A review of "Little black books: suffering and evil"

Little black books: suffering and evil by Scott Perry


Publisher description:

"Sooner or later we're all affected by suffering and evil—sometimes in horrible ways—and we often want to know why.

In this short book, Scott Petty guides us through the Old Testament story of Job—a man who suffered excruciating pain and grief without ever knowing why. On the way through, Scott deals with some of the common questions people have about suffering and evil:

» Why do bad things happen to Christians?
» Does God cause suffering?
» Is God in control of suffering and evil?

Like all the Little Black Books, this one gets straight to the point."

This book is part of Matthias media's little black book series, designed for teens and young adults and dealing with questions that are always asked. Other books in the series include:

- Predestination

- Sex

-The Bible

- What's life all about? (coming soon)

 



Author Scott Perry opens his introduction to this little book by stating "There's one topic that virtually every Christian  has questions about, and that's the topic of suffering and evil".  This topic affects us all, for to quote author and theologian DA Carson, "if we live long enough we will suffer".  

 

The quality and format of this little book is quite appealing, it only 50 plus pages and looks more like a fancy tract or booklet than it does a book.  It's the perfect thing to have a few copies of to give away and is very readable and solid theologically.  I would give this not only to young people with questions on suffering and evil, but also to adults as well.

 

The author starts out in chapter 1 by honestly addressing the question of suffering, and uses the book of Job as a backdrop to answer the question.  Perry handles it honestly by stating that our suffering is real.  It's not simplistically just God's punishment for our sin, in fact God knows suffering because He sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins.  He discusses the fall and the suffering and sin now present because of it. 

 

Continuing with the book of Job he goes on to answer the question of evil (chapter 2) and the question of God (chapter 3)and where He is in the midst of so much suffering.  We finish up by learning that God is god, God is sovereign, and God is enough for us.  The book ends with an encouragement for any non-christians to go to two ways to live to find out more about how they can know God which makes this a good book for christian and non-christians alike.

 

In a day when much of evangelical offerings on this subject are nothing more than froth and therapy, Scott Perry hits a hard subject head on and delivers the goods.  This book is scriptural, orthodox, and God glorifying.  Highly recommended, buy a bunch and give them away!!

 

Mathias media provided me a copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.