The portrayal of god in Job
Humans tend to believe that every event, no matter how tragic, happens for a reason. If something tragic happens to someone, that person must have done something immoral to deserve it. Moreover, if things are going well for a person, they must be an honest person with good morals and ethics. However, this is not always true. Bad things can happen to good people. In the story of Job, numerous tragedies occur in Job's life. Although Job is an honest person, he endures suffering throughout the story. At the beginning of the story, Job was extremely wealthy. He had many servants and owned thousands of sheep, camels, oxen, and donkeys. Job also had a family consisting of seven sons and three daughters. He was an honest man described as: "...blameless and upright, one who feared god and turned away from evil" (Job 1.1). However, Satan states that Job is an honest person only because God gave him everything and blessed his work. Satan believed if Job experienced pain and suffering, he would "curse God to his face" (Job 1.11). God disagrees with Satan and claims that Job is a good person, and would not sin even if he experienced suffering. Satan is then granted the power to destroy Job's possessions and make
The Lord responds to Job by telling him how powerful he is, and how much responsibility he possesses. God then asks Job if he would like to have that tremendous amount of work and responsibility. The Lord tells Job that he is small and insignificant, compared to the rest of the world. Job is not very important in the grand scheme of things. God seems to make the decision concerning Job's life very quickly and without much thought. He callously decides to let a good person suffer. The Lord is portrayed as indifferent and cold for allowing the terrible misfortunes to happen to Job. He does not seem to care about humankind. However, it was a very difficult Catch-22 position for God. If the Lord refused, it would appear that he feared that Satan's accusations were correct. When God accepts the wager, he appears to be heartless. The Lord was in a no win situation. It is a very difficult situation when a loved one experiences unjustified or undeserved suffering. Humans would like to believe that everything happens for a reason. However, the Lord works in mysterious ways, and horrible tragedies can happen to honest people. This is the second time in the story that God is portrayed as heartless and indifferent to the suffering of humankind. However, th
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Approximate Word count = 871
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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