Why Life's Obstacles Are a Necessary Part of Our Spiritual Life

A fundamental flaw in liberal thinking is that many liberals believe that all obstacles, in the road of life, are bad. I strongly disagree. I believe that God put obstacles in all of our paths to help us grow spiritually. IMHO, spiritual growth is the reason for being. Therefore, obstacles, sorrow, misfortunes, failures and even tragedies, are a nessisary part of our spiritual life, just as food and water are a nessisary part of our physical life. Often overcoming obstacles and dealing with them in accordance with universal spiritual principles, leads to spiritual growth, improves our eternal souls, and brings us closer to God.

I once saw an episode of "Twilight Zone" where a horrific low-life gangster died and was immediately sent to the "afterlife". In this afterlife, his every wish was granted and his every desire fulfilled. He lived in a luxurious mansion. He was surrounded by beautiful women who were willing to fulfill all of his fantasies. He had servants, fancy cars, luxurious clothing and he was very popular. Everyone laughed at his jokes and when he gambled, he always won.

At first he was overjoyed at his good fate. However, he was a bit surprised that an evil man like himself would end up in heaven.

As time went by, he became bored with all of his luxuries and good fortune. Pretty soon his boredom tuned into discontent, anger, displeasure, and torment. As strange as it seemed, he could no longer tolerate his good fortune. Everything was too predictable. He asked to lose occasionally when he gambled. But this only infuriated him more, because he knew that when he lost, it was because he had asked for it to be that way.

Finally, at the end of the program, he told the man in charge that he was no longer happy. He demanded to be happy. He said that he was supposed to be happy in heaven. The man in charge looked at him and laughed heartily. He said, "heaven, what made you think that you are in heaven?". This is the other place.

My point is that if liberals got everything that they thought would make an ideal world, they would be miserable and spiritually depraved. This is exactly what we are witnessing in today's popular culture.