"How Can a Good God Let Bad Things Happen?"

I had the chance to read and review a book written by Mark Tabb titled How Can a Good God Let Bad Things Happen? I thought this book was fitting for this time in my life and was glad that I requested this book from NavPress.

Mr. Tabb uses the book of Job to help the reader understand that bad things, terrible circumstances in our lives aren't from God and we need to continue to praise Him even if we think we will never get through it. Through Mark Tabb's book I saw that what I see as trials in my life aren't as bad as they could be. I still have a house, two vehicles, a husband, my three children are alive and healthy, even if our house isn't big enough, our van is constantly breaking down, our house needs a lot of repairs - our circumstances could be much, much worse.

Reading this book helped me understand God a little more. The evil in the world is the result of the first sin, and Satan is alive and well in this world. While I never doubt and I do my best to never blame God for the bad things in my life - I am not sure how I would react if my children were to die, we were to lose our house, etc. Could I continue giving God praise? I would like to think so. Would I want to hear empty words from friends and family? Definitely not. I heard the empty platitudes when we lost our first baby, "oh it's God's way of taking care of it now" and so on. This isn't what grieving and hurting people need to hear. Mark Tabb does a great job of getting this point across without belittling anyone or hurting anyone's feelings. He does it with grace and maturity and in the end, his book is well written and gives sound Scriptural basis for his findings.

The only thing I could find wrong in the book, and it could just be personal preference, is that when Mr. Tabb refered to God or Christ as "him" it was a lower case 'h'. I was always told that it's a sign of respect to use a capital 'H' when refering to the Lord. Like I said it could just be a personal preference, but even with that pet peeve of mine the book was very enjoyable.

Please visit NavPress to see their other books and even place an order.

God bless

Next Generation: New Testament

I recieved Word of Promise Next Generation New Testament (http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/product_detail.asp?dept_id=230170&sku=1400313309) from Thomas Nelson, on 3 MP3 CDs. There is over 23 hours of dramatic audios of the Bible. There is an all star cast reading this, such as Annasohphia Robb, Corbin Bleu, Emily Osment and others.

I wasn't sure how I would like this since I am not big on today's Hollywood actresses or actors even the ones that claim Christianity, but I thought it would be neat for the children. I was very impressed and am praying that by doing this that there hearts are more open to the Lord, if they weren't before.

My children were very intuned to this as we listened to it while we cleaned and I sewed. The dramatic pace of the CDs made it enjoyable and the children were able to understand the stories as they were portrayed. I didn't get the sense that any Biblical truths were compromised in the dramatic reading of Scriptures either. The version used is called the ICB New Testament. I have no knowledge of this version of the Bible, but like I said I didn't hear anything that I would say misconstrued the Word of God and it was written.

There are sound effects which aren't overpowering and do not take over the performance being read. You can definitely hear and understand what is being read. That is a good thing when you have children who if not kept occupied will loose interest very quickly.

There is a 40 day listening plan, which would come in handy if you are not doing a review and I will likely use this during our school time according to the 40 day plan. The soundtrack is done by an award winning composer and there over 100 actors.

I would definitely recommend this set of CDs to accompany your Bible studies or even for a child or teen who would like to understand more Biblical truths.