I don't agree with this idea either, nor does it follow to me, that since certain holy people did it therefore others should. I would argue other equally holy and great people did not (for instance, I have never read of Martin Luther King doing this sort of thing).
I think that our personal suffering should make us more aware of others suffering. (I think this is the idea of the fast for the hungry). I do not agree that this is a necessary activity. I think we all have experienced sufficient pain that it *should* make us sensitive to others. If we are not sensitive we are just choosing to be deaf/blind to it or otherwise closing ourselves off from it. Or else perhaps we are sociopathic.
--des
I think that our personal suffering should make us more aware of others suffering. (I think this is the idea of the fast for the hungry). I do not agree that this is a necessary activity. I think we all have experienced sufficient pain that it *should* make us sensitive to others. If we are not sensitive we are just choosing to be deaf/blind to it or otherwise closing ourselves off from it. Or else perhaps we are sociopathic.
--des
Even if I accepted that Jesus intentionally suffered and died for our sins, which I don't, it still does not hold that our suffering is salvific. As I bet you would be one of the first to point out, we are not Christ.