Where the Hell Is God?

by Richard Leonard SJ, James Martin SJ (Foreword)

Combines professional insights along with the author s own experience and insights to speculate on how believers can make sense of their Christian faith when confronted with tragedy and suffering.

Genres: Theology, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Religion, Philosophy, Faith

88 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2010

Reviews

[booklady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where the Hell is God? explores the age old question of why and how a Good God can allow the suffering of the creatures He claims to love. Fr. Richard Leonard, a popular Jesuit teacher, speaker and homilist experienced a family tragedy described in the book which forever changed his perspective on human pain and sorrow. I learned of the book myself during a homily this past Sunday in reference to the two recent tragedies, one in Boston, the other in Texas. Already there have been additional disasters in other parts of the world, not to mention smaller scale ones locally and those private ones we all deal with on a day-to-day basis. There is never a shortage of suffering.

This book is one of the best Ive encountered on the subject. Fr. Leonard doesn’t offer any pat easy answers—because there are none. Suffering is essentially a mystery. He does, however, make short work of the many trite, dismissive and even cruel comments made by well-intentioned but thoughtless people during times of sorrow and extreme stress. And he examines the fallacies and truths concerning suffering and God’s place in it.

Read it in two days. Going to pick up some extra copies. Think they might come in handy.

[Vijay Gopal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an honest and clear-headed attempt at answering one of the most difficult questions about God’s existence. In the face of the tragedy visited upon his kind-hearted sister, the author maintains his faith in God. This book is therefore not an intellectual answer to a difficult question, but a personal response to a painful dilemma.

He does not see God as “directly” causing pain; but having created a less-than-perfect world God accompanies us in dealing with its vicissitudes. I found this argument of his an interesting one: that if we wanted a world with no pain then it would have to be heaven. So by definition, a world that is not heaven will be this very world of ours - with its imperfections and suffering. He therefore says that God has to take “indirect” responsibility for this imperfect world. He derives inspiration from the life of Jesus to be a force for good in the face of pain we see in this world. He believes our response to suffering is not to blame God or ask Him to take our suffering away, but rather to pray for courage and love to cope with it wisely.

I liked this book for its authenticity – for its ability to balance faith with unflinching acceptance of reality. It may not have as much appeal to non-Christians because he resolves the dilemma of “where the hell is God?” by seeking solace solely through the life, death and resurrection of Christ. In that sense, it is less eclectic than Harold Khushner’s “When Bad Things Happen To Good People”. Never the less, I am impressed by the author’s intelligent reasoning, his searching honesty, his sense of humour and ability to retain his faith despite personally experiencing tragedy.

[zoe gomez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a religious person and I only read this to help with an assignment but I really enjoyed his perspective on suffering and religion in general. Too many religious texts sound too dramatic and 'frilly' but this was honest, clever and concise. I didn't discover the meaning of suffering, but I did find out what it wasn't.

[Bianca Costa · Rating 5 out of 5]

“My concern is not that Jesus suffered and died and that so do we, but what sort of image of God emerges from understanding our salvation in terms of the commercial transaction of paying a ransom, or an angry God deriving satisfaction from us “offering up” our suffering, illness, and pain, which he has sent to us in the first place. [...]

I find meaning in my suffering by being faithful to Jesus’ Way, Truth, and Life, when every other instinct in me wants to cut and run. Here we find God in my Gethsemane enabling me to confront death and destruction and sin head-on, now confident through the experience of Jesus that the life of God will have the last word. [...]

In fact, what makes God so great is that he wants nothing to do with death.” (Chapter 5, pp. 43-44)

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fr Leonard uses his own family’s experiences with suffering to explain God's relationship in our lives and how we can relate to God during our times of sadness. The author also writes about how we should respond to others who are dealing with a terrible situation in their own lives.

[Julie Zude · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book to try to help my teen who five years after beating leukemia is now questioning the existence of a God who let him get cancer. Because my son has been taught that God is all powerful and all knowing, he wonders why God didn't intervene to prevent his cancer or heal him right away or why he created a world with cancer in the first place. Leonard's answer is that God created the world but is not the direct cause of everything in the world. Like a good parent, he chooses not to always intervene because we have to grow and learn, but he is always with us to strengthen us as we deal with life. He gives us free will so we can freely choose love and gave us himself in Jesus as the perfect example of how to love.

