Being Human In The Book Of Job And Antigone

The view of fate the book of Job expresses, though similar in that it originates from God, differs in a few important ways. In Job, situations are predetermined to occur, but the personal choices of the people involved determine the outcome of the situation. The story of Job opens with Job's fate of suffering being planned. Satan presents himself in an audience before God. God makes example of Job, and Satan rebuffs, stating that Job's constancy is only because of God's preferential treatment. Satan tells God, "But put forth thy hand now and touch all he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face."(40). In response, power is given to Satan to torment Job as a test. Job's life and finally health are viciously mangled and destroyed by Satan. Though Job does not know the reasons behind his great suffering, we are told that "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."(41), and "In all this did not Job sin with his lips."(41). Self-pity creeps into Job's thoughts and words, but there is no disenchanted turn from God. Instead in Job the reader sees a turn to God for relief and

The theme of the Book of Job is the perseverance of the human spirit. Job loses everything but he does not lose his faith in God. “Job refuses to curse God” (Book). Job has not done anything to deserve this, but it is a test from God and Satan to see if Job is actually as

By the definition, “Humanity,” that amounts to a tautology: humanity is that which makes humans human.” (Festa). The humanity of an individual is reflective of its personality. There are characters who are naturally benevolent; some learn through compassion and while others learn through misery. However, in general some are the opposite of benevolent. For instance, some individuals are indeed inconsiderate, arrogant, and most of

     Job is a man very limited by God. As illustrated, he has only a negligible amount of agency to begin with. By the time God and Satan finish with him, he has virtually no control over his own life. The fragment of agency he does cling to is his ability to choose whether or not to curse God. No one, except himself, could prevent Job from cursing God. Yet, he refuses to curse God, even though He is responsible for his suffering.

As we have seen, God promises a blessing to those who trust in His word and strive to live by it. Christians do not want to miss out on God’s blessing, especially those waiting for Him to reveal something. Now reading any book of the Bible, even Job, one begins to understand that God will bless you as you strive to study and practice His way of life. The Bible prophetically warns of even more pain in many different forms then what is done here Job, and through this we begin to portray God in a different light (Janzen 2012). However, the book of Job reveals God’s level of intervention during such a violent time. Due to the context and dire situation it would be difficult to imagine anything more then the pain for the members of Job’s family and the community at that time. They needed encouragement and the assurance that the trials Job faced would soon be over. The evil powers of Satan that governed Job’s life for a moment would be destroyed, and a triumphant sense of peace would be reestablished. The message of Job was intended for those in a particular time and circumstances of pain. Christians familiar with other violent writings would understand the book's symbolism, for practically everything Job went through was a test that other biblical figures felt during similar times of persecution. Job’s story was written to all people that may face the same trials, and find peace after their

The complexity of humanity is so hard to understand because of the amount of levels there are to the word. To begin to understand the term one needs to start simple like humanity “means to be human, not animal.” Being human one is naturally social. Revealing that in humanity people need relationships but animals can have relations as well. To take it further or clarify one could say that people need to “value human life” and with that there becomes a long list of things that a person needs to accomplish. Some Example are “emotions, logic, strength, weakness, morals, curiosity and exploration. Everything said all comes together to make humanity. “Evidence of humanity is seen by the arts, literature and how we regard one another.” When people in Fahrenheit 451 made books illegal society as one would know it would start a consistent lack in literature leaving the community with much needed change in their life. style with a decline of

Humanity is the willingness to fight against wickedness in order to benefit society. For example, sometimes society as a majority lacks civility and it is the duty of the just to do the right thing. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she wrote that Atticus told Scout that he was defending Tom Robinson (despite the protests of most others in town) because it was the right thing to do. Atticus was a good example of humanity because he cared about the good of all people and he was willing to defend Tom, who was innocent, and fight against the corruption that had plainly in his town. Moreover, the willingness to combat the unjust in society means standing up when it is hard to so that life can improve from it.

““There are some who say we are not truly human until we have suffered” 1 as said by Katharine Dell. There is also a though throughout the bible that God makes us suffer for our wrongdoings and past offenses. If this is so, then the protagonist of the Book of Job put both of these thoughts to the test while remaining faithful to God. Similarly to Job in “John” chapter nine, Jesus’ disciples question him in regards to human suffering and punishment from God. The idea of punishing a child for their parents sins is an over arching idea in the bible that acts as an explanation to why human suffer. Throughout the Biblical book of Job, despite Job’s friends’ belief of his wrongdoing, Job remains faithful while searching for a reason for his

Over the centuries, the figure of Antigone has assumed the archetypal and iconographical martyred champion of the oppressed thus been restaged and reworked into countless literary pieces. Through Winston’s performance as Antigone, Fugard is able project ideas of Western liberal humanism to an apartheid-ridden South Africa, constituting to a form of heroic resistance against racial oppression.

To be human is to be able think and learn without any restraints. To have an opinion all to one's self even if it my clash with someone else's. To be human is to have emotion. One must be able to smile, cry, laugh or shout without living in fear of the consequence. One must

In stark contrast to God’s presence in Genesis, the character of God in Job strays from the ideal perfection of the divine. The concept of the ideal manifested in Genesis is embodied in God’s moral, reasonable, and rational behavior. In Job, on the other hand, rather than being reasonable, methodical, and creating life, God displays more human characteristics and plays the role of both creator and destroyer. The book of Job begins with God’s boastful bargain with Satan, which subsequently leads God to allow the total destruction of Job’s family and livelihood. Job is even attacked physically with “loathsome sores… from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (Job 2:7). In an uncharacteristically immoral decision, God gives Satan the power do

Why does God allow Satan to cause such tragedy in Job’s life, a man whom God has already acknowledged as “my servant Job, that there is none like on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”(1.8) From the beginning, it is known that Job is in no way deserving of his injustices, so a reason must be given. God gives Job an opportunity to prove that under any circumstances Job will still have faith. This simply a test for Job. The whole Book is a “double” journey for Job -- he shows God his faith and realizes the faith God has that Job will not stray from his path. Job knows deep down that God has not forsaken him.

The Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible is characterized by the misery of a faithful servant of God, and how it relates to this character's ability to praise God. Job is an unwaveringly loyal and righteous subject of God, blessed with immense wealth and a beautiful family. One day God boasts to Satan of the innate goodness of Job, to which Satan questions “does Job fear God for nothing? … you have blessed the work of his hands … but stretch out your hand, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (The Bible, Book of Job, 1:6-12). If Job has faced no trials and tribulations, and only experienced the bounty that

As Mattison describes, fortitude is not about praising suffering. Fortitude is about someone being willing to face suffering to stand for what they believe in. It is about how someone acts or handles what happens to them because of what they believe in. I think that Job did show fortitude in being willing to face hardships related to his faith in God. As mentioned before, in Job 2:10, Job told his wife that after all that God has provided for them, they must also be willing to keep their faith through the difficult times. Job could have become angry and cursed God. After everything he had lost, it seems like he would have had good reasons to be angry. However, what would it have changed? It would not have

Humanity cannot be defined in two simple terms. Two words are not enough to completely encompass everyone and everything, but that is exactly what humans do. It is the duty of humanity to learn and grow which is why mankind must formulate more concise and clear definitions of good and evil. It is flabbergasting that the human species has not been intelligent enough to learn this lesson yet. Continuing, the current definition of evil is too relative to be the same for every human being. Consider the question, do humans have the right to do whatever they can to survive? Secondly, look at Thomas Hobbes’ point of view on the social contract and finally reflect on William Golding’s Lord of the flies for a unique perspective on human nature in extraneous situations.