From: mam@jcnpc.cmhnet.org (Mike A. McAngus)
Subject: Re: THE MIND OF THE BIBLE BELIEVER
Organization: Homebrew Virtual Reality Labs
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Distribution: world,public
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 16:11:00 GMT

Brian Ceccarelli 602/621-9615 (brian@lpl.arizona.edu) wrote:
: Hello Jeff!  I wanted to e-mail you personally because you
: addressed one of your questions specifically to me.  But I
: wasn't sure if jwest@wisc was your entire address.  Is
: that the whole thing?
:
:
: Jeff West (jwest@wisc) writes:
:
: > Why did your God "deliver into the hands of Satan" such
: > a righteous man as Job?
:
: This is a good question.  So good in fact that Job asked
: nearly the same thing.
:
: Job 31:35:
:
:     Oh, that I had someone to hear me!
:     I sign now my defense--let the
:         Almightly answer me;
:     let my accuser put his indictment
:         in writing.
:
: God answers Job starting in chapter 38.  Here's the first
: few lines:
:
:     Then the Lord answered Job out of the
:     storm.  He said:
:
:     Who is this that darkens my counsel
:     with words without knowledge?
:     Brace yourself like a man;
:     I will question you,
:     and you shall answer me.
:
:     Where were you when I laid the
:     earth's foundation?
:     Tell me if you understand.
:     Who marked off its dimensions?
:        Surely you know!
:     Who stretched a measuring line
:        across it?
:
:      . . .
:
:
: This sort of rhetorical questioning goes on chapter after chapter.
: With each question, Job must only plead ignorance.  Then Job says
: two chapters later in Job 40:3:
:
:      I am unworthy--how can I reply to you?
:      I put my hand over my mouth.
:
: and then in 42:3:
:
:      Surely I spoke of things I did not
:         understand,
:      things too wonderful for me to
:         know.
:
: and a couple verses later:
:
:      My ears had heard of you
:         but now my eyes have seen you.
:      Therefore I despise myself
:         and repent in dust and ashes.
:
: Then we come to the end of the story.  Starting
: in 42:7, we read that God restores Job to a position
: twice as great as before (42:10), and chastises
: Jobs "friends" for giving Job bad advice (42:7).
:
: You will notice that God never addresses Job's
: question.  Job's question became moot.

No, the question is not moot.  The only problem is, god refuses to answer.  In 
ancient times, powerful people were not answerable to their subjects except at 
the point of a sword.  Since Job can't fight god, Job cowers because he knows 
that if god refuses to answer then god can't be forced to answer.

Since Xians like parables and metaphores so much:
There was a father with two boy children.  The eldest was a bully while the 
youngest was as obedient as could be asked.  The father kept the eldest son 
from harassing the youngest son and the youngest son grew in knowledge and 
contentment.
One day the eldest son appeared before the father and sad, "Yo, dude.  The only
reason the runt loves you is because you watch over my every move and don't let
me torture him as I will.  If you give me free reign, your precious little brat
will spit in your face."
The father said, "No, my youngest son obeys me because he loves me and not 
because I keep you from hurting him.  Go, have your way with my youngest son 
and he will still love me."
So the eldest son beats the snot out of the youngest son while the father 
stands by, headless of the suffering of the little tyke.
When the beating is over, the youngest son asks, "Father, what did I do to 
deserve such a beating?"
To which the father replies, "How dare you question my motives?  Who brought
you into the world?  Were you there when I made your mother squeal with glee?  
Who supplies food on your table and a roof over your head?  Who has showered 
you with presents on your birthdays and who as bought your books so you could 
learn?"

How would you answer such a father?

[rest of apologetic deleted]
-- 
Mike McAngus 			 | You are a fluke of the Universe.  You have no 
(mam@jcnpc.cmhnet.org)		 | right to be here, and whether you can hear it
The Truth is still the Truth	 | or not the Universe is laughing behind your 
Even if you choose to ignore it. | back.  -- National Lampoon, Deteriorata
Newsgroups: alt.atheism,talk.religion.misc