Job

[h311inac311]

Assault in progress, by god, you fall to your knees and pray...to god.  That's the definition of debasement, the literal definition.  Let me ask you this.  Let's say you see a standard run of the mill assault.  God isn't immediately obvious..but could you risk stopping that assault...if it were somehow part of gods plan?  Do you know which assaults are a a part of this plan, if..indeed..they aren't all a part of it's plan?  Self defense?  Maybe your assault, also part of it's plan?

I don't need to know which assaults are part of God's plan, firstly nothing is outside his knowledge or power, secondly he created us to right the wrongs in this world. Because God does not promise to fix everything immediately and clean up after the devil or restrain him at every hour some of that responsibility falls on our shoulders. 


Again, there's no need for trust.  Assault in progress.  Whatever it is you think god has planned, that you trust, this is simply what god is doing.  

And as far as I can tell I'm allowed to defend myself from an attacker so I know that God wouldn't punish me for doing something that is permissible to do. That was my ultimate point in bringing up the story about how Jacob got the name Israel. God took on a human form and assaulted Jacob to see how he would respond, and Jacob passed the test. So again, if someone is attacking me, even if they are a physical manifestation of YHWH or Jesus I would still be totally and Biblically justified in defending myself. I don't need to wait for some divine revelation that this is one of the scenarios in which I am allowed to defend myself.

As it is written, "but know this, that if the master had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into."

I just met you on the internet so I don't know why you would trust a stranger with your back but the eternal reward of paradise is for those who remain loyal to God's commandments.

In Romans 13 these commandments are, Thou shalt not commit adultery, theft, murder, or covet that which does not belong to you and love others as you would want to be loved.

Magic book doesn't mean a thing to me, and quoting from it is unlikely to cast a spell.  I cannot be bought.  I don't do bad things for money, or any price.  Imagine a god that can't understand this, and forms it's entire cult around a single transaction.  Imagine some rando on the internet, a human being, who is similarly unaware?

Here we are.  At least now we're flirting with the problem of evil.  The problem being that you have decided to be evil..and you blame it on your god, and explain it away by some giant lollipop you hope to get a lick of.  I think this is all completely disgusting.  That's why I don't worship your bloodgod.  Has nothing to do with me not believing in gods.  I wouldn't join the club if it were a real god.  I don't need to invent imaginary assholes, there are plenty here in the real world, I could join their little clubs..and they'd also be willing to pay me - but I don't.  Amusingly, a lot of guys with my background went into forward observation work for private contractors.  No trigger pulling, just watching.  They'll pay for your eyes and ears, and especially your mouth, and saddle you with complicity.  Sound familiar?

I'm familiar with wanting something so much that it tests my character.  Are you?  Do you think you're passing that test holding the beliefs you've espoused here?  Or, if you prefer, does it never occur to you, as a believer in a good god..to suggest that story isn't entirely on the up and up?  That the god you believe in would never do that, or insist you be complicit, or even that you remain silent?  That its not an instruction manual from the divine about how to lay back and take it?

I make a reference to the commandments of the New Testament and instead of dealing with the idea of weather or not these commandments are good or bad virtues to live by you chose to respond with, "Magic book doesn't mean a thing to me." Okay then why are you still talking about the magic book of Job? 
I haven't made the choice to be evil, I have made the choice to trust my creator even when I don't understand why he does what he does. My reason for this is simple, he created me not the other way round. My job here on earth is to make moral choices, not moral accusations. Simply put, while we are here on Earth there is a lot that goes on which is outside of our understanding or control, but it isn't our job to necessarily understand everything. It is our job to live out our morals even when it is difficult. Going by the commandments of the New Testament, I'm not sure how the world wouldn't be a better place if less people had sex outside marriage, committed less murder and if less people chose to covet and steal. I'm also not sure how loving others the same way you want others to love you would make the world a worse place. 

Job, for the most part, kept his faith where 99% of people wouldn't. The story of Job, at least for me, inspires me to be patient with the problems that life presents me because I can assure you that despite all the bad fortune that has fallen upon me in the past I was likely not even experiencing 1/10 of what Job already endured. Again, the conclusion of Job is that it is our duty as believers to be patient and not allow suffering to corrupt our view of God. You say you are willing to endure anything for your moral convictions, correct? Well Job's was that his creator is good, and he did endure much undeserved heartache in order to maintain this position.

So I ask you, is it better to do the right thing and receive a just reward? Or continue to do right in the face of unjust suffering? As it is written, "But even if you suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed."

Also my appeal to heaven is important, how much can you lament the suffering that takes place here on a perishing Earth if it produces far greater fruit in the eternal realm? I am content to suffer through this existence if it means that I can somehow bring glory to my God. I don't see how a story about patient endurance under the harshest of circumstances would inspire a person to do more evil.