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 | | When Bad Things Happen to Good People: Twentieth Anniversary Edition, with a New Preface by the Author by Harold S. Kushner ISBN-10: 9780805241938 ISBN-10: 0-8052-4193-0 ISBN-13: 9780805241938 ISBN-13: 978-0-8052-4193-8 Hardcover 2001-09-04 Schocken Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description As a young theology student, Harold Kushner puzzled over the Book of Job. As a small-town rabbi he counseled other people through pain and grief. But not until he learned that his three-year-old son, Aaron, would die in his early teens of a rare disease did he confront one of life's most difficult questions: Where do we find the resources to cope when tragedy strikes? "I knew that one day I would write this book," says Rabbi Kushner. "I would write it out of my own need to put into words some of the most important things I have come to believe and know. And I would write it to help other people who might one day find themselves in a similar predicament. I am fundamentally a religious man who has been hurt by life, and I wanted to write a book that could be given to the person who has been hurt by life, and who knows in his heart that if there is justice in the world, he deserved better. . . . If you are such a person, if you want to believe in God's goodness and fairness but find it hard because of the things that have happened to you and to people you care about, and if this book helps you do that, then I will have succeeded in distilling some blessing out of Aaron's pain and tears." Since its original publication in 1981, When Bad Things Happen to Good People has brought solace and hope to millions. In his new preface to this anniversary edition, Rabbi Kushner relates the heartwarming responses he has received over the last two decades from people who have found inspiration and comfort within these pages. | ||
Amazon.com Review Rarely does a book come along that tackles a perennially difficult human issue with such clarity and intelligence. Harold Kushner, a Jewish rabbi facing his own child's fatal illness, deftly guides us through the inadequacies of the traditional answers to the problem of evil, then provides a uniquely practical and compassionate answer that has appealed to millions of readers across all religious creeds. Remarkable for its intensely relevant real-life examples and its fluid prose, this book cannot go unread by anyone who has ever been troubled by the question, "Why me?" | ||
Reviews | ||
a healing message This book has helped me overcome the hurdles of hating God and hating myself. Rabbi Kushner offers the profoundly comforting insight that God may not be all-powerful, may not be able to prevent tragedy, and is neither punishing us nor abandoning us by allowing it. The rabbi postulates that God gave humanity free will and will not take back that gift in order to intervene in human evil. God set in motion a world of natural laws that operate apart from God's will. To some this might be a frightening message, but since I was at home with the notion that life is not fair and there is no justice, this theory frees me from the enormous burden of blaming either God or myself for the terrible tragedies that have come into my life and the lives of those closest to me. Rabbi Kushner reaffirms my belief that while suffering is terrible, it is possible to take a curse and turn it into a blessing by using what we learn about loss in order to alleviate the suffering of others. In that respect, this is a very life-affirming book. | ||
Great insight into a problem After reading this book I found my relationship with GOD better! Written simply and using his experience and that from the bible the author opened my eyes! No longer do I see GOD as the creator of pain and misery, but as the source of strength and courage to face the challenges that life presents to us! | ||
Inspiring Another great book by Rabbi KUSHNER. Readable and a solace of comfort for all beliefs | ||
Kushner's View of God is Wrong Kushner argues that God is too weak to stop the bad things of life. He writes, "If God can't make my sickness go away, what good is He? Who needs Him? God does not want you to be sick or crippled. He didn't make you have this problem, and He doesn't want you to go on having it, but He can't make it go away. That is something which is too hard even for God." That's not logical. How can the God be too weak to change the physical world that He created? Jesus heals the blind and crippled, changed water into wine, walked on water, and was resurrected -- all things that Kushner would say God is too weak to accomplish. Of course, Kushner is not a Christian, but a Jew, but does that mean he doesn't believe in any of the miracles of the Torah, such as the parting of the Red Sea? And this statement is outrageous: "Are you capable of forgiving and loving God even when you have found out that He is not perfect, even when He has let you down and disappointed you by permitting bad luck and sickness and cruelty in His world, and permitting some of those things to happen to you? Can you learn to love and forgive Him despite His limitations ...?" Yes, Kushner's God is weak. But Kushner's God is of his own creation. The true God of the Bible and of Truth and of the Universe is strong and perfect. He is Creator and Savior. Buy "Mere Christianity" or "A Grief Observed," both by C.S. Lewis, to get a true understanding of God and suffering. | ||
Fantastic read! I chose to read this book because my Dad was diagnosed with Brain cancer and i found it to be extremely helpful, without being too 'religious'. I am not a church person, but i do believe in God. This book just seemed to wrap it's arm around me and let me think and feel exactly as i needed to, without offering any of that unhelpful help that others tend to, without thinking their words through first. I LOVED this book and it will most definitley be closely treasuerd by me, and pulled off the shelf everytime life gets a bit challlenging for me or someone i love. GREAT book!! | ||