"If God is a God of justice, and not of power, He can still be on our side when bad things happen to us. He can know that we are good and honest people who deserve better. Our misfortunes are none of His doing, and so we can turn to Him for help. Our question will not be Job's question: 'God, why are You doing this to me?' but rather 'God, see what is happening to me. Can You help me?' We will turn to God, not to be judged or forgiven, not to be rewarded or punished, but to be strengthened and comforted."
That (apart from the emphasis on His/Her maleness) is a God whom I could believe in and have some respect for. I have always struggled with the idea of an omnipotent God, who by this very definition could stop bad things happening to good people, but for some obscure reason, either chooses not to, or, far worse in my eyes, actually causes the bad things to happen.
For me, if God is anything, He/She/It is a God of Love and Compassion, and yes, of Justice. So God cannot be omnipotent. As Kushner goes on to say:
"We can maintain our own self-respect and sense of goodness without having to feel that God has judged us and condemned us. We can be angry at what has happened to us, without feeling that we are angry at God. More than that, we can recognise our anger at life's unfairness, our instinctive compassion at seeing people suffer, as coming from God, who teaches us to be angry at injustice and to feel compassion for the afflicted."
Yes and yes. The God I believe in is a source of strength and comfort, of love and compassion, not of pain and arbitrary judgement and punishment.
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