When Bad Things Happen to Good People...

I finished my fourth and final book for the upcoming Academy session in October yesterday!  (Hip, hip, hooray!!  I actually got all four finished PRIOR to the session this time!!)

The last one I read was When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S. Kushner.  This book has been around for a while... it was written in 1981.  I have heard it mentioned over the years, but I've never really been inclined to read it.  Since it became required reading, I had the opportunity to finally see first hand what this book was all about.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect.  I didn't have too many preconceived ideas, other than the fact that this book had been well-known and wide-spread over the past 31 years.  Thought I attempted to began my reading with an open mind to see what I might see, I found myself struggling with the initial question underlying the book, "why do bad things happen to good people?"  As I read the book, I learned that the author struggled with that same question (and other questions) and found a way to change the question(s) so that a messy and unpredictable life in which things do happen make more sense.   I will post some of those questions later.

The book has eight chapters:

Introduction--Why I Wrote This Book
One--Why Do the Righteous Suffer
Two--The Story of a Man Named Job
Three--Sometimes There is No Reason
Four--No Exceptions for Nice People
Five--God Leaves Us Room to Be Human
Six--God Helps Those Who Stop Hurting Themselves
Seven--God Can't Do Everything, But He Can Do Some Important Things
Eight--What Good, Then, Is Religion?

Kushner challenges the status quo throughout the book.  I don't think I've stopped to think about how insurance companies refer to natural disasters as "acts of God" until I read what he wrote: "I don't believe that an earthquake that kills thousands of innocent victims without reason is an act of God.  It is an act of nature.  Nature is morally blind, without values. [...] The act of God is the courage of people to rebuild their lives after the earthquake, and the rush of others to help them in whatever way they can." (68)

When Kushner writes about changing the questions from ones that focus on the past to future focusing questions. Here are some of the examples:

Instead of asking:

• "What did I do to deserve this?"           
• "Why do we have to feel pain?"           
• "Why did it happen?"                           

ask:

• "If this has happened to me, what do I do now, and who is there to help me do it?" (69)
• "What do we do with our pain so that it becomes meaningful and not just pointless empty suffering?" (73)
• "What do I do now that it has happened?" (80)

 
Kushner writes about pain, disappointment, guilt, anger, shame, suffering, reaching out to others who are in these situations, God, and forgiveness among others in this book.  He writes from his own experiences of pain and suffering as well as from his experiences with others through congregational care. 

Though I may not have agreed with everything I read, I found the book to be insightful and challenging.  I also appreciated that Kushner was willing to change the questions to help people look forward rather than backward. 

~Debra