If God Is Good, by Randy Alcorn

I was fortunate to get a copy of If God Is Good, by Randy Alcorn to review.
The book is subtitled Faith In The Midst of Suffering And Evil, and was much more than I expected. Not only was it longer than I expected - at 510 pages, I thought the packagae contained two books! - the author goes into more detail discussing the subject of why there is so much evil and suffereing, if God is truly good and in control of this world.

I have read similar books, and I have to say - and not just because this is a book review - I try to be kind, yet honest about book reviews - this may be the best book book on this subject. Ever.

The book explores how different people and philosophies deal with the issue of suffering and evil. From putting forth a God whose knowledge is limited, to explain how God could let people like Adolph Hitler be born - surely He couldn't have known what Hitler would do, or He wouldn't have let Him be born - to a God with limited power - God is just unable to do anything about the evil and suffering that exists.

On a personal note, this was a book that I needed to read. I gained a lot of insight from it, and I plan on going through it more later, focusing on some specific parts of the book. A couple of things that I took away from the book:

Sometimes it is good for us to lose faith, if our faith is more in tradition and in our church, than in God.

Suffering can be good for us. People who have never suffered are weak and shallow.

And God may have a purpose - most likely does - in our suffering. It could be to help us, spiritually, or otherwise; or it could be to help others.

The author does not present neat, little glib answers, but presents Biblical ideas, and tells a lot of stories about people in the past and modern day who suffered, some of them unbelievable pain or tragedy, yet clung to God and it resulted in a deeper Christian experience.

I read more Christian fiction than other types of reading, but this has got to be one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. It is definitely worth reading. I very much recomment it, especially if you find yourself wondering why you are going through something, or how God can let certain things happen, or certain people live for doing such atrocities. I guarantee you will learn something, and Randy Alcorn just might answer that question for you - if God truly is good - and cares, then why?

Available from randomhouse.com