Book of Job: God allows Satan to torment

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Nan3

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I find the book of Job fascinating.
My thoughts are that God allows satan to torment us in order to trip us in hope to win our souls. Spiritual warfare is real I.e. exorcism and evil. Of course God is in control but free will exists. After all If we are to enter into heaven God must know that we are worthy.
My questions:
1.Was it the devil who approached God in the book of Job and told/challenged God he/it can win over Job’s soul?
2. Does God favor some more than others? (Job seems very special to God)
 
Nan3 said:
I find the book of Job fascinating.
My thoughts are that God allows satan to torment us in order to trip us in hope to win our souls. Spiritual warfare is real I.e. exorcism and evil. Of course God is in control but free will exists. After all If we are to enter into heaven God must know that we are worthy.
My questions:
1.Was it the devil who approached God in the book of Job and told/challenged God he/it can win over Job’s soul?
2. Does God favor some more than others? (Job seems very special to God)
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Satan claimed to God
Job was only Faithful because Job had everything - which is easy…
God allowed Satan to test Job’s Faith…

Check this out:
youtube dot com slash watch?v=NnJNT_xzDMA
 
I’ll check it out. On that note: Do you think that people are more likely to turn against God when they lose everything or cling to God when they lose everything?
 
Nan3 said:
My thoughts are that God allows satan to torment us in order to trip us
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That is a view of God as playing deadly games with us - or as I say, a God who plays “Gotcha”.

What parent whats his or her child to be hurt? And yes, there are some, who often are described as “cold”, “uncaring”, “sadistic” and a multiple of other terms. The point being, most parents do not want their children to be hurt, or worse.
 
Nan3 said:
My thoughts are that God allows satan to torment us in order to trip us in hope to win our souls.
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To be fair, it’s just the set-up for the pedagogical parable that follows. This is more an allegory to teach us a valuable lesson than a doctrinal statement on God vis-a-vis satan.
Nan3 said:
Of course God is in control but free will exists.
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That’s not what the story asserts. Things only happen because God wills them, in that culture and time.
Nan3 said:
Was it the devil who approached God in the book of Job and told/challenged God he/it can win over Job’s soul?
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The scene at the beginning of Job is one of God holding court, in the way that human kings do. Satan approaches God’s court in order to have an audience with Him. It’s an anthropomorphized description.
Nan3 said:
Does God favor some more than others? (Job seems very special to God)
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In the context of the story, God recognizes that it is Job who is special – due to his love of God and obedience to Him – and God merely recognizes this dynamic. The end of the story fits the prevailing understanding of the day: reward and punishment happens in this life. So, Job receives back double for what was unjustly taken for him (along the lines of the prescriptions of the Mosaic Law).
 
Nan3 said:
On that note: Do you think that people are more likely to turn against God when they lose everything or cling to God when they lose everything?
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That depends on the particular person, don’t you think?
 
Satan is the one who wants to trip us - not God. You misunderstood. So in that case he/it/Satan approaches God at the court and God says “go ahead and tempt my child, but you can only go so far.” God is testing our faith. That is my point.
 
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It appears - according to Job - there are people who do turn against God in hard times (i.e. why did the virus kill my spouse and so on) Otherwise God would not have allowed Satan to test him like that. God must know who is on his team. Who is good? Who is bad. Thank you.
 
Nan3 said:
It appears - according to Job - there are people who do turn against God in hard times (i.e. why did the virus kill my spouse and so on)
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Hmm. That seems to me to be a 20th-century, revisionist approach to Job. In its original context, Job’s misfortunes would have been viewed as *God’s judgment on Job’s wickedness." So, those who “turn against God in hard times” are those who recognize they’re being treated justly, but who nevertheless strike against their just judge.

Others, perhaps, claim their innocence, but in the face of an omniscient judge, and therefore, do so unreasonably.

So, in the context of Job’s contemporaries, one who rails against God does so irreverently and unjustly. Do they exist? Perhaps. Is their complaint valid? In the Book of Job, the answer is no.
Nan3 said:
Otherwise God would not have allowed Satan to test him like that.
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God does not thwart free will. He does not “not allow” free agents to will against Him.
 
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