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Arguments against retribution
Challenges in life
Challenges in life
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The book of Job provides a vivid illustration of the theology of suffering. In the beginning of the book, Job’s blessings are apparent. He possesses a large family, good health, many servants, flocks of multiple species of livestock, and is considered the greatest of all men in the East (Job 1.13). Job is not only cover story material for “Progressive Farmer” and “Fortune” magazines, he is more importantly a godly man, “blameless, upright, fearing God and turning from evil” (Job 1.1). In rapid succession, however, Job experiences numerous calamities. His livestock, servants, and children die, disease ravages his health, and his friends and wife become discouragers. Job wrongly believes in the retribution principle: “If a person is righteous, he will prosper; if a person is wicked, he will suffer.” The tremendous grief, loss, heartbreak, and discouragement cause Job to question his faith.
Believers and non-believers alike are often challenged by circumstances in their lives and pose the same question as Harold S. Kushner’s writing of the New York Times bestseller, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” While the author’s definition of the word “good” may vary greatly from the truthful standard expressed in the Bible, the book’s popularity indicates that many people are perplexed, disappointed, and bitter because they believe that bad things happen to them undeservedly. Rather than being unfair, God’s Holy Word shows His sovereignty and provides the guidance required to accept the theology of suffering. A study of Job enables believers to understand God’s sovereignty so that they may be perfected in faith, allow their circumstances to bring glory to God, and offer hope and encouragement to believers of later generations.
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...trusting God’s sovereignty, believers glorify God and encourage others in ways that bring glory to God, as well.
Works Cited
Draper, Charles W., Chad Brand, and Archie England, eds. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Revised ed. Wheaton, Ill.: Holman Reference, 2003.
Green, William Henry. The Argument of the Book of Job Unfolded. Reprint Edition ed. Charleston, SC: James & Klock, 1977.
Hill, Andrew E., and John H. Walton. A Survey of the Old Testament. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2009.
Kushner, Harold S. When Bad Things Happen to Good People. New York: Avon, 1983.
MacArthur, John. Standing Strong: How to Resist the Enemy of Your Soul. 2nd ed. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2006.
Ryrie, Charles, ed. Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update. Expanded ed. Chicago: The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, 1995.
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
After reviewing the work of David Hume, the idea of a God existing in a world filled with so much pain and suffering is not so hard to understand. Humes’ work highlights some interesting points which allowed me to reach the conclusion that suffering is perhaps a part of God’s divine plan for humans. Our morals and values allow us to operate and live our daily lives in conjunction with a set of standards that help us to better understand our world around us and essentially allows us to better prepare for the potential life after life. For each and every day we get closer to our impending deaths and possibly closer to meeting the grand orchestrator of our universe.
The Book of Job is one of the three books in the Hebrew bible whose genre is described as wisdom literature.1 Certainly the Book of Job satisfies the literary conventions that qualify a biblical book for such status. 2 Yet Job may be associated with wisdom in a much more literal sense. The Book of Job attempts to deal with a problematic question that confronts suffering humanity: why do bad things happen to good people? The variety and vehemence of commentators' contemporary responses to this chapter of the Bible is testament to the continued relevance of the Book of Job's wisdom thousands of years after it was written. Although the commentators examined herein arrive at differing and sometimes conflicting conclusions after reading the story of "the holy Arab"3, none are left indifferent.
...yne A. The HarperCollins Study Bible New Revised Standard Edition . New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. 1645-1722. Print.
It is easy to place the blame on fate or God when one is encumbered by suffering. It is much harder to find meaning in that pain, and harvest it into motivation to move forward and grow from the grief. It is imperative for one to understand one’s suffering as a gateway to new wisdom and development; for without suffering, people cannot find true value in happiness nor can they find actual meaning to their lives. In both Antigone and The Holy Bible there are a plethora of instances that give light to the quintessential role suffering plays in defining life across cultures. The Holy Bible and Sophocles’ Antigone both mirror the dichotomous reality in which society is situated, underlining the necessity of both joy and suffering in the world.
These arguments made by Berish and Job boil down to the question the theodicy, “why do good people suffer? Where is God in all this? Where is justice” (Fox 173). Elie Wiesel provides an answer that parallels once again with the book of Job. Embodied in the character of Sam, who claims that suffering is, “all because of our sins” (Wiesel 134). Similarly Jobs friends give a similar answer to the theodicy question by saying, “Think now, who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same” (Job 4:7). The answer to the theodicy question in t The Trial of God is that suffering occurs because of the sins committed by individuals.
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition Bible. Eds. Dom Bernand Orchard, Rev. R. V. Fuller. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1966. Print.
The Book of Job shows a change in God's attitude from the beginning to the end. At the beginning of the book, He is presented as Job's protector and defender. At the end He appears as the supreme being lecturing and preaching to Job with hostility, despite the fact that Job never cursed his name, and never did anything wrong. Job's only question was why God had beseeched this terrible disease on him. I intend to analyze and discuss the different roles God played in the Book of Job.
Sittser, G. L. (2004). A grace disguised: how the soul grows through loss (Expanded ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan.
The concept of suffering plays an important role in Christianity, regarding such matters as moral conduct, spiritual advancement and ultimate destiny. Indeed an emphasis on suffering pervades the Gospel of Mark where, it can be argued, we are shown how to "journey through suffering" (Ditzel 2001) in the image of the "Suffering Son of Man" (Mark 8:32), Jesus Christ. Although theologians have suggested that Mark was written to strengthen the resolve of the early Christian community (Halpern 2002, Mayerfeld 2005), the underlying moral is not lost on a modern reader grappling with multifarious challenges regarding faith in the face of suffering. In his article "A Christian Response to Suffering", William Marravee (1987) describes suffering as an "experience over which we men and women continue to stumble and fall". The way we view God is crucial to the way we view suffering according to Marravee, who delineates the disparity between a view of God as an ‘outsider’ and the biblical image of God – where God is an ‘insider’ who suffers with us in our struggle. This essay seeks to explain the Christian view of suffering and the purpose suffering can have in our lives.
LaSor, W., Hubbard, D., Bush, F., & Allen, L. (1996). Old Testament survey: The message, form, and background of the Old Testament (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans
Unger, Merrill F. The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Ed. R. K. Harrison, Howard F. Vos, and Cyril J. Barber. Chicago: Moody, 1988. Print.
Ask anyone above the age of sixteen years old, to describe how life is as a whole. They will describe life as a rollercoaster. A mix of highs and lows; times of joys and sadness; laughter and tears. In the first book of the Bible, Job, we discover something remarkable about suffering and the heart of God. God uses suffering to better our personal relationship with Him. Suffering is a mean God uses to build our character so we get closer to what Jesus is – perfection.
Life is difficult. "Suffering...is not an exception to the human condition, it is the human condition" (Gomes 405). The question of why life can be unjustly cruel is asked today and has been asked since the beginning of time.
Collins, John J. A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007.