Monthly Archives: August 2014

Does God give and take away?

 

Does; the Lord give and the Lord take away?

These words were spoken by Job in ignorance

 A disgusting insult to God, repeated by many today

At the grave side and from the pulpit

 My comments in blue, Scriptures & quotes in black, references in green

This false belief comes from the churches ignorance of the Bible book of Job. Job does make this false statement about Almighty God due to his ignorance, however he later repents and sincerely apologises to God for his ignorance. So should the Orthodox Churches in fact most Biblically based religions in general, as most are guilty of this slander. So let’s take a look at the bible’s book of Job.

Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil. WEB

Job 1: 2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. KJV

Then a messenger tells Job that God has done these terrible things;

Job 1:16 Fire of God hath fallen from the heavens, and burneth among the flock and among the young men, and consumeth them, 17 While this [one] is speaking another also hath come and saith, ‘Chaldeans … take them, and the young men they have smitten by … the sword, 18 ..another…saith, ‘Thy sons and thy daughters…in the house of their brother, the first-born. 19 And lo, a great wind hath come from over the wilderness, and striketh … the house, and it falleth on the young men, and they are dead YLT

Job 1: 20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, 21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. 22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. KJV

However technically by saying; the Lord hath taken away he has charged God falsely, he’s just ignorant of the facts, so no sin is accounted to him.

Then Job was struck; Job 2:7…with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head 8 He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes. WEB

Even his wife blames God;

Job: 2:9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. NKJV

Here again Job although faithful he seems to accept what people are saying; that it is God who is the one coursing his sufferings as he has said both;

Job 1: 21 the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away and; 2: 10 Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? NKJV

This isn’t surprising as though God said of him there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil, Job was an Oriental, not a native Jew, and so his knowledge of God was limited, as God said he speaks; Job 38.1 ‘By words without knowledge.

Job 34:35 Elihu a distant knowledgeable relative to Abraham states; Job speaks without knowledge, His words are without wisdom NKJV

 

However later on Job goes too far;

Job 32:2 And Elihu … was angry, burning with wrath against Job, because he seemed to himself more right than God BBE

Job 33: 8 [Elihu said] Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing, And I have heard the voice of (thy) words, (saying), 9 I am clean, without transgression; I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me: 10 Behold, he [God] findeth occasions against me, He counteth me for his enemy: ASV or Job 33; 9 “I am pure, I am innocent; I have not sinned.” 10 You say God is using a fine-toothed comb to try to find a single fault, and so to count you as his enemy. “And he puts my feet in the stocks” you say, “and watches every move I make” The Living Bible

Poor Job at this point he suggests God is trying to find faults to punish him, he is no doubt mentally suffering as he is physically, he has no real idea what, why or who is behind his troubles. He is still faithful and keeping his integrity to God even though he assigns him the blame. I too in my life have suffered loss, battled with false opposition and I constantly suffer physically with my health and if I did not know the real cause behind the worlds suffering I don’t know if I could stand faithful as Job! Despite his lack of knowledge and erroneous reasoning Job is an amazing example of faith.

Job 34:10 [E·li′hu corrects Job;] far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity. KJV

Job 38:1 Then the Lord answered Job… 2 “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? 11 ‘This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!’ NKJV

Job 40:1 …Jehovah continued to answer Job:  2 “Should a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let the one who wants to reprove God answer.” NWT

Job now apologies to God for assigning Him as responsible for his sufferings; by saying God takes away, that He is behind adversity, and that God tries to find fault in him, he admits he was wrong to speak without knowledge.

Job 42:1 Job answered God: 2 “I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything. Nothing and no one can upset your plans. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water, ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’ I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me, made small talk about wonders way over my head. 4 You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking. Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’ 5 I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthandfrom my own eyes and ears! 6 I’m sorryforgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise! I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.” MESSAGE   

Job 42: 10 So the LORD restored Job’s fortunes and double his all his possessions 13 He had seven [more] sons and three [more] daughters 17 and died at a very great age. The New English Bible

This brings to mind those who have suffered and died in ignorance of the truth of who God is and how forgiving and understanding God is to such one’s and their hope for future life. Maybe ones who may have turned away from God thinking that He is the one causing their problems. 

