Hi Josephus,

Probably getting off-topic, but Job sounds pretty monotheistic in his reply to Bildad, that "Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight; How much less is a man, that is a worm; and the son of man, which is a worm;" [Ch. 25, 5-6]

Job replies, "How has thou helped him that is without power How savest thou the arm that hath no strength ?" [Ch. 26, 2]. And later, "As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;" [Ch. 27, 2]. And on and on. Until God, pissed off with him, bursts onto the scene, big-noting himself 'out of the whirlwind' with "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge ? .... Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? declare, if thou hast understanding. ... Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issue out of the womb. When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it.... etc. etc. .... [Ch. 38, 2, 4, 8-9], ...

Canst thou send lightnings ... etc. Who provideth the raven with his food ? when his young ones cru unto god, they wander for lack of meat. [Ch. 3, 35, 1.] On and on (we've all probably had psychotic bosses like this). As a commentary on 'scepticism', this: "Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox..... He is the chief of the ways of God; .... " [Ch. 40, 15, 19]

Scepticism laid low ?

[TBC]

[continued]

Then God loses it: "Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook ? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down ? Canst thou put an hook in his nose ? or bore his jaw through with a thorn ?.... None is so fierce that dare stir him up; ho then is able to stand before me ? Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him ? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine." [Ch. 41, 1,2, 10, 11]. Sounds familiar ?

Eventually Job replies, "I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. etc. etc. .... Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." [Ch.42, , 6]

And he says nothing more: as many of us know from bitter experience, talk back to a psychotic boss and you're finished.

A lot of abuse of power there, David, but not much scepticism :)

Cheers,

Joe

Dear Loudmouth,

You refer to Job as though he was a real person. He is no more real than Hamlet. Like many other characters in the Bible he is fictional.

Hi David,

Well, duh. If I ever go to a performance of a play by Shakespeare, I'll be sure to yell out during the entire performance that the characters aren't real. The audience should know ! They'll thank me later.

Of course, Job was not real. None of the stuff in the bible or the koran is real. And (at the risk of Yuyutsu calling down the wrath of Shiva onto me) neither are the Hindu books. They're all, at best, parables, lessons, cautionary tales.

So I'm assuming that the lesson from the 'cautionary tale of Job' is: don't question the fictional character we call 'God'. Obey what we tell you are his rules. He's pretty big and strong, and a bit of a crazy bastard, so if you cross him, he'll smite you, and bloody hard too.

Thanks anyway,

Joe

Dear Joe,

I respect your intelligence and sceptical attitude and have no doubt that you know that the Bible and other sacred works are full of stories about legendary characters. However, my comment may be seen by others and cause them to question.

david f,

How do you know that they are fictional?