God Can’t Intro

My new book, God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils will be released in January. I’m starting to see reviews from those who read a pre-release copy, and I’ve been blown away at the positive responses!

Friends and “insiders” can get a copy of God Can’t at a drastically reduced price. I’m giving my newsletter readers a small window of time to get the book before it goes on sale at regular price. So sign up for my newsletter on my website home page. And look for discount info in the early January newsletter. 

Intro to God Can’t

In the meantime, I thought I’d give you a taste of the book. Here’s how God Can’t starts…

      The Las Vegas Strip was packed and buzzing. Nearly 20,000 people milled about the Route 91 Harvest Festival that October night, singing with country music star Jason Aldean, the festival’s final performer.

     High above the crowd, a 64-year-old former auditor, Stephen Paddock, looked down from the Mandalay Bay Hotel. He visited Vegas often, living eighty miles northeast of the city, and casino hosts knew him by name. 

     Placing “Do Not Disturb” signs on adjacent rooms, the ex-auditor moved to the windows of the hotel’s thirty-second floor, smashed them with a hammer, and began spraying bullets into the crowd below.

      In the next ten minutes, Paddock pulled the triggers of twenty guns and fired at least 1,100 rounds. Fifty-eight people died; 851 were injured. Thousands of survivors are still traumatized long after the deadliest mass shooting by an individual in the United States.

     Many asked questions in the aftermath. Where was God? Why didn’t God stop the shooting? And does it make sense to believe God cares for everyone?

      Many people think God had the power to prevent the Las Vegas shooting, its deaths, injuries, and resulting trauma. They think God could have warned officials, temporarily paralyzed the gunman, jammed the rifles, or redirected every bullet flying 400 yards. They assume God has the ability to do just about anything.

      After the shooting, some “explained” why God failed to stop the tragedy. “There’s a higher purpose in this,” they said. Others appealed to mystery: “We just can’t understand God’s ways.”

      The president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore, captured the thoughts of many. “We do not know why God does not intervene and stop some tragedies when he does stop others,” said Moore. “What we do know, though, is that God stands against evil and violence. We know that God is present for those who are hurting.”

      Really?

     If God stands against evil and violence, why doesn’t God stop them? Does God’s desire to be “present for those who are hurting” trump God’s desire to protect? Does God allow death and injury because He’s needy, desperate for attention, or wanting to feel useful?

      Where is God in the midst of tragedy, abuse, and other evil?

Coming in January

 God Can’t will be released in January. You’ll be able to purchase it at Amazon and other fine bookstores. But sign up now for my newsletter (on my website home page) to get info on the discount.