Review: When Bad Things Happen to Good People

[Vidya_S]

For quite sometime I had wanted to read this book, as I believed that the book may answer it's title. It gave a different perspective contrary to what most of us have been ingrained with. That world is not fair place and life is full of random circumstances; so there is nothing that "GOD" decides in terms of who goes through what. He cites a plane accident to be taken as a combined random fate of all those in; rather than giving it any religious meaning "those in that ungrateful event deserved it/there must be some divine plan to it"

He puts through an analysis of "The Book of Job" and states that - only three options are possible: (1) God does not exist. (2) God exists but is not good, or (3) God exists and is good but is not all-powerful. He chooses the 3rd explanation. I found Kushner’s explanations of tragedy in the world somewhat conflicting offering no purpose/dismissing them as random nature's acts. He touches upon "afterlife" and skips through labeling that topic as "beyond comprehension".

Fundamental belief through this book- That GOD is not piling grief and sadness onto our shoulders because HE thinks we can handle it/ there is a divine plan to it. Some takeaways on a right and wrong prayer- that I have never come across in any other book, thus far. And that important question to ask in the face of tragedy is not - "Why did God let this happen to me?" but rather "How can God help me endure now that this has happened?"