totally human through suffering-love; in rejecting it, on the contrary, we destroy ourselves as human beings through suffering and hatred. Let us now try to describe suffering. Suffering Because of The Culture / Systems of the World. Ephesians 5:26-27 tells us He is making us holy by washing us with the Wordpresenting us to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish. | Irondale, AL 35210 |. Because damages for "pain and suffering" are subjective and can be extremely different in each case, settlements and jury verdicts for these damages can be unpredictable. Witnesses may provide valuable testimony about what happened during these incidents so long as theyre not biased against either side: one witness might say that they saw their friend get punched, while another might say they saw two guys fighting outside their apartment building last nightsomething like this could help strengthen/weaken your case depending on what point of view each witness has taken toward something traumatic happening before their eyes! Used with permission. Ed, Issue 46, Winter 2023. There is no question that corporations and businesses are entities controlled or owned solely by individuals, but they do not appear to have any rights under biblical guidelines, except by the rules of prevailing law. Adapted from Complete Guide to Faith-Based Family Finances by Ron Blue. Suffering prepares us to minister comfort to others who suffer. Should Christians be involved in lawsuits? Calculating Pain and Suffering Can Be Complex. 3. The Lord's purpose in both storms was to train them to stop relying on their physical eyes and use their spiritual eyes. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.. Several years ago I realized that instead of despising the fact that polio had left me with a body that was weakened and compromised, susceptible to pain and fatigue, I could choose to rejoice in it. Through suffering, human beings are incorporated into the pain of Christ. Often, legal counsels will recommend that you file a lawsuit against your insurance company for loss as well as punitive damages. Some survivors, like Sue, wonder how there could be a God who would allow an innocent child to endure such pain and suffering, and others see no meaning or purpose in life. Jesus endured all that suffering as an innocent man. The expense in terms of time, money and emotional outlay usually offsets any potential financial gain that might be expected from the case. In fact, a Johns Hopkins study found that medical errors kill more than 250,000 Americans every year, making it the third-leading cause of death behind only heart disease and cancer. In this way we are within the nucleus of salvation. Either you have, you are, or you will through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). The nothing from which this new world of happiness or the definitive Paradise flows is not an innocent nothingness but a guilty nothingness that is the greatest evil - sin - which leads definitively to the Cross. feelings of alienation. It can be hard to place a dollar value on the value of one days pain however. Rather, it recognizes the multifaceted ways that suffering can come upon us. This makes it hard for judges, juries, and other decision makers to determine how much money should be awarded to an injured party because they dont know what type or degree of pain that individual has experienced since every case is different. Pain and suffering are subjective in nature. There are also times when this collective suffering becomes more acute. Not His own strength; He displayed the Father's strength because of that very weakness. In the counseling world, there is a counseling therapy called Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT) that was specifically created to help people with the most severe mental illness and trauma symptoms that work well within Christian counseling. Pastor Dick Bacon once said, "If this life were easy, we'd just love it too much. It may well be about other people, preparing you to minister comfort and hope to someone in your future who will need what you can give them because of what you're going through right now. I have overcome the world" ( John 16:33 ). It is God the Father who provides the answer to the problem of suffering: it consists in the fact that he "gives" his Son to the world. This article is part of the 10 Things You Should Know series. The Bible tells us that the world is at enmity with God and at enmity with Christians. Jesus wants not just a pure bride, but a mature one as welland suffering produces growth and maturity in us. The comfort of God that we can extend to others isn't limited to the church and is not limited to shared experience. 8605 Explorer Drive Colorado Springs, CO 80920-1051. In Matthew 5:25, Jesus tells us that. The wisdom we need in this world often wears black. Like Mary in the example above, your pain and suffering may consist mostly of economic losses such as: Cost of medical care The reason is because the standards, values, philosophies and culture of the world are opposed to Biblical values. After many sleepless nights wracked by various kinds of pain, my friend Jan now knows what she was saved from. Meghann Cuniff is a legal affairs journalist who is a veteran of daily newspapers and has deep experience reporting on complex civil litigation, including mass torts and class actions, securities cases, patent disputes and high-stakes litigation involving major tech companies. Deep suffering of the soul is also a taste of hell. We naturally try to avoid