And while there are a number of glorious affirmations in that concept, one of the early questions springing out of that affirmation is the question of suffering and evil. We began this discussion of suffering and evil by first looking at some faulty explanations for the problem. Let me repeat these that we might remember. We live in a random universe - things just happen. There is no evil - it is just the absence of good.
Evil is an illusion, an aberration of our unlearned minds.
We get what we deserve. You were bad and are getting what you deserve. Evil is the result of a limited god who just can t keep up with a runaway creation. A variation of this, which I did not mention last week, is the case of Rabbi Kushner. Kushner wrote a very important book, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People .