Can self-inflicted discomfort of the body bring you closer to God?

I'm sure there are plenty of psychos who believe it does.

Only a fool would think so... that is 22%..wow

bark

Here is a great article on the subject if anyone cares to read it:

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/stunner_pope_practiced_self-mortification/

Of course it can. Anything can bring you closer to God. Good or bad.

I recently read an article about the Pope's self-flagellation, it was sad to say the least, that people can be so decieved to think that anything they do can give them a righteous standing before God.

This is why Christ came to bear our sins for us, because we are dead in sin and there is NOTHING we can do to change that.
The gospel is the "Good News". That news, is that Christ came in the flesh, lived a perfect life in word thought and deed. Went to the cross where he willingly gave his life for all who would believe, was buried and after three days rose from the dead in his own body and today sits at the right hand of God the Father to make intercession for us.

We are justified by grace through faith in the works that Christ did for us. When an individual accepts Christ (for lack of a better term). That individual is declared righteous before God. To be declared righteous means that God has declared us to be innocent from all charges against us. The reason He does that is because Christ paid the penalty for us. But that is only half the story.
Because Christ lived a perfect life, having never commited a single sin in either word, thought or deed, he completely fulfilled all the law of God. He did this for us also. He therefore satisfied the claims of God's justice on the cross when he died and he fulfilled the law demanded by the Father in the life that he lived.

When we stand before God as believers all our sins are gone, because they were dealt with two thousand years ago on Calvary. All of those sins were laid on Christ and imputed to him as if he had committed them. He bore our sins.
The righteousness that he earned throughout his perfect life is now imputed to us as if we had lived a pefect life.
So when the believer stands before God, He stands clothed in the righteousness of Christ and NOT in his own righteousness.

This is why it is so very dangerous to think that we can suffer in our own flesh to atone for sins. Our righteousness is as "filthy rags" Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:10-18.

We make the atonement of Christ account for nothing if we try to stand before God in our own righteousness. It's as if we are saying that what Christ did was just not enough, I can do better.
That is blasphemous, God will not be satisfied with anything less than absolute perfection when we stand before him, and there is no man alive now or in the past, apart from Christ who was perfect.
Therefore we need a righteousness that is completely outside of ourselves and we find that in Christ and in Him alone.
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" Acts 4:12

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6

http://www.greatdanepro.com/Pray%20For%20America/index.htm

How does inflicting discomfort, help anyone understand God loves them.

Come as you are, though.