harold kushner response
Shannon Devlin
FYS: The Truth of Suffering
Professor Forte
October 2, 2013
Harold Kushner Response Most people are bothered by the fact that we suffer undeservedly. Any person with an ounce of moral sensitivity is outraged by the injustices of our world. In the Book of Job: When Bad Things Happen to Good People, this thought-provoking examination of Harold Kushner’s own and others’ reactions to the most painful experiences in life, Harold Kushner addresses the difficult questions that inevitably arise. Kushner stresses an argument about whether the misfortunes that befall ostensibly from the hand of God. Until the premature death of his son from progeria (rapid aging), Rabbi Harold Kushner believed, as many do, that God was all-good and all powerful. This tragic death caused a reexamination of these traditional beliefs and resulted in a best selling book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Using the book of Job as a background Rabbi Kushner suggests there are three things all of us would like to believe, which are that God is all powerful and causes everything that happens, God is just and fair, giving everyone what they deserve, and that Job is a good person. As long as Job is healthy and happy one can believe in all three of these. But in view of Job’s righteous suffering Kushner concludes we cannot hold both the first and second one. Why do good people suffer such bad things? “God wants the righteous to live peaceful, happy lives, but sometimes even he cannot bring that about...” (p. 43). Kushner suggests that we must come to the conclusion that God is not all-perfect or all-powerful, if that then our misfortunes are none of God’s doings(p. 44). God is not perfect. If God were all-perfect the world would not be so imperfect as it obviously is. An imperfect world indicates an imperfect God. Of course it is always possible that God would like to do better but that he is hampered by his limitations in power. “There are some things out of
FYS: The Truth of Suffering
Professor Forte
October 2, 2013
Harold Kushner Response Most people are bothered by the fact that we suffer undeservedly. Any person with an ounce of moral sensitivity is outraged by the injustices of our world. In the Book of Job: When Bad Things Happen to Good People, this thought-provoking examination of Harold Kushner’s own and others’ reactions to the most painful experiences in life, Harold Kushner addresses the difficult questions that inevitably arise. Kushner stresses an argument about whether the misfortunes that befall ostensibly from the hand of God. Until the premature death of his son from progeria (rapid aging), Rabbi Harold Kushner believed, as many do, that God was all-good and all powerful. This tragic death caused a reexamination of these traditional beliefs and resulted in a best selling book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Using the book of Job as a background Rabbi Kushner suggests there are three things all of us would like to believe, which are that God is all powerful and causes everything that happens, God is just and fair, giving everyone what they deserve, and that Job is a good person. As long as Job is healthy and happy one can believe in all three of these. But in view of Job’s righteous suffering Kushner concludes we cannot hold both the first and second one. Why do good people suffer such bad things? “God wants the righteous to live peaceful, happy lives, but sometimes even he cannot bring that about...” (p. 43). Kushner suggests that we must come to the conclusion that God is not all-perfect or all-powerful, if that then our misfortunes are none of God’s doings(p. 44). God is not perfect. If God were all-perfect the world would not be so imperfect as it obviously is. An imperfect world indicates an imperfect God. Of course it is always possible that God would like to do better but that he is hampered by his limitations in power. “There are some things out of