Mike's Meanderings and Musings

Let’s take a moment to think on all those sermons that ridicule the Greek gods, those anthropomorphic beings that play chess with human lives.  Now lets celebrate that the Christian God is nothing like that.

But wait…

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? ¹⁰Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.” -Job 1:6-12

In this passage, God seems to have some kind of debate going on with Satan, though the nature of the debate is not stated.  In order to bolster his case, God offers up Job as an example of a god-fearing individual.  When Satan offers his counter argument, God basically gives him free reign to do anything to Job except kill him.  All to win an argument?  I thought that God didn’t play chess with human life for his own purposes.

For the reasons above, I find Job to be an extremely problematic book.  What are we to do with a God who trivializes human life in this manner?  This conundrum is furthered when one considers the massive loss of life that the story represents in a culture that did not believe in the after life.  How many people will God allow to die to make his point?  And to what extent must Job suffer?  Rather than offering a tenable answer to the question of theodicy, I can’t help but think that the book of Job actually furthers the problem.

Suffice it to say that I struggle greatly with God as he is pictured in Job.  I’m simply not sure what to do with a God who would trivialize human life in this manner.

~ by mikesmith on September 29, 2009.