For thousands of years people have turned to God in the midst of suffering. Even today it is quite common to hear that someone will be “prayed for” during times of difficulty or struggle. Despite all this, most people struggle to deal with the image of God in suffering. People see God as a transcendent being who exercises complete control but allows heinous acts to occur. This false image of God can confuse people and create enmity between them and God. However, people must understand that God is helpless in suffering. While He can do nothing to prevent suffering, God is omnipresent in suffering, providing people with opportunities to show things like love, empathy, or compassion. To understand where God is in suffering, it is important to first analyze why God cannot intervene. in suffering. Why Good Things Happen to Bad People by Rabbi Harold Kushner concisely explains this mystery. He states that God cannot intervene because "God cannot stop us without taking away the freedom that makes us human." In essence, the only way God can stop suffering is by not allowing people to cause it, taking away their free will. One of the most prominent examples would be the German concentration camp Auschwitz. Millions of people suffered and died there, but Rabbi Kushner claims that “men.” Man's evil choices cause human suffering, not God's complicity. Rabbi Kushner's observations give solid foundation to the argument that God does not can intervene. This concept of God is intertwined with the idea that Marcus Borg presents in The God We Never Knew suggests the notion of a panentheistic God, that is, a God who is “reducing them to beasts suffering, God is omnipresent in suffering, giving people the opportunity to show things like love, empathy, or compassion This is the key to understanding God's role in suffering: that He does not cause William Faulkner describes it accurately: “The salvation of the world lies in the suffering of man.” When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold Kushner When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold Kushner The God We Never Knew, Marcus Borg When Bad things happen to good people, Rabbi Harold Kushner Life is Good, Roberto Benigni (1997) White Rose, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://bit.ly/TS6Bn) William Faulkner