How Cancer Challenged Theologian Kate Bowler's Relationship With God | Amanpour and Company

Michel Martin sits down with Kate Bowler, whose relationship with God faced one of its biggest tests when she was diagnosed with cancer. That struggle is all detailed in her new memoir, “Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved.”
Originally aired on February 19, 2019.
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Amanpour and Company features wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with global thought leaders and cultural influencers on the issues and trends impacting the world each day, from politics, business and technology to arts, science and sports. Christiane Amanpour leads the conversation on global and domestic news from London with contributions by prominent journalists Walter Isaacson, Michel Martin, Alicia Menendez and Hari Sreenivasan from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center in New York City.
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[@lesablackwell6592]

So glad I found this interview. Once again, Michel Martin has shown her gifts for getting to the heart of her topic. I love the intimacy and sincerity of it! And, Kate Bowler is a wonderful teacher to us all!

[@protitikhan3861]

Kate was destined for greatness. We knew it when she delivered her valedictorians speech in high school. Cancer didn't take away from her greatness nor her capacity for vulnerability and honesty. But her experience with cancer has brought out more of her greatness because of her ability to empathize and articulate the human experience through the lens of her faith. It's impossible not to love her because she shows you her heart without hesitation and when you see it you know it is filled with love. I miss you buddy. For me, you're still behind the plexiglass.

[@fionabattrum7071]

The world of the healthy and the world of the sick. Two different universes. I personally think that fear ( the opposite of love ) is what prevents the healthy from seeing themselves in people and being at one with those who are living with chronic sickness . It could be such a gift for us to show each love , recognise our interdependency and connect so deeply but sadly that’s just not how it works currently. I think Kate is beautiful , humble and honest ,a novel and powerful voice and for me she has birthed the the beginning of a totally unique new theology of suffering. As someone who has been disconnected and lonely due to the impact of long term illness not understood by others due to their fear and defence mechanisms I am delighted to hear her opinion . Please Proff Kate keep it coming x

[@crystalbernard9488]

Just wonderful! How Kate articulates a life situation that none of us can fully understand unless we have been through it ourselves. The fact that life goes on all around us just like before except now when one's time on earth is uncertain, nothing seems like it did before, certainly never again "care free". Yet she has been able to create a quality of life for herself within the horror. So intense, so amazing.

[@megcormack681]

I am very grateful for this channel ~ we are surrounded by “noise” all day ~ this is worth listening to. Thank you

[@audraeden8923]

There’s a certain poetry in illness, a story trying to get out. Pain needs a voice. Turn Kate’s infectious enthusiasm back to her. Send illness away, send it packing, slam the door. Receive the prayer, Kate. We are with you. Receive.

[@sarahjeffery9318]

Thankyou

[@bartonjahn]

A wonderful human being…one positive out of this is that she has more to give in every theater of her life…comes at a cost…but maybe that is one of the take-always.

[@katherandefy]

Oh man... lady, I went through this too. And I’ve never been able go back.

[@jeffcampbell1555]

Humankind's religions exist to provide certainty to a species that agonizes over uncertainty. Faith, however, can expose the illusion of certainty. Given that we are locked within our bodies, its natural to view ourselves as the centers of all we observe and therefore special. Faith allows us to grow beyond this egocentric view to recognize that every gift of life includes the probability of suffering, which can be seen as affliction rather than punishment. It follows that compassion is the right response to all suffering, including our own. We're not some kind of teacher's pet of the divine, protected by God from suffering because we praise Him and follow ritual perfectly; He loves the least among us as well as the intensely religious. I believe we're tools of the divine. God neither wills nor allows bad things to happen to us. I believe God wants each of us to understand suffering is simply part of being in a body, and uncertainty is incidental to consciousness. I believe success is accepting uncertainty, appreciating every day, and recognizing love, kindness and generosity are the foundations of our own happiness. Its not the winning of certainty in a religious strategy game. Nor is it the achievement of well-being through adherence to an esoteric code or process. Those kinds of success prove susceptible to transmissible infections, pink slips and drunk drivers, I'm afraid.

[@Cilonna]

Thanks, your explanation really helped.

[@jeffcampbell1555]

@@Cilonna Thank you so much. I'm glad.

[@lw6138]

So, a "theologian" struggles with the sovereignty of God? I'm confused. The Bible would never give the impression that our lives will be what we planned. I am deeply sorry for her distress, but her understanding of the Gospel is obviously limited.

[@Naynamesnaylabeljustaga]

Wait.. first off.. WHO ever Said WE Need To Have a REASON...sufferings are Sufferings irregardless of whether we Deserve it OR Not.. and IT is Only Through those Sufferings that we Feel A Certain Divine LOVE like No Other. Who Are We To Say That JESUS Deserved The Scornings..that he Deserved Everything HE HAD gone through ....IF Christ' was the sacrifice for Our Salvations, what Are WE...You and I to Sacrifice for Christ?

[@jamesferren4892]

I know some people in prosperity gospel. Word of faith and what not. I habe realized some of them dont want God, they want money and their best life now, so they bealive those lies. Others just want that Father figure, a protector that will never let them be sick or suffer, because He loves them. Neither one is right. And answers dont change what made you look for them in the first place. I have seen christians more devoted than I ever was, who lost half of their family, who went trough some serious damage in life and love Jesus more than ever. You cant denny that there is something in their eyes, you cant explain it, but its there. Suffering is a part of life, night and day both have their say. suffering is not a bad thing, tho it might bring a lot of bad things to cause it. But suffering becomes something to face, when before it was something to run from. A christian that cannot see beauty in suffering is a poor christian. After all our mission is this: Love your God, love others, and work for God to be used in any way for the sake of saving souls. Take her for example, she has brought many people out of prosperity gospel am sure, cancer is... She has a lot of pain thats for sure, but our best lifes are not now, neither is God all about good life now, our reward is jet to be brought to us, while we are here we are to bring reward to others. Reward for listening to us preach the Gospel to them. And that reward is eternal life.