[Samantha Nesrsta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makes you think & challenges convictions and western assumptions while leading with compassion and always pointing to God’s love. Quote from the last lines of the book “Jesus is with us at every moment of life, especially when we wonder where the hell God has gone. Like all our friends who truly love us, God does not inflict pain, set out to punish us, or set up accidents to teach us lessons or make us grow. Although this unchanging, divine friend, may be eternal, self-existent, transcendent, holy, and ever-present, God‘s love, knows restraint, as the best love always does; a self-imposed restraint on His power and knowledge. Therefore, God does not send natural disasters or famine. God does not kill us off. In fact, this heavenly friend wants nothing to do with death. We know that because of what we see in Jesus. In Him there is no darkness, only light, no retribution or revenge, no smiting of the enemy. There is a demand for justice, but no reprisals. And Jesus did not enter our world to die, but to live, and to be our way, truth, and life. Just as Jesus was killed because the way he lived, so, too, God‘s last word on Jesus‘ death was life, to raise His son from the grave. As a result, this friend’s will or plan for us is for us to flourish in faith, hope, and love as we realize all our gifts and talents.

Yet Christ-as-friend does not barge in. He waits patiently for an invitation to enter our lives at whatever level we want. Jesus meets us where we are, embraces us, and holds us close when the going gets tough, and helps us find the way forward, even on that last day when we find the way home.”

Tim Keller says in sermon Does God Control Everything? on Jan. 7, 2007 “There is a joy to be had that if you have it you will be able to face anything in life without sinking or crumbling & this joy is a certainty, that God loves you now and for eternity and nothing can shake that” Acts 27-28 “My choices matter but they don’t determine the future, which prevents me from being passive or paralyzed.”

Romans 8:28, 38-39

Natural disasters and tragedies are never assumed to be a punishment for sins. See Job. God is always sovereign over them and He can permit them as part of the natural order of a broken world, use them to accomplish purposes we can’t always see, and redeems them by bringing comfort, compassion and even revival out of tragedy.

[Mdaly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short and engaging book on God and human suffering. Fr. Leonard recounts the tragedy experienced by his own family when his sister had a serious life changing accident and in a very clear and concise way looks at how Christianity informs his response to such tragedies.
It's a powerful and life affirming book that I would highly recommend to all, believers and non-believers, who have questions about God's place in human suffering.

[Teri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought some of his opinions were borderline heretical and it doesn't answer the question of where is God in times of tragedy. The answer is "No one knows." It's one of the age-old questions that cannot be answered.
I gave it 2 stars because he does make a couple of good points about the world being what we have made it.
At least it's a short, quick read and I didn't pay much for it.

[Declan O'Byrne-Inglis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leonard lays out his philosophy clearly and unpretentiously. I am an atheist and not remotely religious however I found his arguments persuasive and insightful, however at times he does lapse into a platitude delivery mode of scriptural analysis and doesn’t interrogate certain ideas as much as I would’ve liked.

[Maribel AKA ShonQ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is for those that suffer and question the meaning behind suffering or question why God would allow it to happen. Why doesn't He do anything to stop it? Where is He when things become too difficult to bear alone? This book tackles the mislead image of God as an all power God that forces us to suffer and then sits back and does nothing.

[Casey Cam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting … I think this book had some great points and ideas about the theology of suffering. It was lacking in depth for me, and I just hated all the Jesuit references and links that kind of lost me (felt it was unnecessary to the point being told).

[Mary Northrup · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best explanation I've read about suffering and evil in life.

[Gary Emig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I concur with most of what he says, especially that Jesus came not to die, but put an end to death and show us life. I would add, to show us life to the fullest.

[Amy Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this

[Dorothy Singer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend. It is short and to the point. While my gut feelings mirrored his thoughts, it is nice to have one's gut put into rational thought. I would like to read his sister's book, also.

[GayleneND]

Puts the pandemic and start of the russian and Ukrainian war into some perspective. Sad but true.

[January · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting reading about the perceptions we attach to God in relation to suffering.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unexpected gem. Very easy to read book that grapples with the big questions in a compassionate way. Five stars.

