Why does God feel the need to one-up Satan? Suggests insecurity to me. I would think the almighty God of the universe would just say, "Who cares what you think. Nobody invited you here anyway. Now bugger off." Doesn't make God look very good to me.
The next disturbing thing is that this story suggests God gives Satan, and presumably other fallen angels (demons), permission to screw with our lives - destroy our property, kill people we love, give us disease, etc. I guess God can do what he wants, but it kinda sucks for us. Especially because Satan is invisible to us and we can't even see that it was him that did it. Job never knew it was Satan that did all this stuff to him. Indeed, Job and his friends spend a tedious amount of the book wondering back and forth what he did to deserve the misery he was in. So we're just left wondering if it was God directly, random chance, bad luck, consequence of sin, or maybe interference by invisible evil gremlins.
Then there's the whole issue of God treating Job like a lab rat. "Hmm, let's see what happens to a good person if we torture him to the point of death." Again, I guess God can do whatever he wants, but again it doesn't make him look good. And while God didn't do all of these awful things to Job directly, he knew what Satan was going to do and he allowed it. The story implies that Satan wasn't allowed to do bad things to Job until God gave him the go-ahead. So to me it's just as if God hurt Job himself.
Whether the story of Job is literally true or just an allegory, it's included in the canon of the Bible to make a point. I just don't think it makes a good one.
I realize I'm very cynical. I'd love to hear some positive spin on this book if you've got it.
I can't help but agree with you on most of this. There is always the question of why bad things happen to good people. Is it because the good people are part of an experiment? I can't ehlp thinking that if it were me instead of Job, it would be very difficult indeed to praise God and remain positive.
ReplyDeleteThe Book of Job does make one wonder about the goodness of God. There seems to be a disconnect between this book and the NT. What would Jesus do? Would He allow Satan to mess with our lives? Or would He stand in our stead and offer his own life to Satan for ransom? Wait, didn't he do something like that? Maybe we put too much thought into OT books. I don't know
ReplyDeleteYour Dad says that the answer to your question may lie in chapter 38 where God answers Job. "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding." I guess we tend to think our American Christianity supersedes God, that according to the book, Radical.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, God is not showing off for Satan, but sharing a lesson for all mankind. The book of Job is in the Bible for us, not for Satan. Ask Job now, if he regrets going through what God put him through? Job went through a very hard experience. But through it, Job learned from it, and came out richer, happier and with a better understanding of his relationship with God. It shows regardless of how Satan attacks, whether or not Job understood what he was going through at the time, God turned it into a blessing for Job and the rest of mankind.
ReplyDeleteJob kept making regular sacrifices for his children in case they may have sinned. Job made sure to have right actions. But God taught us that it is not by our good actions that we are loved and rewarded. Regardless of what's thrown at us, we can always make a choice to keep faith in God, regardless of our own lack of understanding. Our only action we must take is to make a decision to keep faith and accept his word that he will make all things work together for good.