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Lessons from the Book of Job

 

            "Justifying God,"" is the literal meaning of the word theodicy. If God has control of everything that happens, why does he let such horrible things happen to us? Theodicy is the explanation. I have always had my own explanations for bad things that happen in my life, such as, "this is my punishment for something I've done in the past," "I don't pray as often as I should," or "It was their time," when someone I knew passed away. .
             I believe that God has a reason for everything. "For everything there is a season, and a time for every born matter under heaven" " (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Unfortunately, the Book of Job defies my theodicies. In one of the most well-known books of the Old Testament scripture, Job is described as a "blameless and upright man who fears god and turns away from evil"" (Job 1:8). Satan tells God that the only reason people worship him is because they have everything they need, and to prove his point, Satan wants to punish Job and prove to God that his people will betray him if what he has is taken away. God allows Satan to do so. Knowing that, the book of Job leads us to believe that the theodicy that God has a reason for everything must not be true. Job never did anything wrong, therefore, he did not have anything to be punished for. .
             The text of the bible seems to suggest that God finds Job's innocent suffering amusing, as is a bird on a leash" (Job 41:5). In the beginning, the world was chaotic, but God "destroyed " chaos and brought order, just as he did with the chaos monsters when he "broke the heads of the dragons in the waters"" (Psalms 75:13). "The existence of the chaos monsters reflects Job's innocent suffering; both are evidence of chaos in the world"" (Carvalho 434). But just as he took away the chaos monsters, he can take away the suffering in Job's life. The world is far from perfect, but it is not out of control. In Job 41, God describes that he has control over the chaos monsters, as he does with everything else in the world.


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