Anathema
Crotchety Olde Man
I would guess that a good portion of this board's members are familiar with, or have at least hear of Harold S Kushner's book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People", but I've never seen a discussion of the conclusions that Rabbi Kushner comes to on this forum.
Rather than trying to disect the entire book, I think there's an easier way to look at and discuss his conclusion. So, let's stipulate the following things:
A. There is some sort of Deity/God.
B. That entity has some level of power/influence in this world.
If you are not willing to work within those stipulations, please move on to the next thread and allow this discussion to continue without your input.
For those who haven't read the book, Rabbi Kushner suggests that we need to look at three concepts when determining why "God" doesn't intervene to help "Good" people when things go bad in their lives:
1. People Can be Good enough to be worthy of being Helped: This suggests that there are people in the world who are worthy of being assisted by "God" in their time of need
2. "God" is Good/Just: This suggests that the God/Deity has a sense of Honor similar to that of Humanity, and believes that the Good People deserve to have Good things happen to them or to be saved from the bad things that happen to them.
3. "God" is Omnipotent. This suggests that the God/Deity has a level of power sufficient to keep the bad things from happening to Good People, or to fix the bad things once they have happened.
Rabbi Kushner's conclusion is that one can believe any TWO of those three concepts and maintain a reasonable logic related to why bad things happen to good people, but cannot believe all three because doing so creates a series of dichotomies...
1. If People are Good and God is Good, then God cannot be Omnipotent because if he was, he would help the Good People.
2. If People are Good and God is Omnipotent then he cannot be Good because if he was he would be helping the Good People when bad things happen.
3. If God is Good and Omnipotent, then People cannot ever be truly Good enough to be worthy of his assistance. .
Kushner's conclusion is that God is not Omnipotent. He bases this on his own personal tragedies and those of the families and individuals that he has dealt with over his time as a member of the clergy.
So, what do you folks thing... Is Kushner right? Do you believe one of the other potentials is closer to the truth? Or is it all just so far beyond our knowledge/understanding that we can't comprehend whatever the truth really is?
Rather than trying to disect the entire book, I think there's an easier way to look at and discuss his conclusion. So, let's stipulate the following things:
A. There is some sort of Deity/God.
B. That entity has some level of power/influence in this world.
If you are not willing to work within those stipulations, please move on to the next thread and allow this discussion to continue without your input.
For those who haven't read the book, Rabbi Kushner suggests that we need to look at three concepts when determining why "God" doesn't intervene to help "Good" people when things go bad in their lives:
1. People Can be Good enough to be worthy of being Helped: This suggests that there are people in the world who are worthy of being assisted by "God" in their time of need
2. "God" is Good/Just: This suggests that the God/Deity has a sense of Honor similar to that of Humanity, and believes that the Good People deserve to have Good things happen to them or to be saved from the bad things that happen to them.
3. "God" is Omnipotent. This suggests that the God/Deity has a level of power sufficient to keep the bad things from happening to Good People, or to fix the bad things once they have happened.
Rabbi Kushner's conclusion is that one can believe any TWO of those three concepts and maintain a reasonable logic related to why bad things happen to good people, but cannot believe all three because doing so creates a series of dichotomies...
1. If People are Good and God is Good, then God cannot be Omnipotent because if he was, he would help the Good People.
2. If People are Good and God is Omnipotent then he cannot be Good because if he was he would be helping the Good People when bad things happen.
3. If God is Good and Omnipotent, then People cannot ever be truly Good enough to be worthy of his assistance. .
Kushner's conclusion is that God is not Omnipotent. He bases this on his own personal tragedies and those of the families and individuals that he has dealt with over his time as a member of the clergy.
So, what do you folks thing... Is Kushner right? Do you believe one of the other potentials is closer to the truth? Or is it all just so far beyond our knowledge/understanding that we can't comprehend whatever the truth really is?