The back cover of the book starts, “For those times when we’re wounded by broken trust, assaulted by disease, or victimized by evil – or when we’re crushed to see such things happen to people we love – Randy Alcorn offers something solid to hold on to.”
I believe that he delivers on that with this condensed version of his “If God is Good” book.
It seems that one cannot address the single attribute of God’s Goodness without also addressing the issue of human suffering. It is the age old question, if God is truly good, how can he allow evil and suffering? The problem, however, is that God has many more attributes than his Goodness. He is also just and true.
That being said, Randy does a good job of methodically working through the issues raised. First of all, he addresses the fact that God is not the problem, humans are. He then raises some of the theologically faulty explanations that have surfaced over time trying to explain evil and suffering.
Randy also introduces some of God’s other attributes. Specifically, his Sovereignty. I believe that this is one of the critical attributes that we need to keep in mind when wrestling with the issues of evil and suffering. God has a plan and he is the center of it. We have a plan and we are the center of it. We must submit to his plan, for he is God and we are not.
I would recommend The Goodness of God, especially in these times of turmoil around the world. It is neither a long, nor tough read, that provides many answers. For those that have done a fair bit of reading on this topic, there may not be much new meat to chew on in this condensed volume, but would still serve as a brief refresher.
NB: I received a free copy of The Goodness of God from Multnomah Publishing for the purpose of this review.
You can pick up your own copy at: Amazon or Christian Book Distributors. Both of these providers offer electronic version for your eReader.
