Post by Admin on Mar 2, 2022 5:48:23 GMT
Chapter 42 - Job humbled
Job says "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.", "Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
*Appeal to Mystery fallacy*
Job gives in to the "God's ways are mysterious" idea and succumbs to assuming that God is right and he is wrong. Job returns to complete obsequiousness.
*Judgement*
God then scolds the friends for not speaking the truth about God, and claims that Job HAD spoken the truth about God.
*Reward*
Job is then blessed with all the stuff he lost to come back in even greater amount and quality.
Job's Accusations of God - Declared by God to be TRUE
1. God pays attention to man (Job 7:17)
2. God is involved in every moment (Job 7:18)
3. God targets the righteous (Job 7:20)
4. God doesn’t pardon Job (Job 7:21)
5. God torments Job for no reason (Job 9:17)
6. God destroys the blameless and the guilty (Job 9:22)
7. God mocks at the despair of the innocent (Job 9:23)
8. God hunts the innocent to use his power against them (Job 10:16)
9. God turns people against those targeted for suffering (Job 10:17) (Job 19:12-13)
10. It would have been better to not have been born, or to have died in birth (Job 10:18-19)
11. God should leave the innocent alone so they can have comfort (Job 10:20)
12. God destroys man’s hope (Job 14:19)
13. God overpowers man (Job 14:20)
14. God traps the innocent in his net (Job 19:6)
15. God refuses to answer Job’s request for judgment (Job 19:7)
16. God hedges up the path to sabotage the innocent (Job 19:8)
17. God takes away glory from men (Job 19:9)
18. God destroys the innocent (Job 19:10)
19. God treats the innocent like an enemy (Job 19:11)
20. God is his redeemer (Job 19:25)
21. God remains hidden from the innocent who suffer (Job 23:8)
22. God does not charge the guilty with wrongdoing in the moment of need (Job 23:24)
23. God watches the ways of man with judgement (Job 23:23)
24. God will eventually give justice (Job 23:24)
25. God denies Job justice (Job 27:2)
26. God makes life bitter (Job 27:2)
Opponent Rebuttals - Declared by God to be FALSE
1. Doesn't think man is valuable to God (Job 22:2)
2. Man is naturally unclean (Job 25:4)
3. Thinks they have the spirit with them (Job 32:18)
4. Thinks Job's claims of innocence are false (Job 33:9)
5. Thinks Job's claim that God has treated him like an enemy is false (Job 33:10)
6. Thinks the idea that God has targeted Job is false (Job 33:11)
7. Believes that God is greater than man. (Job 33:12)
8. Thinks Job's claims that God isn't just are false (Job 34:12)
9. Thinks God doesn't act wickedly or pervert justice (Job 34:12)
10. Thinks that Job is wrong to impute guilt and blame to God (Job 34:17)
11. Thinks Job is a wicked man (Job 34:36-37; Job 22:5)
12. Thinks Job's words against God are wicked (Job 34:36-37)
Contractions
At first glance this seems like an example of ignorant barbarians attempting to write a wise story, and because of their poor ability to self-reflect, they accidentally destroyed the definition of God with their terse conclusion that "Job spoke the truth and his friends did not speak the truth". How can God be accurately defined by Job's words? Does any theist believe that Job described God accurately and truthfully when he said that God treats the innocent like an enemy, hunting them down, trapping them, hurting them for no reason, making their life bitter, and destroying their hope? It would appear that the authors of the Book of Job made a serious theological blunder in concluding that Job was right - because that would mean that they have defined God as an oppressor of the righteous.
Steelman
Yet, if you attempt to think of it from God's perspective, there is an argument to be made that God is answering the question in a way that Job can understand. Since God occupies the birds-eye view of the objective reality, God's perspective might be too far removed from Job's experience. By splitting reality in half between the objective reality and the subjective reality, God has the option to discuss things from Job's subjective perspective, rather than try to get Job to understand God's perspective. So, perhaps when God says that Job spoke the truth, God is merely making truth claims about Job's subjective reality, and not making truth claims about objective reality. From Job's perspective it is true that Job is innocent. From Job's perspective, it is true that God is unjust. From Job's perspective it is true that God sabotages the innocent, makes their life bitter, and destroys their hope. So, under this line of thinking, the reason God played the power game with Job was to get Job to realize - just because you know the truth about your subjective reality doesn't mean you understand the truth about objective reality. So Job can be comforted in knowing that his feelings are being validated by God, but at the same time be corrected to understand that his subjective reality is limited and that there is much more out there that needs to be understood before he should cast the final judgement.
Hanlon's razor - "Never assume malice when something can be adequately explained by stupidity"
For a long time I suffered like Job, imagining up a God who was watching over my misfortune with delight - a God of malice. This is the logical conclusion of a God who is all-powerful and all-knowing - he must enjoy watching us suffer in order to not do anything about it. But perhaps me imagining that God existed in the first place was my violation of Halon's razor. Why assume divine malice exists when my own stupidity is an option? Perhaps a type of stupidity was the explanation for why I believed there was a being watching over me in the first place. Or perhaps my stupidity lies in my ignorance of the nuances of divine law that restrict God's actions.
Occam's razor - "Simpler explanations are more likely than complex ones - all else being equal"
Its logical to give up your faith in God because overall, naturalism a simpler (more parsimonious) explanation than theism.
