Job Suffered While Innocent
Job did not commit any sin that led to his suffering. On the contrary, Jobs suffering came about as God allowed Satan to test his faith. Why did Job have to suffer at all? The same question has been asked throughout the ages after events such as school shootings or natural disasters. Why do innocent people suffer for seemingly no reason? And Job was so greatly afflicted by his problems that he cursed, not God, but the day that he was born.
After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born.
This was not an inconvenience that Job experienced. Life as he knew it was turned upside down and made into something that brought him intense pain. Job represents the truth that innocent people suffer, but by the end of his story also shows that God is in control the entire time. God allowed Satan to attack Job spiritually, emotionally, and physically, but never to the point of death . God remained in control.
Relations With Other Christians
In 1920, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, published an encyclical “addressed ‘To all the Churches of Christ, wherever they may be’, urging closer co-operation among separated Christians, and suggesting a ‘League of Churches’, parallel to the newly founded “. This gesture was instrumental in the foundation of the as such, almost all Eastern Orthodox churches are members of the WCC and “Orthodox ecclesiastics and theologians serve on its committees”., a British metropolitan bishop of the Orthodox Church, has stated that “is important for Orthodoxy: it has helped to force the various Orthodox churches out of their comparative isolation, making them meet one another and enter into a living contact with non-Orthodox Christians.”
The Oriental Orthodox Churches are not in with the Eastern Orthodox Church, despite their similar names. Slow dialogue towards restoring communion between the two churches began in the mid-20th century, and, notably, in the 19th century, when the Greek Patriarch in Egypt had to absent himself from the country for a long period of time he left his church under the guidance of the Coptic .
Notwithstanding certain overtures by both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox leaders, the majority of Orthodox Christians, as well as Catholics, are not in favor of communion between their churches, with only a median of 35 percent and 38 percent, respectively, claiming support.
Not About Good Vs Evil
The book of Job is ancient Israelite wisdom literature, and its purpose isnt to teach us about how Satan and God make bets and leave innocent peoples fates hanging in the balance. Rather, it begins with a typical day in the divine oval office, and the topic of Gods just operation of the cosmos is put on the table. Is it really wise or just for God to reward the righteous? What if it corrupts their motives? It raises the question of whether God should reward all good deeds and punish all bad ones, if he does at all? Is it possible that people could experience horrible pain and not deserve it? Can very selfish, awful people really succeed in Gods good world? If so, what does that tell me about the character and purposes of God? Can I draw conclusions about Gods character based off of my observations of the moral order of the universe? Again, John Walton:
The book of Job introduces us to a man who, by Gods own admission, is blameless and upright and who suffers for no reason . Can such a thing happen in Gods good world? This is the theological and ethical question being explored in the poetic dialogues to follow in Job 3-27.
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Who Wrote The Books Of The Bible
Lets now take a closer look at the names of the Bible writers, according to tradition. Before we get into the names, I want to make a few points.
- This list includes authors who are either identified in the Bible or assumed to be Jewish by Jewish tradition. A few anonymous candidates have been included.
- There are many more Bible authors than I have listed. We dont know who wrote Judges. Although there were 40 Bible authors, the Bible and tradition refer to only 35.
- Modern attribution is not the same as ancient attribution. The book of Isaiah, for example, may have been composed and arranged partially by Isaiahs disciples long after Isaiah died. The New Testament writers refer to the words of the book as though they were Isaiahs.
- I dont know the author of Hebrews.
Third Speech Of Eliphaz
1 Then Job answered and said, 2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning. 3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! 4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. 6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No but he would put strength in me. 7 There the righteous might dispute with him so should I be delivered for ever from my judge. 8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there and backward, but I cannot perceive him: 9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: 10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. 12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. 13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. 14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. 15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him. 16 For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me: 17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
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In Music Art Literature And Film
Georges de La TourJob Mocked by his Wife
The Book of Job has been deeply influential in Western culture, to such an extent that no list could be more than representative. Musical settings from Job include Orlande de Lassuss 1565 cycle of motets, the Sacrae Lectiones Novem ex Propheta Job, and George Frideric Handels use of Job 19:25 as an aria in his 1741 oratorio Messiah.
