Not everything Biblical is Christian Part 16 - the book of Job
Hey Johnboy
According to the epilogue of Job, the last chapter, most of the book portrays God falsely.
Job 42:7 After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."
Why did God leave all that bad stuff in if He is the author of the Bible? Why did he leave all that stuff in when he didn't even answer any of their perspectives? Should followers of Jesus today simply read the first couple chapters and the last couple?
Maybe God, like most people, likes a good story. Maybe God wants us to know that not everyone who claims to speak for God, who claims to understand God, who claims to be able to explain God are right. When God appears at the end of Job's story, everything that came before his appearance gets reframed. I am not being an original thinker here, but isn't this just like the Bible at large? Once Jesus appears in the gospels, everything before him gets reframed. He even corrects Moses. Only God can perfectly speak about God. Jesus is the only human who can perfectly represent God. Why is it so shocking to infer that Moses gets God imperfectly? Why is it so shocking to claim that no one gets God perfectly, not even the Bible's authors?
Is your faith in God or in the writings of his followers? You can't even trust your own writings. There is safety in simplicity. "Love your neighbor... Love one another....Love God... God is love...The greatest of these is love."
Love is the greatest, the hardest, life-giving, self-sacrificing, humble...4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor. 13
Love is Biblical and Christian. That is enough for me.
Series review----------------------
This is part 16 of the series, Not everything Biblical is Christian. Part one points out that the words of Satan recorded in the Bible are not Christian doctrine. Part two shows the Sermon on the Mount overruling the cursing of enemies exhibited in Psalm 137. Parts three and four show Moses getting overruled by Ezekiel and Jesus. Part five merely brushes the concept of source criticism. Part six looks at the Old Testament application in the early church: a brief summary of the book of Acts. Part seven looks at how the church has worked this out regarding slavery. Part eight, showed one example of how an unchristian part of the Bible helps tell the Christian story. Part nine asks who would Jesus hate? Part 10 discusses women as Biblically approved spoils of war. Part 11 discusses divorce. Part 12 discusses the imposition of Bronze Age social constructs onto our diverse and complex modern world. Part 13 discusses women as property in the Biblical world. Part 14 discusses dehumanization of people with Biblical support. Part 15 discusses the evangelical culture that tends to proclaim the terrible day of the Lord is around the next corner.
According to the epilogue of Job, the last chapter, most of the book portrays God falsely.
Job 42:7 After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."
Why did God leave all that bad stuff in if He is the author of the Bible? Why did he leave all that stuff in when he didn't even answer any of their perspectives? Should followers of Jesus today simply read the first couple chapters and the last couple?
Maybe God, like most people, likes a good story. Maybe God wants us to know that not everyone who claims to speak for God, who claims to understand God, who claims to be able to explain God are right. When God appears at the end of Job's story, everything that came before his appearance gets reframed. I am not being an original thinker here, but isn't this just like the Bible at large? Once Jesus appears in the gospels, everything before him gets reframed. He even corrects Moses. Only God can perfectly speak about God. Jesus is the only human who can perfectly represent God. Why is it so shocking to infer that Moses gets God imperfectly? Why is it so shocking to claim that no one gets God perfectly, not even the Bible's authors?
Is your faith in God or in the writings of his followers? You can't even trust your own writings. There is safety in simplicity. "Love your neighbor... Love one another....Love God... God is love...The greatest of these is love."
Love is the greatest, the hardest, life-giving, self-sacrificing, humble...4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor. 13
Love is Biblical and Christian. That is enough for me.
Series review----------------------
This is part 16 of the series, Not everything Biblical is Christian. Part one points out that the words of Satan recorded in the Bible are not Christian doctrine. Part two shows the Sermon on the Mount overruling the cursing of enemies exhibited in Psalm 137. Parts three and four show Moses getting overruled by Ezekiel and Jesus. Part five merely brushes the concept of source criticism. Part six looks at the Old Testament application in the early church: a brief summary of the book of Acts. Part seven looks at how the church has worked this out regarding slavery. Part eight, showed one example of how an unchristian part of the Bible helps tell the Christian story. Part nine asks who would Jesus hate? Part 10 discusses women as Biblically approved spoils of war. Part 11 discusses divorce. Part 12 discusses the imposition of Bronze Age social constructs onto our diverse and complex modern world. Part 13 discusses women as property in the Biblical world. Part 14 discusses dehumanization of people with Biblical support. Part 15 discusses the evangelical culture that tends to proclaim the terrible day of the Lord is around the next corner.
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