If God is Good--Book Review

Randy Alcorn writes this insightful review of the book 'If Giod is Good' about what Christians believe.

It seems a fair question, doesn’t it? If God is
truly good, as Christians insist, then how can
there be so much suffering in the world? Since
ancient times this question has led skeptics to
believe that God cannot, must not, exist. Even
today’s so-called New Atheists show how little
is really new when they use the existence of
suffering and evil as a linchpin of their
arguments against God’s existence. Quite simply,
they say, if suffering and evil exist, then God
must not. Yet though people have wrestled with
this question and allowed it to drive them from
the faith, many more have wrestled with it and
have come to the conclusion that God does exist
despite suffering. They have found that
suffering is God’s invitation to trust in him
and to hold out hope for a better world to come.
If God Is Good is the latest book from Randy
Alcorn’s who is probably best-known for his last
major release, Heaven, which has sold well over
a half million copies in hardcover. From my
experience, Alcorn primarily writes three types
of books: novels, very small books and very
large books. If God Is Good, like Heaven before
it, fits squarely in the final category.
Weighing in at 512 pages, this is a good-sized
hardcover that offers a thorough examination and
defense of faith in the midst of suffering and
evil. The topic Alcorn deals with in this book
is a particularly difficult one. Humility and
practicality, trademarks of his ministry, are
evident in the books earliest pages. “If I
thought I had no helpful perspectives on the
problem, it would be pointless for me to write
this book. If I imagined I had all the answers
neatly lined up, it would be pointless for you
to read it.” He seeks to get right to the bottom
of the subject and, as we learn, a sound
theology of suffering touches upon many
different areas. This leads him into theology
that is increasingly foundational, plunging into
deeper and deeper waters. He looks to the source
and nature of evil, human depravity (advocating
total spiritual inability), free will (arguing
for compatibilism), divine omniscience,
omnipotence and omnibenevolence, the existence
of Heaven and Hell, justification,
sanctification and so on. What area of the
Christian life remains untouched by this great
question of suffering? In what area of life or
theology is evil not an unfortunate
consideration? Throughout the book Alcorn’s
style is stridently didactic, bearing shades of
Heaven. But where Heaven depended heavily on
questions and answers, If God Is Good leans upon
bolded headings followed by explanations. The
style is unique in all the books I’ve read, but
quite effective. These are headings that cannot
be skipped over as they are integral to the flow
of the book. So choosing a page at random, we
see a heading of “Free Will in Heaven.”
Immediately below that is a bolded sentence
saying, “Free will in Heaven will not require
that we be capable of sinning or that humanity
may fall again.” There follows seven or eight
paragraphs of explanation and then another
bolded sentence to delineate the next few
paragraphs: “We will have true freedom in
Heaven, but a righteous freedom that never
sins.” And so it continues throughout. This
writing style fits well with the way I learn,
though I did discover to my chagrin that I tend
to skip over headings and often had to backtrack
to ensure that I was not missing important
content. As we would expect, Alcorn’s teaching
is interlaced with stories of grace through
suffering. Some of these come from the author’s
own life (consider reading this article if you
have never read of some of Alcorn’s own
suffering) while others come from family or
friends or strangers. More than supplementary
material, these examples show how God has acted
in grace toward his people as they have
suffered. Though the size of the book may warn
some away (then again, this has certainly not
proven the case with Heaven) the book is in no
way an academic treatise. To the contrary, it is
written with a general audience firmly in mind
and, because it never gets bogged down in
detail, anyone should be able to read and to
enjoy it. In fact, though the book does teach
some profoundly important theology and though it
is concerned with doctrine, it is always
pastoral in its tone. This is not theology for
the sake of theology, but theology that brings
true peace and comfort. Where firmness is
required, Alcorn provides firmness, but where
gentleness is best, he is gentle. Writing to
those who may see little need to read such a
book he says, “We shouldn’t wait until suffering
comes to start learning about how to face it any
more than we should wait to fall into the water
to start learning how to scuba dive.” To those
skeptics who are convinced that the existence of
suffering must mean the non-existence of God he
challenges, “This is one of the great paradoxes
of suffering. Those who don’t suffer much think
suffering should keep people from God, while
many who suffer a great deal turn to God, not
from him.” And for those who know suffering all
too well he encourages, “Our present sufferings
are a brief but important part of a larger plan
that one day will prove them all worthwhile.”
There can be a fine line between exhaustive and
exhausting. In the case of If God Is Good,
Alcorn has succeeded in writing a book that is
long and thorough but not at all tiresome. And
though this book enters quite a crowded field,
it offers a depth, a thoroughness, a pastoral
spirit that set it apart. I very much enjoyed
reading it and trust that you will too. I am
glad to give it my highest recommendation.

Keith Urban - God's Been Good To Me - Music Video