The great paradox of the Book of Job, that Old Testament Biblical character that God allegedly allows the devil to torment to almost no end, is that Job's friends all show up to pontificate about the reason for Job's sufferings, which no doubt only adds to his sufferings.
For Job's friends, having studied their sacred scriptures as their religion requires, it is perfectly clear as to why he is suffering: Job is suffering because he has displeased God in some way.
This, of course, is the very reasoning Christians give for basically all of the suffering in the world, especially their own, going all the way back to Adam and Eve. It is also why Jesus had to "suffer" for all of our sins.
But when Job asks God directly as to why God is allowing him to suffer so, God deliberately responds with a vague answer, as if annoyed with Job for having the audacity to question God in the first place. God wants Job to love Him, in other words, but doesn't want Job to ask any questions about why God is allowing him to be tortured by His nemesis the devil.
"Where you around when I laid the foundations of the world?", God asks Job, as if God wants to put Job in his place for daring to ask questions like a child (which Jesus says God wants us all to be, by the way).
Ultimately, God does not answer Job's questions. While Christians see this as somehow affirming their faith, the atheist sees this as proof that praying to God for answers is pointless.
The paradox, then, is why the hell would God write a book to communicate his divine will or plan to humanity, whom he loved so much he sent his only son to die for, that includes a story that shows how God never gives us a straight answer to a simple question?
If we reverse Job and God in the story of Job, where humanity is causing God to suffer instead, then Job asking God "why" is like God asking humanity why. And in the same way God responds to Job's question by focusing on knowledge Job knows nothing about, so humanity could simply reply in kind, that it causes God to suffer because like Job, we have no knowledge of the things God tells Job he has no knowledge of.
And to all of this, God's only response, uttered through all of his religions across time, is simple "believe."
In short, the Bible is a book about suffering and the crucifixion of Jesus, that includes a story that illustrates that God does not answer simple questions from humans about the meaning of suffering, or pretty much anything else.
The Bible, in other words, is the written word of God that communicates God's will with only as much ambiguity as is possible for only a perfect God to communicate, but one that must be understood clearly by imperfect humans to save themselves from eternal damnation. And according to the book of Job, the same God who wants everyone to be completely dependent upon him for everything, also refuses to provide humans with a clear, direct answer to some of life's simplest questions.
Yeah, that make's perfect sense.
For Job's friends, having studied their sacred scriptures as their religion requires, it is perfectly clear as to why he is suffering: Job is suffering because he has displeased God in some way.
This, of course, is the very reasoning Christians give for basically all of the suffering in the world, especially their own, going all the way back to Adam and Eve. It is also why Jesus had to "suffer" for all of our sins.
But when Job asks God directly as to why God is allowing him to suffer so, God deliberately responds with a vague answer, as if annoyed with Job for having the audacity to question God in the first place. God wants Job to love Him, in other words, but doesn't want Job to ask any questions about why God is allowing him to be tortured by His nemesis the devil.
"Where you around when I laid the foundations of the world?", God asks Job, as if God wants to put Job in his place for daring to ask questions like a child (which Jesus says God wants us all to be, by the way).
Ultimately, God does not answer Job's questions. While Christians see this as somehow affirming their faith, the atheist sees this as proof that praying to God for answers is pointless.
The paradox, then, is why the hell would God write a book to communicate his divine will or plan to humanity, whom he loved so much he sent his only son to die for, that includes a story that shows how God never gives us a straight answer to a simple question?
If we reverse Job and God in the story of Job, where humanity is causing God to suffer instead, then Job asking God "why" is like God asking humanity why. And in the same way God responds to Job's question by focusing on knowledge Job knows nothing about, so humanity could simply reply in kind, that it causes God to suffer because like Job, we have no knowledge of the things God tells Job he has no knowledge of.
And to all of this, God's only response, uttered through all of his religions across time, is simple "believe."
In short, the Bible is a book about suffering and the crucifixion of Jesus, that includes a story that illustrates that God does not answer simple questions from humans about the meaning of suffering, or pretty much anything else.
The Bible, in other words, is the written word of God that communicates God's will with only as much ambiguity as is possible for only a perfect God to communicate, but one that must be understood clearly by imperfect humans to save themselves from eternal damnation. And according to the book of Job, the same God who wants everyone to be completely dependent upon him for everything, also refuses to provide humans with a clear, direct answer to some of life's simplest questions.
Yeah, that make's perfect sense.
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