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When Bad Things Happen to Good People

In: English and Literature

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When Bad Things Happen to Good People

By: Harold Kushner

Pablo Falcon
Spring 2010

When Bad Things Happen to Good People
Written by: H. Kushner

“When Bad Things Happen to Good People” is a very personal book. The author talks about his belief in God and how people perceive the situations they get in as an act of God himself. The author explains that when unfortunate happenings occur people tend to blame it on God or the simple fact that the unfortunate happened because “the person must have deserved it”. The author also reflects upon the feelings that many people have when something bad happens to them or a loved one. They begin to question their faith. Why didn’t God answer my prayers? Is God real? What is God her for anyway? The main point the author illustrates is that the things that happen are not God’s doing. There is one point in the book that Kushner makes about how flight 205 crashed instead of flight 209. The plane crash caused people to die. God did not choose what families to afflict tragedy and pain on. If it was God’s choice he wouldn’t have had any of the planes crash. God gave flight 205’s families the courage to live on and look forward to the future. He did not cause the plane crash. Kushner says that, “Adam and Eve ate from the ‘forbidden tree’, also known as the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”. Adam and Eve were given a test to see if they were going to be human or animal. Humans face choices. Animals have instincts. Adam and Eve became human. Humans are given the freedom to do right or wrong. People have the freedom to steal, kill, and cheat each other. God just sits back and hopes we can make the right choice, and when we do not, he sits in pity wondering why we still do not understand the way we should behave. It’s simple. There are two ways to understand why things happen. They happen because of the wrong doing of others

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