[Andrew Lerasan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for our theology class; enjoyed it but I have so many questions and counterarguments.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for school religion subject

[Dean Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is plugged as an unique blend of the personal and theological, but the personal aspect of it is not especially powerful.
Leonard does have some good things to say about the importance of free will and God's presence through suffering.
But chapter five in the book, an argument against the supplementary atonement of Christ's death and its purposeful nature is borderline heretical. To quote Matthew 16:21 - "21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." Peter objected to what Jesus had to say, and I believe Jesus might have had a "Get thee behind me, Satan" for Leonard here as well.
Leonard's less than wholehearted affirmation of miracles is disappointing as well. He seems to lean toward the idea that "modern science" has ruled out the miraculous, but God can still do miracles "through us". He seems to believe that since a miracle didn't happen for his quadriplegic sister, it won't happen for anyone. Scripture teaches that God does indeed intervene in the world, even if rarely and not by human weems. Much better treatment of the miraculous can be found in C. S. Lewis' "Miracles" and Tim Stafford's recent book of the same name. (And while one is looking at Lewis, see also "The Problem of Pain" and "A Grief Observed" for the classics in dealing with these issues from first a theological and then a personal perspective.)
But Leonard does have some worthy arguments and is worth a look for people struggling with the problem of evil and pain.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a "popular" version of Brian Davies' Thomas Aquinas and the Problem of Evil.

It is very, very good. I may fault it because it is not as precise as Davies's book but it is far easier to read. And it does approach the mystery of time and infinity in which we are all caught. Fr. Leonard does admit to the great mysteries and he wrestles with time and infinity in understandable terms.

I myself had the experience of reading about the man who just missed the aircraft out of Mexico City which had a malfunction and, after circling over the Pacific off Los Angeles, plunged into the ocean killing all aboard. That man said that God had been watching over him. I do not disagree with that, although in some ways perhaps Fr. Leonard might. But what hit me very hard was the notion that God was watching over the ones on the plane.

This was not because God "wanted" death but because he has left us free to be who we are. As Davies put it, God is constrained if he is to create creatures like us, free to commit sin, and free, in some way because we are material. It is not that suffering is a good but it is not.

Ultimately if we live in time, we will suffer and our Lord shared that suffering. But not because he wanted death but because he wanted us to live, as Fr. Leonard put it.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leonard does a number of things in this small book. He establishes a rapport by sharing an experience in his own family of a long term journey with tragedy. He puts on the table a variety of expressions people use in the face of suffering. They may be well meant phrases, but he points out their limits. He encourages us, even urges us, to examine and re-examine our attitudes, our prayers, even our hymns. They can contain trite or heretical meanings. This book is honest and helpful. It is written for those who suffer and those who accompany them. It is also useful for those of us who want to grow up spiritually. A warning to those who may be satisfied with the image of who they perceive God to be for them. You may find yourself challenged. I listened to the audiobook. It is also available in Kindle, Kobo and good old paperback.

[Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author has a few interesting things to say about God and suffering. However, the author comes across as more of a deist than a Christian. The author seems to say that God puts things in motion and then, other than being a spectator, is pretty much uninvolved with our lives. This seeming deism is further reflected in the author's view of scripture. The author seems to believe that much of scripture, such as The Fall, is allegory. This has always seemed to be a slippery slope approach to Scripture.

[Deborah and Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

From a personal note, my faith evolved after reading the book. While on a journey toward knowing God and love, a friend gave this wonderful book to me to aid me in the sailing. It proved a strong wind; it changed my course toward where I should be and what I should believe. One thing that is quite applicable to me is the idea that truth is what you believe it to be. No matter what it is you want to believe, if you make it the truth, then that's the truth. However, it may not transcend beyond your own sphere of influence. After all, we all have our own set of truths.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a very long time to read this book because I was processing it as I was reading. This is the kind of book that I will have to read over and over, and develop my thoughts on it every time I read it. I am glad I read the book, and I think that I picked it up at the right time for me. This probably wouldn't have been of much help in the aftermath of tragedy, but it helps you work things out after the worst is over.

[Cecilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book that deals with the tough question of suffering in the world and God. For a short book with plain and simple writing, it deals with some heavy life topics. It took me a long time to read, despite the simple, easy writing style and the short length. The author packs a lot of stuff into his pages, stuff that needs ruminating. Highly recommend.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me think about God. It made me realize that while I pray with regularity, I might not spend enough time on who God is and how prayer works. I think I ended up with more questions than answers, but I like the spiritual places I traveled in reading this book. It is easy to relate to, short and a good read. It was my church's Lenten book club book.

[Mary Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to read the author's family tragedy as a basis for his belief that God doesn't want us to suffer.