The story of Job is very hard to swallow. In his sermon, your minister friend defends Job's faith against all doubt by claiming that the material world -- including family, children, land, animals, gold, etc., etc. -- meant nothing to him as compared to his love for and belief in God. I wish he would cite evidence for this, but of course he can't be expected to be so thorough-going when he must go back to his reverie and write another sermon for the following week. --- Job regains everything he had lost, and who are we to assume he did not enjoy it? More importantly, it is hardly credible to interpret the restoration of his fortune as other than a reward for his steadfast faith. That Job would question his faith after losing all in the world he cares about is evidence of his human fallibility. Even Jesus lost faith toward the end. The emphasis in the story of Job... the key point for me in the story is the new freedom from God Job expresses when he asks, "Why me?"
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The story of Job is very hard to swallow. In his sermon, your minister friend defends Job's faith against all doubt by claiming that the material world -- including family, children, land, animals, gold, etc., etc. -- meant nothing to him as compared to his love for and belief in God. I wish he would cite evidence for this, but of course he can't be expected to be so thorough-going when he must go back to his reverie and write another sermon for the following week. --- Job regains everything he had lost, and who are we to assume he did not enjoy it? More importantly, it is hardly credible to interpret the restoration of his fortune as other than a reward for his steadfast faith. That Job would question his faith after losing all in the world he cares about is evidence of his human fallibility. Even Jesus lost faith toward the end. The emphasis in the story of Job... the key point for me in the story is the new freedom from God Job expresses when he asks, "Why me?"
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