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Summary: THANK-YOU !!! Maybe I haven't "deserved" life's unfairness
Review: I have grown up facing my illness with an overwhelming sense of guilt and sorrow, believing that I somehow deserved this infliction. After reading this book I can begin to shed the feelings that I am somehow being punished. I've know in my head that God is a supreme loving being and now it is time for my heart to follow. I will however keep this book close by my side.
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Summary: Extremely well-written, worth reading time and time again
Review: Not being of the Jewish faith, I still find Kushner's book both insightful and healing. Another reviewer criticized the book for not providing a logical and substantiated answer to the question, "Why do bad things happen?". I believe the "answer" he provides is simply this - we don't have the answers, and we probably never will. That being said, by wallowing in our own guilt, blaming others, or dwelling on the "why", I believe Rabbi Kushner suggests that we tend to forget that there are others suffering that just need our comfort and support - they don't want our answers, just our friendship, as he did with his tragedy. For oneself, don't dwell in anger, or in denial, or in blame, because sometimes things aren't your fault, and they're not God's either - let go, and move on to the healing. If this book helps people get to that stage quicker, then I think its served its purpose.
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Summary: Good starter for study about the will of God!
Review: In my opinion, Kushner questions the omnipotence of God. Some other books that touch this same subject are: "The Will of God" by Leslie Weatherhead, "When Bad Things Happen to God's People", and "Good Grief", and I think all are available here at Amazon.
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Summary: The book is well written and easy to understand.
Review: I liked this book very much. The book is easy to read and to follow along. By reading the book it helped me to get through the death of a close relative. It helped me to realize that it is not God's fault. If I found a weakness in the book it is that things happen randomly. I believe that there are evil forces in our world that cause our problems. However, no book is perfect.I would highly recommend this book to everyone. For the following reasons (1) Helps us to understand God, (2) Helps to see that it is not God's fault but that God loves us, (3) well written and (4) easy to read.
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Summary: LIFE is frustrating -- maybe that's the answer!
Review: For all the people who were "unsatisfied" with the lack of an actual answer to the question in the title -- for all the people who were "frustrated" with the chance and lack of control on behalf of God in this book -- I say "learn to live with it". That is the fundamental message of this book. If there WERE a simple answer, people would have found it *thousands* of years ago. The problem is, most people still think the world has a simple answer, despite what lost of theologians, philosophers, and yes, scientists, have been finding. Chaos theory, Quantum physics, and God all have a lot in common. Kushner examines the concepts of "white and black" and of "good vs. evil" and comes out with a more objective view of the world -- life *happens* and we classify it *after the fact*. Read this book for the fact that it *has* insights that may frustrate you -- and therefore, change the way you think about your life and the u! niverse in general!
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Summary: An absolute must for anyone in ministry.
Review: Ever since Rabbi Kushner's book came out, I have recommended it to countless people, especially those dealing with serious illness or premature deaths of loved ones. Although written by a rabbi, several priests have told me that they give copies to grieving parishioners. I agree that this moving book is suitable for anyone in the Judeo-Christian tradition. We can never presume to know the mind of God, but I somehow feel that Rabbi Kushner's perception is correct in that God is a companion in our suffering, as opposed to a cause of it.
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Summary: This book a must for any physician who deals with cancer
Review: Every physician who treats patients with malignancies is faced with the question by the patient "why me". The patient, if religious, feels abandoned or has a covert feeling of guilt or even that he is being punished by a higher force. This adds to his already present physical distress. Rabbi Kushner presents a rational arguement that the metaphysical has no relationship to our physical pain in life. He brings illness into the realm of reason and away from theological absurdities that were a carry over from Biblical mythologies. The author gives the patient and his family an understanding that medical problems are just that and are not Gods way of punishing the innocent or abandoning the good, He gives the caring physician an opportunity to talk with his patients in a rational manner free of philosophical absurdities.
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Summary: An excellant book for those needing support during suffering
Review: Nobody has all the answers but kushner i feel certainly gets fairly close for me.He doesn't give a reason for your pain but he helps you to look at the situation rationally leaving one able to tackle life's worst moments by growing from them.
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Summary: Marvelous and heretical
Review: As someone who, at the age of 6, experienced the painfilled death of a beloved little brother and who has searched - sometimes with rage - for the answers to the questions "why" and "who is responsible for killing my brother", two things struck me while reading this book. First: it offered me the only sensible answer and the first bit of comfort in forty years and countless hours spent searching through every Christian denomination in existence. And second: his idea that God is not all-powerful is not going to sit well at all with the majority of Christians. But for those who can give up their security blanket God, and can welcome the idea of a God who is less than perfect, this book is a shining joy.
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Summary: Excellent book on a very difficult subject
Review: Although written by a Rabbi, this book trancends many religions and gives a different perspective for persons struggling with painful personal losses. Rabbi Kushner's views may differ from traditional religious views, but it opens up the possibility of reconciliation for those whose loss was too painful to reconcile with the actions of a loving God. If a good book is measured by the amount of thinking it provokes, then this one should actually score a 10.
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