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"God's way of punishing the people of those cities for their depravities" (77).
depravities: moral corruption
Ex: The priest believed the guy would go to hell because of his depravities

"A baby is born with a congenital heart defect" (98).
congenital: present from birth
Ex: His congenital disease has greatly affected his life.

"Psychologists speak of the infantile myth of omnipotence" (134).
omnipotence: having unlimited power
Ex: The wizard with omnipotence won the battle.

"Neither can we ask God to... change the inexorable course of an illness" (169).
inexorable: impossible to stop
Ex: The inexorable passing of time is the child's greatest fear.

couldn't find any after this

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"instead ask the question which open doors to the future: 'Now that this has happened, what shall I do about it?" (198).
The final chapter of the book included phenomenal reflections and conclusions concerning the take aways and main messages of the book. Throughout the book, the author seems to be arguing with himself by asking a series of questions then giving possible answers to them. The most common theme of course is the question of "why did this happen to me". But the author has led us to believe that we should not be asking a question of that type, one that focuses on the past, but rather one that concerns the future. He has established that God is present to essentially make us feel motivated and loved even after unpreventable tragedy. The author gives this question as an example because it leaves the past behind because it is riddle with pain and unanswerable questions and moves onto how a person can get over their situation or make something better of it. I think this quote nicely sums up the chapter which gives not a final answer but an explanation to the question that has been analyzed throughout the whole book: why do bad things happen to good people.

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"Can you remember what it was like to be fifteen years old... eager for the day when you could outgrow your need for [your parents] and be on your own?" (150).
For me, reading this quote stuck out obviously because I was fifteen only last year and am living the exact life he is reminiscing on. Through this quote, the author further reveals that his book is mostly aimed toward adults who may have experienced similar traumatic events as him or toward people who have begun to question God after experiencing a lot in life. Although, it may not be directed toward me, the quote at the beginning of the paragraph captures my attention because it is something I can relate to. In context, this quote serves as a hypothetical situation in which the author invites the reader to imagine if their mother had died due to the fact that they were becoming more independent. I think younger people can interpret this quote in a different light because we may have a stronger emotional connection to it.

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"Human beings live in a world of good and bad, and that makes our lives painful and complicated" (109).
I chose this quote because of it's wording and how it has a deep impact on the overall meaning of the sentence. First of all, there is a relationship between the words "good and bad" and "painful and complicated". It connects the two in a direct way making it seem as a cause and effect type situation. When the reader thinks of good and bad in life, they are often generalizations such as a family can be good and deaths can be bad; or they can be thought of as specific situations having immediate but minute effects. In this contest however, good and bad merely become characteristics of the world we live in and the resulting pain and complications are what we deal with in everyday life. The phrasing gives the simple words "good and bad" an infinite number of complexities because the author ties them directly to the complicated feelings that we experience. The way the author uses "we" also makes the audience feel more connected to him and also builds ethos.

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"Our human bodies are miracles, not because they defy the laws of nature, but precisely because they obey them" (84).
I found this quote to be especially astounding because it redefines in a very sensible way the value of human life. It defines it according to the laws of nature rather than God himself. The title of this chapter is "No exceptions for nice people", and it focuses on how God cannot control everything because even he is limited by the laws of nature. This backs up the idea that it is not up to God what sometimes goes on in the world. Even humans, God's greatest creation, are no exception because they too follow the laws of nature. I love this quote because it strays against the common belief that miracles occur when the laws of nature are broken. This contrast made me open my eyes to what the author was saying relating to his purpose of in a way

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"Part of its greatness lies in the fact that the author was scrupulously fair to all points of view" (53).

Scrupulously: in a very careful and thorough way

Ex: He scrupulously performed the task his boss asked of him, so that he wouldn't get fired

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"The moral of the story is: when hard times befall you, don't be tempted to give up your faith in God. He has his reasons for what he is doing..." (48).
This chapter of the text stood out to me and I felt like this quote represented it fairly well. The author uses biblical stories to justify his reasoning. The character called Job does everything right in that he keeps his faith in God despite the terrible condition he is in. The simplicity with which the author states his lesson of trusting God and He will reward you makes it so easy for the reader to want to go out into the world and believe. However, the reality of this for an average person is enormously difficult because it's so easy to lose faith in an intangible being. The effect of the bible passage was that it allowed the author to introduce his lesson while keeping the reader interested. I enjoyed reader the chapter on Job because it kept up an analogy making the book interesting and easy to understand.

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"he may wonder why an ostensibly loving parent should treat him that way" (29).

Ostensibly: apparently;, but perhaps not actually

Ex: The class was ostensibly discussion based, but we spent most of our time writing.

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"How seriously would we take a person who said, 'I have faith in Adolf Hitler, or in John Dillinger. I can' explain why they did the things they did, but I can't believe they would have done them without good reason.' Yet people try to justify the deaths and tragedies God inflicted on innocent victims with almost these same words" (27).
This quote was very powerful in that it is eye opening to the possible flaws and loopholes in this philosophy. The author introduces the question of how God is good yet inflicts pain upon his own creation.He compares Him to notorious and horrible people by connecting them with a common explanation to a hypothetical versus real scenario. It provokes the thought that since God has overseen countless unwarranted deaths that He could be regarded as a criminal. Yet the same philosophy behind His doings can hypothetically back up those of people such as Hitler. The analogy comparing the two is risky because of the sensitive topic and possible disrespect it carries with it; however, it does its job and stimulates the independent questioning and reasoning of the reader.

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4/6 p. 1-30
4/13 p. 31-60
4/27 p. 61-216

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Our group decided to read this book because we know the author and have heard good things about it. I am particularly interested in reading it because it asks a question that I personally have pondered over. It's also told from a very personal perspective and includes sensitive stories and topics which I find very intriguing. I am also Catholic so I think it will be very interesting to see how the views and philosophies of the author compare with the way I have been taught.