Many today mock the idea of God because of this false portrayal of God, this idea that God takes away and God causes earthquakes, floods, and death, along with false teachings like hell fire, purgatory and so on, so that many people turn their backs on religion.

 

Why did Job lose everything?

And why did God allow this?

 

What Job did not know; was what was going on in heaven, this shows who was rely behind Job’s suffering and the bigger issues involved;  

Job 1: 6 Now there was a day when the sons [angels] of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” 9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face! NKJV

Satan claimed that Job is only blameless and upright because God has blessed Job with much. Notice though Satan said to God for Him to oppress Job, but God doesn’t, He hands Job over to Satan and so Satan is the one behind Job’s sufferings;

Job 1:12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”

So Satan kills his live stoke and his children, But Job didn’t curse God but blesses Him, so Satan returns;

Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” 3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” 4 So Satan answered the LORD and said, Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” NKJV

Again Notice Satan said to God to oppress Job more, but again God doesn’t, He hands Job over to Satan a second time;   

Job 1:6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 … In all this Job did not sin with his lips. NKJV

 

We don’t hear from Satan in the book of Job again, Satan failed to prove his point, he said; “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life”, he was wrong, and but it has highlighted the cause behind the world’s sufferings. In Job’s case Satan was directly targeting him, but in general; Ec 9.11 time & chance happen to – all NIV

 

Why did God hand over Job? He’s far more powerful, He could have just destroyed Satan, and well yes He could so easily of done that, but what would that prove that God is more powerful, a bully, a tyrant possibly. It would not have answered the ‘Bigger issue’! Satan’s claim; Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life, or in other words man serves God only for what he can get out of it! Satan intended to show all the sons of God, including the angels; that Job and all mankind would not keep fast to their integrity if pushed to the limit, and that ultimately all mankind is selfish (sounds like Dawkins). This was later answered in full by Jesus Christ the Son of God himself, who as a perfect man with his own will was tempted by Satan and when that failed was proved faithful to the point of an agonizing shameful death, to his God and Father Jehovah.

 

Further to that is the ‘Bigger issue’ of Jehovah’s God’s Sovereignty that was brought into question in connection to the tree of knowledge of good and bad at; Geneses chapter 3, “But the serpent was subtler … said …unto the woman: tush ye shall not die: But God doth know, that whensoever ye should eat of it, your eyes shall be opened and ye should be as God and know both good and evil. And the woman … took of the fruit of it and ate… William Tyndale Translation

Here Satan is not only calling God a liar; but Satan is challenging God and he is bringing in the question God’s right to rule, God’s Sovereignty and whether God’s rule is best for mankind! That mankind don’t need God that they can do fine without Him; boy was Satan wrong, so, so wrong! God could have just destroyed Adam and Eve, but that again would just prove his power, not His right to or His worthiness as sovereign, or their lack of ability to govern themselves and that mankind truly need Jehovah God to guide them.

 

It’s also at this point that mankind starts to grow old and die; note that God only said that they would die if they ate of the tree of knowledge. Oh and some people say it wasn’t such a big deal that they took some fruit? Well yes it was, they had everything they could possibly need and they still stole from God! There were no other people so God said but that’s mine, don’t take, and don’t eat. Not much to ask, because paradise wouldn’t be paradise if everybody stole and that was just the start of man turning away from God, one generation down and brother is killing brother! Its just snow balled down hill from there.

 

Due to Adamic sin, man turned to Satan so; 1 Jo 5.19 the whole world is under the control of the evil one. NIV And that’s why God handed over Job and said to Satan;Behold, he is in your hand“.

Due to Adamic sin we die; Rom 5:12 That is why, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because they had all sinned… 14 … death ruled as king from Adam down… NWT

 

It was never God’s intention that mankind should grow old and die, we were designed to live forever, here on earth in paradise.  

 

It is a disgrace that so many so called religious leaders do not understand what an insult it is to God when they say; “God gives and God takes away” or that He took because “God needed another angel”  

 

Related topics;

                        Death what is it?

                        Hell is it real?

                        Is there life after death?

                        Will Paradise return?

 

 

End of section

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