Should We Fire God?: Finding Hope in God When We Don't Understand

Written by Jim Pace

Narrated by Jim Pace

When the worst school shooting in history occurred, Pastor Jim Pace, a Virginia Tech alumnus, was front and center. Media, students, church members, and strangers asked him the same question: If God is loving, why doesn't He stop disasters before they start? Should We Fire God? is Jim's thoughtful, reasoned response to the idea that God isn't doing His job very well. In conversational, nonpreachy prose, Jim explains why God allows pain and devastation to occur--and what the consequences would be if He didn't.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oasis Audio
• Release date: Apr 8, 2010
• ISBN: 9781608146741

Reviews for Should We Fire God?

[brknhrt_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jim Pace tackles the subject of tragedies and why God allows them to happen. I liked very much the chapter on God’s protection because it explained what it means and especially what it doesn’t mean. I did have a problem figuring out what the author believes about Jesus. He clearly states that his is not a Christian, because the term “Christian” has baggage. He says that he is a follower of “Jesus of Nazareth”. Does that mean that he is a follower of the historic Jesus, but not a follower of Jesus Christ, the Son of God? This is actually the second book I have read by an author that makes this peculiar claim.I was never quite sure what target audience the author had in mind. The book is written with youth-speak language so I thought the audience was young teens, but then other chapters had advice on raising children. There seemed to be a lack of cohesion and flow from chapter to chapter.Aside from the problems, Should We Fire God does a good job dealing with very difficult subjects. Jim Pace uses his very personal experiences and insights to help those in heartbreaking situations.

[jpogue_6 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Using Seung-hui Cho’s 2007 senseless killing spree at Virginia Tech as a backdrop, Jim Pace’s debut as an author taps into our inevitable questions when faced with evil and its fall-out: Where is God in this? How can a loving God allow such tragedies and heartache? Have we been abandoned? In “Should We Fire God?” Pace courageously faces these and countless other tough questions, three years after his first-hand experience as a “God’s press secretary” in the Virginia Tech shootings. As co-pastor of a church in Blacksburg, Virginia, Pace was one of the first people Larry King called during the media frenzy following the shootings. In Pace’s words King’s people wanted “a spokesman for a God who didn’t look as if [H]e had handled things very well that day.”While this author repeatedly admits he can’t answer most of those tough questions, he does offer a huge dose of biblical encouragement and hope to those struggling through tragic adversity. In Part II, “Judging God”, Pace gives his readers a taste of God’s loving heart towards His children, always yearning for relationship with us. Relationship with our Creator, Pace argues, is imminently more important than our comfort. And in the chapter “A Terrible Risk”, Pace provides one of the clearest descriptions of Jesus’ incarnation and His work on Earth I’ve ever read. He also aptly expresses free will and its ramifications in God’s ultimate plan: “[H]e would provide a way to be reunited, but [H]e would not make that reunion a requirement. He would need to, by definition, make that reunion rejectable (sic).” The final part of “Should We Fire God?” examines our search for God and His goodness. We are looking only for a God, Pace contends, “who looks like us and makes sense to us.” Such a search, he continues, leads us to miss “the great adventure of reconnecting…with a God too big for us to create by our own devices, and too different from what we would expect to be easily found.”“Should We Fire God?” would be an incredible encouragement to anyone trying to make sense of a God we often do not understand. Each chapter ends with a series of “Questions for Reflection and Discussion”, making it a great choice for small groups as well. In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre, Pace still doesn’t claim to have all the answers. He confidently says, however, “Until God deals with evil permanently, at least we know [H]e is in this mess with us. He hasn’t walled [H]imself off from us or the consequences of being connected with us.”

[tmtrvlr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jim Pace tackles the subject of tragedies and why God allows them to happen. I liked very much the chapter on God’s protection because it explained what it means and especially what it doesn’t mean. I did have a problem figuring out what the author believes about Jesus. He clearly states that his is not a Christian, because the term “Christian” has baggage. He says that he is a follower of “Jesus of Nazareth”. Does that mean that he is a follower of the historic Jesus, but not a follower of Jesus Christ, the Son of God? This is actually the second book I have read by an author that makes this peculiar claim.I was never quite sure what target audience the author had in mind. The book is written with youth-speak language so I thought the audience was young teens, but then other chapters had advice on raising children. There seemed to be a lack of cohesion and flow from chapter to chapter.Aside from the problems, Should We Fire God does a good job dealing with very difficult subjects. Jim Pace uses his very personal experiences and insights to help those in heartbreaking situations.