PainefulTruth
Romantic Cynic
"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name [was] Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." Job 1:1
"Perfect"? No authorship is claimed or implied, including God or Job. It’s the first indication that Job is a parable.
But then the author has Job getting frustrated: "If only someone would listen to me! Look, I will sign my name to my defense. Let the Almighty answer me. Let my accuser write out the charges against me." Job 31:35
But there are no charges, leaving Job with his frustration and his unanswered question, Why?
Job is perhaps the most enigmatic book in the Bible. Some deists claim that it's the most deist book in the Bible, but I think it was written as an apologetic for revealed Judaism in answer to that very question religious leaders most often hear, Why?
Revealed religions, by that very act of revelation, are unable to consider the possibility that God must not interact; and it isn't that God can't, it's that God MUST not—again due to free will. Consider The Book of Life. If there were such a book where our names are written from the foundation of the world, then we were all either damned or saved from the beginning. What, then, would be the point or meaning of our mortal lives--for God or ourselves? Why would God go to all that trouble to create the universe, and put us through all these trials and tribulations if our choices are preordained? The Book of Life can only be a human forgery.
To make a very long story short, Job refuses the advice of friends and his wife to curse God, choosing instead to sue God, forcing God to make an appearance. His evidence is many oaths as to his (parabilistic) perfection as a human. God does make an appearance in a whirlwind, but instead of answering Job, God sarcastically asks: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell [Me], if you have understanding."....Job 38:1 & 4
IOW, the author is having God say, “who are you, any of you, to ask that question of ME?” The author, as is anyone who’s advocating for the existence of an interactive, personal God, has no answer. But there is an obvious answer—free will, so that the choices we make are truly our own, but that necessitates God’s non-intervention. That's why.
This is clearly a human parable, which is further accentuated by the fact that not only is Job's wealth and status replaced, but he gets a new set of children, like so much chattel. Although Job doesn't get the answer he was suing for, his being wronged is apparently righted. It's tantamount to a divine admission of guilt.
God? Guilty??? What’s really going on here!
"Perfect"? No authorship is claimed or implied, including God or Job. It’s the first indication that Job is a parable.
But then the author has Job getting frustrated: "If only someone would listen to me! Look, I will sign my name to my defense. Let the Almighty answer me. Let my accuser write out the charges against me." Job 31:35
But there are no charges, leaving Job with his frustration and his unanswered question, Why?
Job is perhaps the most enigmatic book in the Bible. Some deists claim that it's the most deist book in the Bible, but I think it was written as an apologetic for revealed Judaism in answer to that very question religious leaders most often hear, Why?
Revealed religions, by that very act of revelation, are unable to consider the possibility that God must not interact; and it isn't that God can't, it's that God MUST not—again due to free will. Consider The Book of Life. If there were such a book where our names are written from the foundation of the world, then we were all either damned or saved from the beginning. What, then, would be the point or meaning of our mortal lives--for God or ourselves? Why would God go to all that trouble to create the universe, and put us through all these trials and tribulations if our choices are preordained? The Book of Life can only be a human forgery.
To make a very long story short, Job refuses the advice of friends and his wife to curse God, choosing instead to sue God, forcing God to make an appearance. His evidence is many oaths as to his (parabilistic) perfection as a human. God does make an appearance in a whirlwind, but instead of answering Job, God sarcastically asks: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell [Me], if you have understanding."....Job 38:1 & 4
IOW, the author is having God say, “who are you, any of you, to ask that question of ME?” The author, as is anyone who’s advocating for the existence of an interactive, personal God, has no answer. But there is an obvious answer—free will, so that the choices we make are truly our own, but that necessitates God’s non-intervention. That's why.
This is clearly a human parable, which is further accentuated by the fact that not only is Job's wealth and status replaced, but he gets a new set of children, like so much chattel. Although Job doesn't get the answer he was suing for, his being wronged is apparently righted. It's tantamount to a divine admission of guilt.
God? Guilty??? What’s really going on here!
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