What's Good about Feeling Bad?: Finding Purpose and a Path Through Your Pain

by John C. Thomas

Book Overview

When you are tightly clenched in the grip of suffering, hearing that God has a purpose and a plan may feel like adding salt to a raw wound. How can you be sure that there is a greater good to be... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1414316895
• ISBN13: 9781414316895
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
• Length: 267 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

What's Good About Feeling Bad?

As a Clinical Pastoral Counselor for over 20 years I can honestly say this is one of the most informative books that I have read. The authors exhibit spiritual insight in the subject area of suffering. I found this to be very helpful in pulling together scriptures that are relevant to current financial and life trials. I enjoyed the pertinent illustrations and quotes. I can see that I will be quoting from this book to many Christian clients.

This is "Must Read" material!

Because the world is filled with hurting people, "What's Good About Feeling Bad" may be one of the most important books written in the past decade or two. If you know anyone who is suffering, this book can help you minister to them. If you are suffering or have suffered, it will minister to you. Having been co-written by a philosopher and a psychologist, the book goes far beyond any other treatise addressing the so-called "philosophical enigma" on the presence of evil in a world created by a holy, loving God; it also addresses in a compassionate manner the personal heartbreak of pain, loss, and suffering that will meet each of us at some time in our lives. The book acknowledges the inevitable certainty of suffering in our lives and offers sound direction for finding comfort in the midst of it. It explores the purpose of such pain and ministers to those who have experienced it. "What's Good About Feeling Bad" boldly confronts the painful issues that many of us either seek to ignore or to avoid and it helps us to make sense of the tragedies. It covers the very unpleasant subject in a very palatable way from a sound Biblical perspective. It does for the subject of suffering what James Dobson did for the subject of child rearing with "Dare to Discipline" in that it articulates important concepts in a practical and understandable way bringing the information off the higher shelf and putting it within the grasp of those who need to use it. After finishing this book, I bought a copy for my pastor. I bought some other copies to give folks I think would benefit. I plan to buy more copies because I want each of my adult children to read it. This is one of the best books I have read in more than a decade and it does more than inform; it ministers to people. I highly recommend it.

An excellent resource on the problem of pain and suffering and a helpful guidebook for those trying

Subtitled "Finding Purpose and a Path through Your Pain," WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT FEELING BAD? delivers on the implied promise in that subtitle. John C. Thomas and Gary Habermas, both professors at Liberty University in Virginia, offer a wealth of information and practical help to people who are suffering. Openly acknowledging that suffering is one of the most serious challenges to religious belief, the authors tackle this difficult subject from biblical and counseling perspectives without ever dismissing or diminishing the very real barriers to faith that suffering presents. In the first of three sections, they confront the pain of suffering and lay the groundwork for the rest of the book by stating up front the five truths about suffering: it is universal, painful, personal, unnerving. However, there is meaning to suffering, they maintain, but God is under no obligation to give us a reason for our pain. In this section, they also look at the multiple sources of pain and suffering (such as the reality of living in a broken world) and offer encouragement by reminding us that God is always with us in our suffering. Section two looks at the purposes of pain, and here the book provides profound insights into how suffering shapes us --- the nitty-gritty about how feeling bad can work toward our good. Thomas and Habermas discuss in detail the concept of "soul-making," the development of our character through hardship. In these 15 chapters they demonstrate how suffering can turn us inward (by becoming more humble, for example), forward (by forcing us to mature, among other outcomes), outward (such as by serving others) and upward (by glorifying God and in other ways). The authors also rightly point out that much of our problem regarding the "benefits" of suffering stems from the fact that such a notion runs counter to Western thinking, while many Eastern cultures accept the idea without question. The final section offers a pathway through suffering, Thomas and Habermas note, rather than around it. They begin by urging readers to examine their beliefs about suffering and promptly demolish some of the myths associated with suffering --- myths that are held by Christians in particular --- such as the myth that truly spiritual people should never have to suffer and that simply reading the Bible will solve all their problems. The authors point out not only the folly of adhering to those myths but also the dangers inherent in that way of thinking. The answer to going through the process of suffering --- trusting God --- sounds simplistic, but here they also acknowledge how difficult that can be and how we can be deceived into thinking we're trusting God when we really aren't. As the authors point out, what matters most is not the suffering itself but our responses to it. "When you realize you are not in control, God is finally able to have control of your life. Take your 'why me?' mentality, turn it over to Him, and find the 'what for?' of your pain." Good ad

A must-read for the suffering

If you've ever asked God "Why?" in the midst of trials and suffering, then this book is a must read for you. Dr. Thomas and Dr. Habermas make a credible and compelling attempt to answer the age old question by bringing three things to the pages of the book: 1) they have both suffered personally; 2) they have years of experience ministering to others who have/are suffering; and 3) they provide a thorough Bible study throughout the book on the topic of suffering. We will never fully understand the thoughts and ways of our Heavenly Father in the trials we face in this life but "What's Good About Feeling Bad?" brings a new level of depth and understanding that will speak volumes to those in the midst of the storm.