Many religious authors have asked the question Kushner (2002) does in his book: "Why do the Righteous Suffer?" The easy answer provided by the author in the first chapter is that "God does not cause our misfortunes. Some are caused by bad luck. Some are caused by bad people, and others are simply an inevitable consequence of our being human and being mortal, living in a world of inflexible natural laws" (Kushner, 2002. p. 134) The only thing humans, who believe can do is to pray for the strength to overcome the bad things. Some things happen for no reason at all, and it is not God's choice. It is one of the most difficult questions asked by religious authors: why does God allow bad things to happen? Why did he not eliminate Hitler to prevent the killing of 6 million Jews? According to Kushner, (p. 84.) God does not make a decision; men choose between good and evil.
Kushner's attitude towards personal loss is summarized in a simple recipe for survival: "forgive the world for not being perfect, to forgive God for not making a better world, to reach out to the people around us, and to go on living despite it all" (p. 147.) People will find that bad things happening to good people can be meaningless, unless they are able to impose a meaning on them. That is exactly what the author does. He survived the death of his son, and used the painful experience to become the comfort of many other families suffering similar loss. He wrote a book that became so popular that now it is quoted by not only Rabbis but Christian authors as well.
[...] Leibniz, G. W. (1997) Theodicy. Wolterstorff, N. (1987) Lament for a Son. Jonas, H. (1990) The Concept of God after Auschwitz: A Jewish Voice. [...]
[...] He finds the answer within the Torah again; when people turned their back on God, remained silent”. (Jonas p. 302.) Conclusion The above review of literature has helped to answer the questions asked in the beginning of the essay. The research shows that although there are similarities in Christianity's and Judaism's perception of God and Evil, these are based on the same sources and texts and rooted within the largest philosophers' ideology, such as Augustine and Leibnitz. The developments finding the reasons and meanings of human suffering have been different in the two theodicies. [...]
[...] Kushner's book is looking to analyze “God's role in an unfair and pain-filled world”. (2002) The book is not written to provide a theological analysis, or a guideline for Rabbis. It is based on personal experiences and thoughts, decades of work within the community; seeing suffering, pain, injustice and death. The author first starts to think about the justice and fairness of God when he finds out about his son's illness. He also started to think like any other human would: “Tragedies like this are supposed to happen to selfish, dishonest people (Kushner, 2002) The intention of the book is to provide comfort to other people suffering the same way and agonizing over the same thoughts the Rabbi once had to deal with. [...]
[...] 84.) God does not make a decision; men choose between good and evil. Kushner's attitude towards personal loss is summarized in a simple recipe for survival: “forgive the world for not being perfect, to forgive God for not making a better world, to reach out to the people around us, and to go on living despite it (p. 147.) People will find that bad things happening to good people can be meaningless, unless they are able to impose a meaning on them. [...]
[...] The biblical understanding of evil is different in the Old Testament (and Torah) and the new testament. This is the main cause of the differences between the ways of thinking about good and evil. Judaism sees God as a helper, who punishes the bad and protects its chosen people. Christians have had to find a suitable explanation for the death of Jesus. Many of the Christian authors have asked and answered the question: why did God let his Son die? [...]
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