Life: What to say when bad things happen to good people? Part I

With my recent reading and writing about Job, I've been pondering that age old question.

The "academic" part of the formulation is actually quite straightforward:
If God is
(1) all good
(2) all powerful
(3) all knowing
yet (4) evil and suffering exists
then therefore God is not (1), (2) or (3) or some combination thereof.

As a lay person, I know that the traditional response has been the invoking of Free Will.

Christian theism could not survive (and who would want that kind of god anyway?) the repeal of point #1.

I haven't read Rabbi Kushner's famous book on the subject. However, from what I'm told, he concedes point #2.

Recently, there has been a movement called Open Theism within Christianity that gives ground on point #3.

I don't know to what extent I'm willing to wade into this theological swamp.

But I want to go back to the original question, regardless of one's theological framework, what do you say to someone who is in Job's shoes?

Nick over at Reflecting had to answer that question as part of a class paper. I'm sure he has, as a part of being in ministry, had to deal with that situation in one form or another and certainly will in the future. The assignment took the form of writing a letter to a mother who has lost her child after a short and painful life of 18 months.

Be sure to check it out and see what you think.

My reaction was that the pastoral, human and emotional connection is very strong in the letter. The theological aspects (citations of Open Theism authors) are controversial and complex and I'm not in a place to offer any discussion on that aspect as I'm still in progress in developing my thinking.

I will say that my exposure to thinking on this subject has been influenced by Christian journalist and author, Philip Yancey, in his book, Disappointment With God. His writings do have an open theism tint though I don't recall Yancey using those exact words.

What do you all think?

UPDATE: As a blogger, this space is where I often work out my thinking and feelings about things. Am going to take a crack at writing a letter much as Nick has though I'd be writing from the perspective of an ordinary follower of Jesus who is sitting in the pews trying to offer some thoughts to another believer. And I'll try to write an essay on a conceptual level as well. As those go live, I'll put in links here.

UPDATE: Part II of this post is up.