I always hear people say what a beautiful story it is, and that Job's faith is so amazing.
Am I the only one who reads a story where God and Satan are playing mind games on an innocent man, doing the most horrible things to Job, taking anything away from him and in the end Job gets 10 new kids. I don't know if you ever lost a child, but replacing children really doesn't work that way.
It's like God and Satan are those 2 muppets on the balcony in this story.
Can anybody explain to me the beauty of this story, because I simply don't get it.
2007-01-11 21:52:30 · 6 answers · asked by ? 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It's inspiring to them because it gives them a good example of someone who believes in the same thing they do, and receives rewards for it... what they don't realize is that Job also had absolutely no intelligence, if that crap really did happen to him.
I agree, it's a horrible story. Gave me a really good reason to distance myself from such a "loving a caring God".
2007-01-11 22:01:27 · answer #1 · answered by Nyara 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The best part of the story is that it challenges the pervasive view that bad things only happen to bad people. Job's "comforters" represent many figures we would recognise in contemporary religion.
It's obviously a very old story - the behaviour of Yahweh and Satan have the ring of much older pagan traditions.
The least satisfying part for me is the end, in which Yahweh rewards Job for his faith. I suspect this was a later addition to the older story, inserted to get God off the hook and defuse the obvious pagan flavour, but as you point out replacing children is a morally vacuous resolution.
2007-01-12 06:22:51 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mark,
Great question. Your friends at Team Satan have come up with the following solution:
1. Go to bookshelf
2. Remove Bible/Qur'an
3. Insert in trashcan
4. Repeat as necessary
5. Remove trashcan to a safe distance from your house
6. Ignite Contents
7. Roast hot dogs, preferably pork
8. Have a beer
Seriously, the best answer is to just put the Bible down. After all, you're right, the spiritual models that you find in there are best avoided.
Your ever well-wisher,
Lazarus
2007-01-12 06:09:33 · answer #3 · answered by The Man Comes Around 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's a beautiful story because it shows how strong this man's faith in God is. By the way I'm fairly certian that Satan was the puppetmaster in this story. Just like he is in today's world.
2007-01-12 05:56:57 · answer #4 · answered by Darktania 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To me, it's a beautiful story because it gives the non-Christians something to point to and say, "If God could be manipulated by Satan like this, why does he punish us for the same mistake? And we're much weaker and more susceptible to suggestion to boot."
2007-01-12 07:07:08 · answer #5 · answered by Phil 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No actually it is the MOST inspiring! Faith continues despite all the hardship and personal tragedies.
2007-01-12 05:57:17 · answer #6 · answered by Boston Bluefish 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