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When Answers Aren't Enough: Experiencing God as Good When Life Isn't

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Matt Rogers lived through the horror of the April massacre at Virginia Tech. As a Pastor and Hokie he experienced the horror and felt the grief and inner struggle of wonder how God could let this happen. In this book he give a wonderful and heartfelt look at life and our faith when things go wrong and there is tragedy in our lives. This is a great book for anybody who ministers to those who are suffering or those who are suffering and trying to achieve some sort of reason in a world that appears to be falling apart. It is an honest and heartfelt book written by one who has obviously struggled himself to make sense of horror and grief

Matt Rogers searches for God's presence in the beautiful South Carolina woods, along the Atlantic Ocean, and walking among the Colorado Rockies (which provide some of his best written scenes). He looks for God's goodness standing beside gravesites, among the poor and needy, and in the church community. He works through the process of grief and calls us to imagine what the world will be in the future. Continually reminding us of Christ's long-awaited renewal of the world. Written in a meditative style that echoes Philip Yancey, Brennan Manning, and Henri Nouwen, Rogers is a voice that will offer comfort and hope.

"When Answer's Aren't Enough" is a powerfully honest journey into those questions we all ask, but often don't verbalize. And Matt Rogers takes us even deeper than that - digging into and embracing those difficult thoughts and emotions we can't always verbalize. He takes on questions of why some people die early or tragically, when others do not; questions that follow massive natural disasters and questions about the "right way" to respond to suffering and loss. While the tragedy at Virginia Tech provides the framework of this journey, this book takes the reader up front, close and personal, as it considers other real experiences of suffering and loss, including our own inevitable death. Only from the perspective of just how powerfully hard things in life can be, do we begin to comprehend just how powerfully good and beautiful God is, in the midst of this hurting world. And it is from here that we can begin to imagine just how good things will be one day when Christ returns and sets everything aright.

When we experience tragedy, we too often hear "answers" from people that really are not answers at all and really are not all that comforting. Matt Rogers does not attempt to give the answers, but rather communicates the hope that we have in Christ. The world is broken, and throughout the author's journey we can see it all too clearly. But the most poignant element of this book for me is the vision of the world that will come with the Kingdom of God. Throughout my reading of this book I was reminded over and again of the many reasons we have to experience God as good, even when our circumstances logically give us reason to doubt. It reminded me of the things in my own life that I often take for granted, the gifts that God has given that many times I don't even recognize as gifts.

As one who was closely affected by the tragedy at Virginia Tech on April 16, this book put many things into perspective for me. I saw that it is OK to call out the evil in this world, and that this does not mean we have reason to doubt God's goodness. If you were also deeply affected by the tragedy, this book will help you sort through the tough thoughts and questions in an honest way. And for those who may not have been as close to Virginia Tech, there are many stories that Matt Rogers shares (some of tragedy, but many more of good and wonderful things) that are just as poignant. I can say with certainty that this book is for you as well.

This book is raw and real. I seldom find satisfying answers to my questions during times of suffering and doubt. This book was exactly the comforting response that I have been looking for.

I went into this reading with an incredible desire to have an explanation to the hurt we all experience. I found comfort and sound Biblical advice. Matt Rogers is a real person, with his genuine love for a hurting world oozing out of the pages. This book is peppered with sources to reach for when facing grief. I appreciated his look at the survivors of tragedy and their families and showing how they dealt with their circumstances. I felt his own personal hurt from the Virginia Tech horror. I identified with his concern when his Dad fell off the roof. I was deeply moved by his explanation of the finality of death and our need to look beyond to the promise. He is right in saying that tragedy goes from intellectual to emotional, and from theoretical to personal. Would I recommend this book? With a huge Amen. I am going to have several copies on hand. I think this is one of the most sensitive and helpful books I have come across in dealing with grief and tragedy.

Matt Rogers is a sensitive and gifted writer who is seemingly mature well beyond his (30) years. Perhaps experiences like this - as copastor of his church at Virginia Tech - are the cause for his advanced maturity as an author. The book is a pleasant read, flows well, and is scripturally well balanced upon central and accepted Christian Orthodoxy. The relevant anecdotal stories and nimble jumps in time - to and fro, make the book more exciting to go through. The book is able to let the reader focus, if not meditate, on some of the key issues that believers face today: how to deal with tragedy and turn evil into good. How to answer some tough questions when we are going through the tragedies of life, and how precious is our time here on Earth. I enjoyed Matt's verse references - since Matt does such a good job integrating them into the text - and would like to see more of the same.

