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When Bad Things Happen to Good People | |||||||
 
| 80% Recommended by our customers. Publisher: Anchor Catalog: Book Release date: 2004-08-24 Media: Paperback Number of pages: 176 Ean: 9781400034727 Book Isbn: 1400034728  Tip: compare prices with similar booksAuthor:
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 Written on April 5, 2008 Summary: I am a big fan of H. Kushner I am a big fan of H. Kushner. This book was the first of several of his books I have read. I read the book during a very difficult time in my life and found it very helpful. I am not only a consumer of Mental Health Services but am a professional myself. H. Kushner's books are great to read for people that are not doing well because they are an easy read and at the time I read this book that is exactly what I needed. My reading comprehension was poor at the time due to extreme stress. I highly recommend this book.  Written on March 19, 2008 Summary: Food for thought, but not filling [This review refers to the audio version] I'd heard of Rabbi Kushner's book for many years and when my wife and I began going through some troubling times I thought it would be the perfect tonic to help us understand, but it was simply not effective. I would never want to take away from the Rabbi's beliefs about the nature of G_d if they help him or anyone else, but his version of a "supreme" being is one who is weak and ineffectual, one who wrings his hands in pitiful impotence, wishing there were something, anything he could do, but simply lacking the power to make a difference. This does not seem to be the description of a deity who could create the universe from nothing, but one whom we created to comfort us when we really don't need much comforting, a spiritual teddy bear to clutch when the lights go out. Had we stayed in the Garden and been constantly cared for we would never have to ask why bad things happen to good people because nothing bad would ever happen to us and we would be nothing more than pets. We chose to live life as we saw fit and things don't always work the way we would like, but that is the price we pay for our humanity. It is not a curse but merely a result of our ability to think and act for ourselves and were it any other way we would still be those perfect little pets in the perfect little terrarium called Eden. That's not to say that G_d doesn't hear our prayers and answer them, but unfortunately His answers aren't always the ones we want to hear. Written on February 26, 2008 Summary: Inconclusive, but well worth reading I, like most people who would read this book, turned to it to try to make sense of something that happened to my family. My son developed Autism, and for me, it was as if everything I believed about life, the world and God slowly slipped, and then shattered. Slowly, but steadily, we're helping my son, and it may be possible that he'll have a "normal" life, but I wouldn't wish the last 5 years my son and family have gone through on my worst enemy. The value that this book offers, and it is a 5 STAR value, is that you find in the author someone who UNDERSTANDS what you're going through. The grief you feel, and the anger/hatred at God, has not been felt by you alone. Kushner felt everything you feel, and he understands precisely what you're going through, as he and his family had to face the slow, inexorable loss of their son to an incurable disease. Finding that common experience of terrible grief, mixed with anger at God, was very important for me, and in fact helped me heal after dealing with my grief and anger for a terribly long time. However, my conclusions about the "Why" aspect of "Bad Things Happening", and what can be done after they happen, differ from Rabbi Kushners. To unfairly summarize his views (simply for brevity) he essentially says that God has or puts limits on what he does on Earth. As a believing Catholic, and a person that has had some unexplainable (dare I say supernatural?) experiences, I feel differently. I don't necessarily believe that a miracle WILL heal anyone that prays for it, but I do believe they have, can, and will occur. I pray that my son receives one - a downright Lourdes quality miracle - but I also pray that I have the strength and diligence to be a part of a slower, miraculous healing process that leads to a full life for him. A few of the One Star reviews reject the book outright because Rabbi Kushner's perspective on God's power is that God will not use it to heal. I understand those reviews, but if the reviewers would look at the book as a whole, I think that they'd agree that simply finding, in print, someone that shares similar feelings of loss and bewilderment, was well worth the book's price. So to summarize: 5 Stars for making me feel I wasn't alone. 2 stars for his conclusions. 3 and 1/2 stars overall. Written on February 10, 2008 Summary: Still pertinent after 27 years This book was very helpful to my wife and I after losing our 17 year old son. I would recommend this book unconditionally to everyone. Although comforting after such a tragic loss, it is insightful and I think helpful to all towards living a good life. I look forward to reading more of Rabbi Kushner's books. Written on January 20, 2008 Summary: ok, but not enough depth for me I've been looking for the answer to the question "why bad things happen" ever since I lost my parents 6 months ago (just before my 29th birthday) when they were hit by a drunk boater who left the wheel of his boat and it veered ashore. Kushner's book spends a lot of time talking about how it is not the fault of the injured/ill or those around them (i.e. 'I was bad and so God made this happen to me or my loved one'). Also a lot of focus on the idea that God doesn't cause things to NOT happen, such as an inablilty to take away cancer or divert that boat. He outright says God cannot perform on-the-spot miracles because it would defy the laws of nature. Yet he acknowledges that assumably miracles happen, such as a car accident where one passenger is killed and the other walks away unharmed. Perhaps he considers this coincidence within the laws of nature, but doesn't say so. When it comes to death, Kushner spends much more time addressing the issue of why this happened to the people left behind rather than why it happened to the indvidual who died. I personally am not concerned by why my parents were 'taken' from me, but rather why their lives were taken from them. He mentions the story of Job often, and I don't find resolution in the text between what happened to Job and what Kushner says. The book of Job specifically says God caused bad things to happen to Job as a test. Yet Kushner says God can't cause bad things to happen. Which is it? The final point of the book is that God cannot stop bad things from happening, but he can nudge people toward 'good' things, such as a career in medicine to fight cancer, to visit the mourning widow, etc. Also God provides strength to endure if we ask for it. Basically according to Kushner it is pointless to pray for miracles because God cannot perform them; all it is good to pray for is strength or patience or whatever we need to endure what bad things come to us via acts of nature and other peoples' free will to do bad. |
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| Our price | $8.76 | $9.56 | $10.36 | $10.39 | $11.20 | $10.36 |
| List price | $10.95 | $11.95 | $12.95 | $12.99 | $14.00 | $12.95 |
| Lowest used price | $0.88 | $3.98 | $0.07 | $0.01 | $1.03 | $1.99 |
| Lowest new price | $5.51 | $6.14 | $3.44 | $1.61 | $4.79 | $6.27 |
| Collectible price | $10.00 | - | - | $11.99 | $14.00 | - |
| Catalog | Book | Book | Book | Book | Book | Book |
| Release date | 2004-08-24 | 2007-08-21 | 2002-08-20 | 1997-09-01 | 2002-01-29 | 2004-08-24 |
| Media | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback |
| Number of pages | 176 | 192 | 176 | 192 | 192 | 192 |
| Ean | 9781400034727 | 9781400033362 | 9780385720946 | 9780316519335 | 9780743234733 | 9781400033355 |
| Book Isbn | 1400034728 | 1400033365 | 0385720947 | 0316519332 | 0743234731 | 1400033357 |
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