What would you do if you were faced with a contradiction of all you believed? In the biblical story of Job, a devote man by the name of Job is challenged in this manner. God and the Devil were having a conversation, the Devil began taunting God about his faithful. He claimed that they only praised him because they received good things and that the moment their luck turned sour they would renounce him. God knows this to be false, so he gives the Devil permission to torment one of his most faithful servants, Job. Once given free range over Jobs’s life, the Devil causes Job to lose all his wealth and children. However, despite these odds, Job never once loses faith in God. This story has empirical societal influence, as it provides an example of standing up for one’s principles, and as the source of this story is a theological text, it acts as a paragon of faith. Moreover, it promotes a philosophy that prioritizes spiritualism over materialism. …show more content…
Job was of the old Jewish religion, which preached that what you deserved would be delivered in this life and that if something bad happened to you, it was by your own fault. Therefore, when Job lost his riches and his family, the natural assumption was that he had done something to deserve it. However, since Job had been nothing but devote throughout his life, many people told him to abandon his God, as he was evidently not rewarding him for his faith. Despite all this, Job stood up for his beliefs and searched his heart and soul fervently to find out where he went wrong in the eyes of
Instead of encouraging him and speaking the truths of the Lord, they blame and discourage him, assuming that everything that is happening to him is due to his own fault. This verse’s significance also rises from the fact that it reveals that Job only needs and only relies on the Lord. Even though his own friends turn against him and falsely accuse him, Job’s faith is not shaken and he continues to seek the Lord. This fact shows Job to be faithful, perseverant, and dedicated to his Father. Job knows that the wicked, perhaps including his friends, are “reserved for the day of calamity…and…will be led forth at
I concurred with Job! I was not denying his existence, but I doubted his absolute justice.” (45) With this statement Eliezer is displaying that he still holds the belief in God, but chooses to keep his silence just as Job did when everything was taken from him. He cannot comprehend how a self-proclaimed God of “justice” can allow for such a monstrosity to occur, but he still believes in God’s existence. Towards the end of Night, Eliezer realizes family members have abandoned each other for a greater chance at survival and mentions “this God in whom I no longer believed.”
He still refers to Him as Almighty and recognizes His presence. Yet, he does question His righteousness and care for the Jewish people, when he questions why He would stay silent and why his fellow prisoners would worship Him. He explains his position, saying that “I had ceased to pray. I concurred with Job! I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice” (45).
In my opinion, both Job and Odysseus were two of the most courageous upstanding men that I had ever seen. Job did whatever he could to keep his faith in God and at the same time, Job’s family was very important to him as well. No matter what test and tribulations that Job endured and went through, he refused to let anyone or anything get in the way of him and his faithfulness that he had for the lord. Job was chosen as a subject of a stern test of confidence, since he was undeniably the best man of confidence alive. God announced that Job’s loyalty and faith was in fact genuine.
In a place completely surrounded by death and destruction, one’s sanity can shatter. In order to keep on going, people may take consolation in the conviction that their lives are guided by an immortal design or purpose, giving them the fortitude to endure and continue. When faced with hopelessness, people may seek consolation in their faith's teachings and values, to make sense of their circumstances. Continuing these practices is holding on to a point in their lives where they were not under these circumstances. The belief in God is the one remaining constant in their lives when everything they hold dear was taken away from them.
As for me, I had ceased to pray. I concurred with Job! I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice. ”(45). In the book you see other Jews experience a similar loss of faith.
The Book of Job provides an example of how people should praise God by illustrating a blameless, responsible, and fearing man who will always turn away from evil. Therefore, this book presents the same man tortured by outside forces lacking the possibility to acquire help from family and friends. Throughout the reading in particular (14:11) demonstrates how there was a moment of weakness in which Job fails and ask for his death, but after all, he did not commit sin and endured waiting for his torment to banish. In addition, the book reveals how men turned against a man in need and instead judged him without understanding the sources causing his disgrace. However, the book provides a comparison in how humans behave by providing vivid examples of characters who showed behaviors illustrating how humanity functions.
Faith is a relative concept to many people. Whether they see it as simply an action to participate in or a way of life, it dictates what they do. Through various literary devices, Meditation 17 by John Donne, How I Found Religion at a Baseball Game by Robert Fink, and An American Childhood by Annie Dillard all effect the reader and makes them think deeply about what the author is saying while utilizing various methods to do so. One similar aspect of the three essays is the author’s idea and opinion of God. Their views of God and their faith may have been different, but the main idea and concept of God remains the same.
To end the story a thunderstorm rolls in and Prometheus is left chained to the rock. The Book of Job is a story about a man who “feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1, ESV). He was a very wealthy man who had ten children, many livestock, and many servants. Satan speaks to God one day and God gives him permission to test Job’s faith. Satan begins by taking away Job’s children, killing his livestock,
He urgently appeals to Job to get right with God so that he will not be blotted out and eternally remembered by others only as a wicked man whom God judged
Job was a man of faith, he repented for little injustices. He was tested to prove his righteousness and succeeded. His children were killed, his cattle was killed, he was painfully diseased and his was wealth diminished. Through all this he remained faithful. His so called friends told him to abandon God as he had him.
Job and the escaped prisoner do not seek power, but rather wisdom. Even when Job was completely stripped of the wealth he had, he does no shun God immediately as normal people would. By having these wise leaders, then no longer will leaders act for the benefit of themselves, but rather for the better of the
God’s punishments leaves Job with nothing left to his name to the point where he cries out to the heavens, “My closest friends have forgotten me”, (Chapter 19, line 14). In this line, Job is feeling betrayed by his own friends, who blame him for his unfortunate situation. They believe that Job has sinned and should repent so that god will forgive him. Thinking he has done nothing wrong, Job is angered that his friends would accuse him of sinning. His friends abandon him after he refuses to repent, leaving Job to continue his quest for divine justice alone.
This shows humans being regarded as paws and worthless in classical Greek tradition just as Job is. In job’s trial when God has given Satan way, he destroys Job’s life, during the first trial Satan only spares four messenger to report the
Introduction Sometimes it doesn’t seem like God cares. It is easy to get upset at God and blame Him when things don’t go like we think they should. In the lessons that follow, we will examine the life of a man named Joseph. One bad thing after another seems to take place in his life.