How Good Do We Have to Be?: A New Understanding of Guilt and Forgiveness

Rating:
Summary: Bless Your Imperfections
Review: I don't know if it is because I've read 3 other books by Rabbi Kushner, or because from the first words to the last words reading this book I feel like I am having a conversation with him. This includes many questions about life, the human condition, and religion that I have carried with me for a long time.

If someone had mentioned religion, God, or related words to me before discovering both Rabbi Kushner, and Dennis Prager, I would have been ready to bolt for the nearest door, because that had signaled what I called "Bible-thumpin time."

So, no matter where you stand on religion, politics, or the human condition, I invite you to open your mind to the possibility of forgiveness.

With the subtitle being "A New Understanding of Guilt and Forgiveness," it's nice to notice that throughout this book Kushner discusses many examples of what guilt has been for us.

He uses "The Original Sin;" "Paradise Lost;" and many other stories that show how we have interpreted God's expectations of us to mean that we are born sinners who must become perfect. Which of course is not, as he points out, God's expectations of us.

Kushner adds, "My experiences as a clergyman and a counselor has taught me that much of the unhappiness people feel burdened by, much of the guilt, much of the sense of having been cheated by life, stems from one of two related causes: either somewhere along the way, somebody - a parent, a teacher, a religious leader - gave them the message that they were not good enough, and they believed it. Or else they came to expect and need more from the people around them --- their parents, children, husbands, or wives - than those people could realistically deliver."

His suggestion is that the story of the Garden of Eden is the story of the first human beings graduating from the uncomplicated world to knowinging that good and evil exists; and that what is most important to us, as human beings is to live with integrity.

This book also suggests that if Adam and Eve had not eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, they would not have had needs, feelings, or individual thoughts. So, it would not have mattered what happened around them.

A year ago, I asked a prominent religious leader in San Diego, "Do you believe that the active members of your church know what religion means to them - not your interpretation, theirs?"

This got his attention, and began a great collaboration.

Religion, as Rabbi Kushner describes in this book is, "... the voice that says, I will guide you through this minefield of difficult moral choices, sharing with you the insights and experiences of the greatest souls of the past, and I will offer you comfort and forgiveness when you are troubled by the painful choices you made."

Imagine if millions are guided by Rabbi Kushner's definition of religion - wouldn't we be more accepting of unique differences?

Wouldn't we accept our limitations - and, by accepting them, evolve beyond our wildest dreams?

Wouldn't we simultaneously be enough, while we win more than we lose?

And wouldn't we laugh more?

Rating:
Summary: A Spiritual Sigh of Relief
Review: I was asked recently in my bible study group who I would most like to meet. It was an easy answer -- Harold Kushner. I struggled for many years (after a private Baptist school upbringing) to come to terms with my doubts about God, who was presented to me as a cruel, vengeful God. My struggle turned toward anger. After reading Rabbi Kushner's book, I felt as if a great weight were lifted from me. My soul just seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. God, as introduced by Rabbi Kushner, makes sense to me now. I have begun to see that God has simply been poorly represented by so many. This book gave me (a hard sell if there ever was one) peace. I began to study the Bible with new eyes. I began to look at myself and others with greater compassion. This is a simple book -- with life altering implications. Buy this book. Read this book. Share this book with others. (Note: Kushner's other books are wonderful as well!)

Rating:
Summary: A different perspective
Review: My response is based only on chapter 2, What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden? I have a very different opinion than Kushner on Genesis 3. I think people of all religions are turned off by the word sin or original sin that to even offer it as an explanation of human behavior is an offense. Kushner seems to be downplaying sin as well, not wanting to call it what it is.

The NT letters of Paul (Romans 5, especially) do not paint Genesis 3 in the same light as Kushner. Jesus is the very Adam that Adam wasn't. And among other things, Jesus came to show us how to be the human creatures we were created to be: dependent on God the Father to be completely human. Kushner, on the other hand, interprets Gen 3 as moral human evolution, or a God-intentioned growing up and becoming independent. Also, he attributes many pleasureable human experiences as results of Gen 3, making Adam and Eve's choice a necessary contingent. He's almost saying, Adam and Eve didn't become fully human until they disobeyed God. However, the Bible shows us that Jesus, fully human, is our best example of what God intended humans to be. Jesus certainly knew choice, pain, work, and forgiveness, yet He did not sin.

I encourage you to read Romans 5 (and why not the whole book?) to get Paul's view of Gen 3. Also, consider this: Kushner fails to mention God's promise of a Redeemer in Gen 3:15. Jesus was God's answer to sin, and no other word that makes us feel better or more forgiven can compare to the Word.

Scott