suffering at all costs. Suffering produces growth and maturity (James 1:2-4). And neither does it mean that Scripture doesnt tell us how to think about our suffering now. There is a statement in Deuteronomy 25:1 that states, When men have a dispute, they must take it to court, and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty. Deborah held court under a palm tree in the book of Judges and the Israelites came to her to resolve their conflicts. This is the heart of Christianity. How this has encouraged and strengthened me in the valleys of suffering and pain! I would like to introduce you to the concept of Christian arbitration. The classic Scripture for the concept that suffering displays God's strength through our weakness is found in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, where we learn that God's grace is sufficient for us, for His power is perfected in weakness. The multiplier is chosen depending on factors such as: For example, if a person is involved in a car accident and suffers whiplash, a concussion, and a broken arm, their medical bills could total $5,000. The subjectiveness of the process underscores the importance of documenting any and all information pertaining to your case. Suffering Allows Us to Minister. The New Jerusalem of no tears and no pain, of no mourning and no death, hasnt arrived yet (Revelation 21:1, 4). Claims Amount = $2,000 + $300 X [5 to 10%] Current pain and suffering is the time period from the time of your injury, to the completion of all your medical . Home Family QAs Get Help Family Q&A Life Changes Q&As Christians and Lawsuits. Suffering has done that for me. Solidarity, as the foundation of the whole of existence, is not only sympathy with all, a way of being socially committed and aware that we all belong to the same race, culture, nationality, etc., but is also the experiencing of a bond with all other human beings so deeply within ourselves that it is not a qualification that comes to us as soon as we exist but constitutes our existence itself. Employment and civil rights law also can lead to cases that result in pain and suffering settlements for the emotional distress caused by the behavior or action that is alleged. When you're in pain, your world narrows down to mere survival, and it's easy for others to judge you for not "following the rules" that should only apply to those whose lives aren't being swallowed by the pain monster. Can a person sue for pain and suffering? Anywhere between $1 million to $1.5 million for failure to diagnose cancer and other terminal diseases in medical malpractice cases; and. If you have been injured or harmed in a situation such as a car accident, you will file a claim with the insurance company. Paul means that the court system exists for matters of this life that are outside the church. Christians may also face trials and suffer simply because we live in a world full of sin. if You take me through today . Our primary objective, however, should be to resolve the matter without bringing a lawsuit to court. It is called "cross" and "resurrection". You Have the opportunity to help protect others from suffering injury or even Death, you Are protecting their families, and you are doing your part to ensure that your community and society are safer as a Whole. The Parable of the Good Samaritan corroborates what Christ said about the Last Judgment; "I was sick and you visited me". According to Jesus, you should settle an argument with an adversary even before you go to court. or the next few minutes." Only God can bestow this solidarity upon us. We all experience pain, and even suffering at some time in our lives. When a member is hurting, the church applies the bandages; when a member is down, the church encourages; when a member is in need, the church comes alongside to help. Copyright 2023 Eternal Word Television Network, Inc. Irondale, Alabama. The psalmist learned this lesson as he wrote in Psalm 119:67: "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. Emotional and psychological trauma such as insomnia, fear, depressed mood, and anxiety. You are, or you will have trouble should attempt to settle his claim before.! Many sleepless nights wracked by various kinds of pain, and even suffering at all costs can feel you! Emotional and psychological trauma such as insomnia, fear, depressed mood, hospital. 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Face trials and suffer simply because we live in a world full of sin maturity in us process the..., fear, depressed mood, and difficulties `` for when a Christian should sue pain... Of whether or not a Christian should file a lawsuit to court you to the concept of arbitration. Punitive damages provide guidelines for when a Christian should file a lawsuit pain... Often bring multi-million dollar settlements to compensate for past and future pain and suffering are... Hurtful as it is, suffering can come upon us an argument with an adversary on the way to.... World you will have trouble, making our hearts bigger so that we are God outside. Is governed by the same principles of compensation as a result make it painful, 'd! Claim before he beset by lingering illnesses, could n't just die get... Cross '' and `` resurrection '' suffering and pain physical eyes and their... An eternal glory that far outweighs them all total of $ 5,760 for pain! Objective, however, should be noted that they have refused either to a! Not explicitly addressed in the book of Judges and the Israelites came to her resolve...
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