When Answers Aren't Enough by Matt Rogers is the author's response to the pain and loss after the Virginia Tech shootings of one year ago today. Rogers is a pastor at a church near the campus, and one of the students killed wash is parishioner. The book starts with Rogers' anger and frustration at the senseless killings and God's apparent neglect in the face of this tragedy. He asks a common question: where is God in suffering? To find the answer he interviews a Hokie survivor, as well as a family who lost six of their children in a tragic accident. He addresses death in a way I've never seen before. When attending the funeral of a friend as well as the VT victim, he can't find the joy within him that Christians are supposed to feel when a believer goes home to Heaven. Instead, he's angry, and with good reason. Death is not natural to this life. When God created the world, death was not a part of it; it was introduced with sin. So it is natural that we feel sad, angry, and hurt when death affects us. We should feel that way, because it means that we aren't meant for this world and are looking forward to the next one. Rogers' insights on this and other issues make the book a must read. It reads almost like a longform Psalm, starting with a crying out to God in pain, seeking answers, and then praising God for His holiness and trusting in his plan. It not only offers wisdom about death and suffering, but a view on how to keep going as well.

Simply put, this is an excellent book.

I was brought to the edge of tears at several points, something that books rarely do for me. The author's empathy for the people he interviewed is clearly shown amidst his own doubts of how to continue to seek joy and comfort that God provides. I appreciate the juxtaposition of the imagery in his descriptions of the wonderful state of Virginia and the mountains of Colorado (along with is own peaceful musings on the goodness of God) with the thoughts and words of the family members and students who survived the shootings at Virginia Tech.

While the book talks about the events of April 16th fairly often, it is clear that the shootings are not the point, nor is it a treatise on how to cope with loss for this particular tragedy. What better way to speak of seeking and exploring the goodness of God than through such a tragedy, when God's purpose or place might be unclear? This point of reference obviates the need for a deep, penetrating discussion on how it applies to the healing and growth of the author and his still-new ministry, let alone the community in which he lives.

I found the length and number of chapters strange (many chapters, some long, some a single page), but given that it's explained as a journal of sorts, it is not detrimental. My own journal looks similar.

Rogers asks us to walk with him over the course of the book, and it reads as if you had. Again, an excellent book.

"When Answers Aren't Enough..." is a wonderfully written collection of easy to connect to personal reflections on feeling the presence of God, the goodness of God, when life seems too unexplainably tragic. The personal interviews were simultaneously heart-wrenching and hopeful - Rogers so eloquently depicts the pain of loss as well as communicating the confident hope of those who seem most overcome by tragedy. Rogers gives us a very human and realistic perspective on death and grieving that is raw and honest, yet comforting. This incredibly honest look at tragedy from the perspective of a believer stands on its own in the Christian genre and is a work that I absolutely recommend to others and will refer back to for years to come.

When tragedy strikes it is a natural reaction for people to cry out for answers to the haunting question, "Why?" When Answers Aren't Enough centers around Rogers' own heartache and struggle to understand how God can give so many good gifts and yet allow such evil.

Following the horrendous event on the Virginia Tech campus where thirty-three students were killed in the worst massacre in modern U.S. history, Matt Rogers, campus pastor (New Life Christian Fellowship,) found himself being asked, "Where is God in all of this?" The cliché-heavy, token answers he had grown up with rang hollow within the deepest part of his soul. In this personally poignant reflection, Rogers sheds glimpses of light on the path to experiencing God as truly good when life is not. It will not be an easy path but it is a necessary one to walk as a Christ-follower.

Broken into three parts, When Answers Aren't Enough, introduces the grim reality of life, then takes you back to the perfect beginning of life as God intended it to be with the conclusion offering hope for the future as God's will is accomplished. Rogers is not afraid to ask the difficult questions, even though we will not get satisfactory answers this side of Heaven. Here are a few excerpts from chapter 10 in part one: "Are we, then, not safe? Will God not protect us? . . . We Americans have an especially hard time believing constant happiness is not a guarantee . . . And if God wants us happy, then he must want us safe." He continues, " . . . in the first place, where did we get our belief that faith makes us safe? And is it possible that this expectation of constant happiness comes, not from any promise in Scripture, but from having lived so long in relative peace?"

The chapter where Rogers sits down and interviews Mark and Joyce Bryant who lost six of their nine children in a house fire (2006) was heavy with grief, yet hopeful. Their thoughts were both authentic and encouraging. When asked how they avoided feeling that God was angry with them or judging them, Mark stated, "I think one thing that probably helped was that, as a family, we had always walked closely with the Lord. Not perfectly, of course, but closely and consistently. We didn't just believe that God was loving--we knew it. And we knew it before any of this happened. Knowing God as good beforehand helped us in knowing God as good afterward."

There is a raw frankness and great courage within the author's words. He's searching and holding on tightly to his faith. This is more his personal story than the stories of the students affected at Virginia Tech. As a reader, I would have liked to hear more student interviews sprinkled within his journey.

The endnotes in When Answers Aren't Enough are a helpful source of additional information.

This would be an excellent gift for those who are "walking through the valley of the shadow of death" as well as for those who need a reality check about God's goodness in times of tragedy.

Review by Dale Lewis for TitleTrakk