Review: When Bad Things Happen To Good People

Title: When Bad Things Happen To Good People *****

Author: Harold Kushner

Genre: Non-Fiction, Theology

Audience: Those interested in Theology. Not really recommended for someone who has just gone through a tragedy. Maybe later on, after they have had time to heal.

Content:

"When Bad Things Happen To Good People" discusses the journey of a rabbi named Harold Kushner as he struggles with trying to help people through tragedy and ultimately faces the great loss of his young son. Kushner bravely discusses the concepts of why bad things must happen in this world, what we must do with them, and God's role in it all.

Opinion:

This book should be read by everyone at least once in their life. "Bad Things" discusses an uncommon viewpoint: that there is randomness in the universe and God does not cause everything to happen for a specific reason. God does not inflict pain so you may learn something or to punish you; pain is a product of nature and free will. What God does do, is help those who choose to learn from their pain.

This book is the best example of how I feel the world works and God's place in our lives. I cannot do the book justice so I will let it speak for itself:

"The dictate of practical wisdom for people in our situation might be to remain mindful of the possibility that our lives continue in some form after death, perhaps in a form our earthly imaginations cannot conceive of. But at the same time, since we cannot know for sure, we would be well advised to take this world as seriously as we can, in case it turns out to be the only one we will ever have , and to look for meaning and justice here" - pg 29.

" Suppose that Creation, the process of replacing chaos with order, were still going on. What would that mean?" - pg 52

"I do not know why one person gets sick and another does not, but I can only assume that some natural laws which we don't understand are at work. I cannot believe that God "sends" illness to a specific person for a specific reason. I don't believe in a God who has a weekly quota of malignant tumors to distribute, and consults His computer to find out who deserves one more or who could handle it best. "what did I do to deserve this?" is an understandable outcry from a sick and suffering person, but it is really the wrong question. Being sick or being healthy is not a matter of what God decided that we deserve. The better question is" If this has happened to me, what do I do now, and who is there to help me do it." - pg 60.

"The candles in the churches are out

The stars have gone out in the sky.

Blow on the coal of the heart

And we'll see by and by..." - JB by Archibald MacLeish on pg 145 (also an amazing work)

Check it out or Buy it: BUY IT. You will most likely read this again or reference it. I read it the first time almost 7 years ago and I still reference this book.

If you like this you may like: Anger - Thich Naht Hanh, Blankets -Craig Thompson, Living Buddha, Living Christ - Thich Naht Hanh, No God But God - Reza Aslan