A Review of the Book "Everything Happens for a Reason" by Kate Bowler

Title: Everything Happens for a Reason

Author: Kate Bowler

Publisher: Random House

Year: 2018

208 pages

Everything happens for a reason. I'm sure we have all heard this said to us, or to someone we know, at least once in our life. Or perhaps you've said it to someone, or at least thought it, if you didn't say it out loud. How did it feel when it was said to you? Not great, I'm sure.

Everything happens for a reason is one of the base concepts of the prosperity gospel. According to www.britannica.com, the "prosperity gospel is the teaching that faith - expressed through positive thoughts, positive declarations, and donations to the church - draws health, wealth, and happiness into believers’ lives. Central to this teaching are the beliefs that salvation through Jesus Christ includes liberation from not only death and eternal damnation but also poverty, sickness, and other ills. Adherents believe that God wants believers to be richly blessed in this life and that physical well-being and material riches are always God’s will for the faithful. Illness and poverty are seen as curses that, through atonement, can be broken with faith in Jesus."

Kate Bowler believed in the prosperity gospel, even specializing in its study throughout her post-secondary education. It was simple - you did things right, you prayed right, you donated to the church in the right amount, and God provided you with everything you wanted or needed to have a good life.

And then Bowler was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer and everything changed.

Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I've Loved is Bowler's exploration of her faith in the light of her diagnosis and her weakening view of the prosperity gospel's theology. She knows she didn't do anything to deserve getting cancer and it turned her faith on its head.

Once you get reading this book, you won't be able to put it down. Using honesty and humour, "dark and wise", Bowler delves into her life using wonderfully written stories about her friends, family, doctors, and the mega-churches that she has studied.

My favorite part is the appendix titled "Absolutely Never Say This To People Experiencing Terrible Times" as Bowler humourously gives advice about what not to say to people during rough times. For example, " 'It's going to get better. I promise.' Well, fairy godmother, that's going to be a tough row to hoe when things go badly."