Modern works based on the book include Ralph Vaughan Williamss Job: A Masque for Dancing French composer Darius Milhauds Cantata From Job and Joseph Steins Broadway interpretation Fiddler on the Roof, based on the Tevye the Dairyman stories by Sholem Aleichem. Neil Simon wrote Gods Favorite, which is a modern retelling of the Book of Job. Breughel and Georges de La Tour depicted Job visited by his wife, William Blake produced an entire cycle of illustrations for the book.
Terrence Malicks 2011 film The Tree of Life, which won the Palme dOr, is heavily influenced by the themes of the Book of Job, as the film starts with a quote from the beginning of Gods speech to Job. A 2014 Malayalam film called Iyobinte Pusthakam tells the story of a man who is losing everything in his life and also has parallels with Dostoevskys . Joni Mitchell composed The Sire of Sorrow
Three Monologues: Poem To Wisdom Job’s Closing Monologue And Elihu’s Speeches
Job and His FriendsIlya Repin
The dialogues of Job and his friends are followed by a poem on the inaccessibility of wisdom: “Where is wisdom to be found?” it asks, and concludes that it has been hidden from man . Job contrasts his previous fortune with his present plight, an outcast, mocked and in pain. He protests his innocence, lists the principles he has lived by, and demands that God answer him.
Elihu occupies chapters 32 to 37, intervening to state that wisdom comes from God, who reveals it through dreams and visions to those who will then declare their knowledge.
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Theological Theme And Message
When good people suffer, the human spirit struggles to understand. Throughout recorded history people have asked: How can this be? If God is almighty and holds the whole world in his hands and if he is truly good, how can he allow such an outrage? The way this question has often been put leaves open three possibilities: God is not almighty after all God is not just humans may be innocent. In ancient Israel, however, it was indisputable that God is almighty, that he is perfectly just and that no human is pure in his sight. These three assumptions were also fundamental to the theology of Job and his friends. Simple logic then dictated the conclusion: Every persons suffering is indicative of the measure of their guilt in the eyes of God. In the abstract, this conclusion appeared inescapable, logically imperative and theologically satisfying.
He begins by introducing a third party into the equation. The relationship between God and humans is not exclusive and closed. Among Gods creatures there is the great adversary . Incapable of contending with God hand to hand, power pitted against power, he is bent on frustrating Gods creation enterprise centered on Gods relationship with the creature that bears his image. As tempter he seeks to alienate humans from God as accuser he seeks to alienate God from humans . His all-consuming purpose is to drive an irremovable wedge between God and humans to effect an alienation that cannot be reconciled.
Who Really Wrote The Book Of Job
Job, possibly the strangest book in the bible, is based on legends going back thousands of years, and is written in a very unusual form of Hebrew.
The Book of Job is quite possibly the strangest book in the Hebrew Bible, and is notoriously difficult to date.
In essence, Job is an essay on the problem of evil. The book starts with God and Satan discussing Job, a perfect and upright man who feared God and eschewed evil . Satan tells God that Job is only virtuous because he is well off were he to suffer, he would surely curse thee to thy face . God accepts the challenge and gives Satan permission to destroy Jobs life.
Satan kills his children, destroys his house, bankrupts him and gives him a terrible skin disease. Jobs unnamed wife says to him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die , but Job stands firm.
The story then stops being a narrative and takes a philosophical bent, with Jobs friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, each in turn, saying that all reward and punishment comes from God. God is just. Job was punished. Therefore Job must have sinned grievously.
A fourth character then enters the story Elihu, who accuses Job as well . Biblical scholars suspect him to be a later addition to the book, mostly because while the first three friends are mentioned in the introduction, Elihu appears from nowhere.
Strange Hebrew
Satan at the right hand of God
Archaeological signs from deep antiquity
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Oldest Books In The Bible
Determining when the books in the Bible were written can be difficult because there is a lot of disagreement between academic scholars and those who closely believe in and follow the Bible. Since it can be hard to figure out when in history these stories were first written, the dates on this list are based on the information presented in the Bible and are the dates widely accepted by followers of the Bible.
Whether or not these dates line up with actual history is up for debate and arguments have been made for both sides. There are events in the Bible that are historically correct and others that are not.
With that said, this list covers what are widely believed to be the oldest books in the Bible.