NEXT: Conclusion
Job says "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.", "Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
*Appeal to Mystery fallacy*
Job gives in to the "God's ways are mysterious" idea and succumbs to assuming that God is right and he is wrong. Job returns to complete obsequiousness.
*Judgement*
God then scolds the friends for not speaking the truth about God, and claims that Job HAD spoken the truth about God.
*Reward*
Job is then blessed with all the stuff he lost to come back in even greater amount and quality.
Job's Accusations of God - Declared by God to be TRUE
1. God pays attention to man (Job 7:17)
2. God is involved in every moment (Job 7:18)
3. God targets the righteous (Job 7:20)
4. God doesn’t pardon Job (Job 7:21)
5. God torments Job for no reason (Job 9:17)
6. God destroys the blameless and the guilty (Job 9:22)
7. God mocks at the despair of the innocent (Job 9:23)
8. God hunts the innocent to use his power against them (Job 10:16)
9. God turns people against those targeted for suffering (Job 10:17) (Job 19:12-13)
10. It would have been better to not have been born, or to have died in birth (Job 10:18-19)
11. God should leave the innocent alone so they can have comfort (Job 10:20)
12. God destroys man’s hope (Job 14:19)
13. God overpowers man (Job 14:20)
14. God traps the innocent in his net (Job 19:6)
15. God refuses to answer Job’s request for judgment (Job 19:7)
16. God hedges up the path to sabotage the innocent (Job 19:8)
17. God takes away glory from men (Job 19:9)
18. God destroys the innocent (Job 19:10)
19. God treats the innocent like an enemy (Job 19:11)
20. God is his redeemer (Job 19:25)
21. God remains hidden from the innocent who suffer (Job 23:8)
22. God does not charge the guilty with wrongdoing in the moment of need (Job 23:24)
23. God watches the ways of man with judgement (Job 23:23)
24. God will eventually give justice (Job 23:24)
25. God denies Job justice (Job 27:2)
26. God makes life bitter (Job 27:2)
Opponent Rebuttals - Declared by God to be FALSE
1. Doesn't think man is valuable to God (Job 22:2)
2. Man is naturally unclean (Job 25:4)
3. Thinks they have the spirit with them (Job 32:18)
4. Thinks Job's claims of innocence are false (Job 33:9)
5. Thinks Job's claim that God has treated him like an enemy is false (Job 33:10)
6. Thinks the idea that God has targeted Job is false (Job 33:11)
7. Believes that God is greater than man. (Job 33:12)
8. Thinks Job's claims that God isn't just are false (Job 34:12)
9. Thinks God doesn't act wickedly or pervert justice (Job 34:12)
10. Thinks that Job is wrong to impute guilt and blame to God (Job 34:17)
11. Thinks Job is a wicked man (Job 34:36-37; Job 22:5)
12. Thinks Job's words against God are wicked (Job 34:36-37)
Contractions
At first glance this seems like an example of ignorant barbarians attempting to write a wise story, and because of their poor ability to self-reflect, they accidentally destroyed the definition of God with their terse conclusion that "Job spoke the truth and his friends did not speak the truth". How can God be accurately defined by Job's words? Does any theist believe that Job described God accurately and truthfully when he said that God treats the innocent like an enemy, hunting them down, trapping them, hurting them for no reason, making their life bitter, and destroying their hope? It would appear that the authors of the Book of Job made a serious theological blunder in concluding that Job was right - because that would mean that they have defined God as an oppressor of the righteous.
Steelman
Yet, if you attempt to think of it from God's perspective, there is an argument to be made that God is answering the question in a way that Job can understand. Since God occupies the birds-eye view of the objective reality, God's perspective might be too far removed from Job's experience. By splitting reality in half between the objective reality and the subjective reality, God has the option to discuss things from Job's subjective perspective, rather than try to get Job to understand God's perspective. So, perhaps when God says that Job spoke the truth, God is merely making truth claims about Job's subjective reality, and not making truth claims about objective reality. From Job's perspective it is true that Job is innocent. From Job's perspective, it is true that God is unjust. From Job's perspective it is true that God sabotages the innocent, makes their life bitter, and destroys their hope. So, under this line of thinking, the reason God played the power game with Job was to get Job to realize - just because you know the truth about your subjective reality doesn't mean you understand the truth about objective reality. So Job can be comforted in knowing that his feelings are being validated by God, but at the same time be corrected to understand that his subjective reality is limited and that there is much more out there that needs to be understood before he should cast the final judgement.
Hanlon's razor - "Never assume malice when something can be adequately explained by stupidity"
For a long time I suffered like Job, imagining up a God who was watching over my misfortune with delight - a God of malice. This is the logical conclusion of a God who is all-powerful and all-knowing - he must enjoy watching us suffer in order to not do anything about it. But perhaps me imagining that God existed in the first place was my violation of Halon's razor. Why assume divine malice exists when my own stupidity is an option? Perhaps a type of stupidity was the explanation for why I believed there was a being watching over me in the first place. Or perhaps my stupidity lies in my ignorance of the nuances of divine law that restrict God's actions.
Occam's razor - "Simpler explanations are more likely than complex ones - all else being equal"
Its logical to give up your faith in God because overall, naturalism a simpler (more parsimonious) explanation than theism.
NEXT: Conclusion
