When Bad Things Happen To Good People is a nonfiction book written by Harold Kushner, who is a
             Conservative Rabbi. When his three year old son was diagnosed with a degenerative disease, in which
             he would only live until early teens, Kushner asked, "Why, God?"(6,143) Kushner starts by explaining
             that his book grew out of the pain of watching his son, Aaron, die of an old age when he was only
             fourteen. He was diagnosed with progeria which makes a child age very rapidly. Kushner had always
             believed in God and that God was good and just. He thought how could a good, kind, just, God treat an innocent child this way?
             In the first chapter, the author examines the theories that people have come up with to try and
             make sense of suffering. The first one is that God gives people what they deserve, that "our misdeeds cause our misfortunes." He said that the problem with this theory is that it "creates guilt even where there is no basis for it. It makes people hate God.....and most disturbing of all, it does not even fit the facts."(5-7) I also agree with the author. No one deserves to lose a child. Another theory of suffering is that God has his reasons for making this happen, and we are not in a position to understand those reasons. Even though God has a plan and we do not understand it, people do not believe that there should be undeserved pain inflicted on the innocent, and that it is God's "divine master plan." Another theory that is closely related is that God causes suffering because it is educational. It cures our faults. Kushner's problem with this theory is that it isn't meant to help the sufferer or to explain the reason why they are suffering. The last theory is that God never gives us more than we can handle. This theory is not true because there are many people who crack under the strain of suffering and lose all hope for the future. What all these the...