Is The Book Of Job The Oldest Book In The Bible
Historians agree that Job is the oldest book of the Bible written by an unknown Israelite around 1500 B.C. Approximately 1,500 B.C. According to some, the Pentateuch, written between 1404 and 1406 B.C., is the oldest book in the Bible. If a story dates way back before its first draft, there are real issues to be had.
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Job’s Opening Monologue And Dialogues Between Job And His Three Friends
In chapter 3, “instead of cursing God”, Job laments the night of his conception and the day of his birth he longs for death, “but it does not come”. His three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, visit him, accuse him of committing sin and tell him that his suffering was deserved as a result. Job responds with scorn: his interlocutors are “miserable comforters”. Since a just God would not treat him so harshly, patience in suffering is impossible, and the Creator should not take his creatures so lightly, to come against them with such force.
Job’s responses represent one of the most radical restatements of Israelite theology in the Hebrew Bible. He moves away from the pious attitude shown in the prologue, and begins to berate God for the disproportionate wrath against him. He sees God as, among others, intrusive and suffocating unforgiving and obsessed with destroying a human target angry fixated on punishment and hostile and destructive. He then shifts his focus from the injustice that he himself suffers to God’s governance of the world. He suggests that the wicked have taken advantage of the needy and the helpless, who remain in significant hardship, but God does nothing to punish them.
Middle Ages And Renaissance
The Catholic Church was the dominant influence on Western civilisation from to the dawn of the modern age. It was the primary sponsor of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque styles in art, architecture and music. Renaissance figures such as , , , , , , , and are examples of the numerous visual artists sponsored by the church. Historian Paul Legutko of said the Catholic Church is “at the center of the development of the values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions which constitute what we call “.
In the 11th century, the efforts of led to the creation of the to elect new popes, starting with in the . When Alexander II died, Hildebrand was elected to succeed him, as . The basic election system of the College of Cardinals which Gregory VII helped establish has continued to function into the 21st century. Pope Gregory VII further initiated the regarding the independence of the clergy from secular authority. This led to the between the church and the , over which had the authority to appoint bishops and popes.
In 1438, the convened, which featured a strong dialogue focussed on understanding the theological differences between the East and West, with the hope of reuniting the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Several eastern churches reunited, forming the majority of the .
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Dioceses Parishes Organisations And Institutes
Individual countries, regions, or major cities are served by known as in the Latin Church, or in the Eastern Catholic Churches, each overseen by a bishop. As of 2008, the Catholic Church has 2,795 dioceses. The bishops in a particular country are members of a national or regional episcopal conference.
Dioceses are divided into , each with one or more , , or . Parishes are responsible for the day to day celebration of the sacraments and pastoral care of the laity. As of 2016, there are 221,700 parishes worldwide.
In the Latin Church, Catholic men may serve as deacons or priests by receiving sacramental . Men and women may serve as , as readers ” rel=”nofollow”> lectors), or as . Historically, boys and men have only been permitted to serve as altar servers however, since the 1990s, girls and women have also been permitted.
Ordained Catholics, as well as members of the , may enter into either on an individual basis, as a or , or by joining an in which to take confirming their desire to follow the three of , and obedience. Examples of institutes of consecrated life are the , the , the , the , the , the and the .
“Religious institutes” is a modern term encompassing both “” and “,” which were once distinguished in . The terms “religious order” and “religious institute” tend to be used as synonyms colloquially.
By means of and beyond, the Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of and in the world.
Enlightenment And Modern Period
From the 17th century onward, the questioned the power and influence of the Catholic Church over Western society. In the 18th century, writers such as and the wrote biting critiques of both religion and the Catholic Church. One target of their criticism was the 1685 by King , which ended a century-long policy of religious toleration of Protestant Huguenots. As the papacy resisted pushes for , the of 1789 shifted power to the state, caused the destruction of churches, the establishment of a , and the martyrdom of during the . In 1798, ‘s General invaded the , imprisoning , who died in captivity. Napoleon later re-established the Catholic Church in France through the . The end of the brought Catholic revival and the return of the .
In 1854, , with the support of the overwhelming majority of Catholic bishops, whom he had consulted from 1851 to 1853, proclaimed the as a . In 1870, the affirmed the doctrine of when exercised in specifically defined pronouncements, striking a blow to the rival position of . Controversy over this and other issues resulted in a breakaway movement called the ,
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