Old Testament II : A Small Scale Treatment On Theodicy- From The Texts Of Ecclesiastes And Job

The problem of evil is a significant and enduring philosophical and theological debate. A question is often raised and discussed: if God is both all-loving and all-powerful, then how can evils-including natural evil and moral evil---exist in our world? In response to the charge that the evils of the world are incompatible with God's omnipotence and perfect goodness, the word"theodicy" is coined to deal with the problem of evil. Usually it is an attempt to show that it is possible to affirm the omnipotence of God, the love of God, and the reality of evil without contradiction. Two of the most well-known and most frequently discussed theodicies are the Augustinian theodicy and the Irenaean theodicy.

Theories X & Y have existed since the times of the Bible. Through analytical evaluation of situations in the Bible, we can see the results of using either theory.

An examination of Israelite theology goes beyond finding similarities and differences, it should articulate the relationships which existed and clarify the cultural context. Otherwise, the mere interpretation of text may lead to interpretation with a theological significance based on our understanding.

The author uses distancing strategy to enable the engagement of the exilic and postexilic community. To highlight the two biblical paradigms for divine human-relationship, clan-personal and cosmic-political associated to Abraham and Moses that is evident the history of Israel. The text also plays out the argument between Job and friends within the Mosaic paradigm. The text also identifies the elements of the ancestral paradigm as reflected in the introduction of the name and themes of Shadday. We also see the paradigm of clan religion is primary in the book of job. With references to the two domains of human experience, the familial and the political and the associated models of religious understanding come together in Job’s oath to give healing and ease of pain. The text also provides a reflection on

In His faithfulness, the Lord as Divine Judge will judge His covenant people Israel after they disregard their covenant obligations and then offer them deliverance once they demonstrate repentance.

Liberal is a word whose meaning has multiple connotations. For many the word is synonymous with freedom and open-mindedness. For others, it refers to people and ideas that lack practicality and discipline. When the Puritans came to America in 1630, their leader John Winthrop told them to be liberal in spirit in a way that was like the prophet Nehemiah’s urgings and Matthew’s teachings of kindness. However, he also reminded his followers to balance benevolent generosity for strangers with prudent care for their families. He felt that kindness and liberality to the poor was the best way to show God’s love and grace. Winthrop felt that the Puritans should be willing to give up their desires to help provide the poor with the things that they needed. This is because materialism was thought to be counterproductive to the teachings of the Bible. The Bible teaches that one should have no god but God and that if a person focused too much on obtaining profit and materialistic pleasures they would perish. Since this period there has been a struggle in America to balance concern for oneself and one’s family with that of the community.

God created humans in his image, with his law embedded in our hearts. Therefore humans are the Image of God, and must live life according to his plans and purposes. His law was created for the wellbeing, peace and harmony of mankind. Living in his Image is very important; this would help each other to have a better life by not doing sinful acts like lying and stealing from each other. In the profession of Accounting living in an the Image of God allows me to provide an honest services, by providing financial reliable information for clients that then will make important decisions based on the information provided.

Solomon was the one that wrote most of Proverbs. Ecclesiastes; List the “10 vanities” and why the author say they are futile. Human wisdom-2:15-16, Human labor -2:19-21 14, Human purpose-2:26, Human rivalry-4:4, Human avarice-4:8, Human fame-4:16, Human insatiateness-5:10, Human coveting-6:9, Human frivolity-7:4, Human awards-8:10 Because of the word human in front of them and because of their own flesh.

One of the things that we learn from the full complement of all of the revelation of God’s word is that God does not treat us adversarially, as we are his children. He may permit us to experience suffering and hardship in this life. But, those things are not indications, in and of themselves, of God’s displeasure and that’s all that Job could see. But, we can have a strong faith; we can have a more informed faith to know that that is not a necessary imprint. That we don’t have to look at bad things in our life and say oh, God must be displeased with me, that is not necessarily true.

There were at least 3 views of how the Old Testament was composed which include the critical view, the compositional view, and the common view. Each view was somewhat similar and different in the aspects that gave it it's own characteristics. The main point of this discussion is to focus on the similarities and differences of each view which are but not limited to how the bible was created, the process, and design.

The Old Testament consisted of a set of documentations of religious scriptures, which were written by different people at various times for a different audience. Most of the Old Testament contains short stories of traditional stories and those stories of distinguished ways God established mankind. These stories are often told to the people in narrative form, which are guidelines often referred to as laws, songs, genealogies, and a list from these authors that composed the Old Testaments. The pressing of set documentation is essential because it is the framework for the lives of God 's followers. The term “Old Testament” originated as a means to express spoken traditions and God 's creation of that particular era. It is an method of philosophical investigation was designed to answer the why questions within these spiritual text documentations. These religious documentations consisted of four parts. These four sections retrieved from the Old Testaments are the laws, history, wisdom and prophecy. The laws are a rule of behavior enforced within the community. The rules are sometimes called “Torah.” When analyzing this Torah, these rules viewed within the first five spiritual books of the Bible. For example, in the first Torah in Genesis, it explains the creation, Noah’s Flood, Abraham and Isaac, and Joseph’s coats of many colors. However, the laws in Exodus were in regards to the going out. The going out took about 40 plus years, until the people led to

In the case of Christianity, we first consider how the human condition appears in The Book of Job, an exemplary text in this instance which tells the story of Job, a pious, righteous man who is relentlessly tormented by God. In several rounds of discussion

The first 39 books of the larger work called the Bible, is called the Old Testament. The Bible itself is arguably the best selling and most read book of all time, yet it’s well known to be quite challenging to read through and understand. The Old Testament portion of the Bible, notably the most difficult portion of the Bible for most to study and follow, yields 39 books from multiple authors, and spans over 4000 years of crucial world and church history. If that were not enough to take on, the Old Testament comes our way through multiple styles of authorship and formats, including but not limited to, books of history, law, proverbs, ethics,

Wisdom Tradition is a term applied to the Old Testament books of Proverbs, Job, Sirach, Wisdom of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. Wisdom Tradition books all share characteristics and points of view that are somewhat different than other biblical books. Wisdom tradition has very prominent characteristics from other books in the Old Testament such as a search for the goal of life, how to master it and questioning the problems of life, showing interest to human experiences that affect all people, joy of creativity and creation, and very little interest in the great acts of divine salvation. These qualities appear in a few books in the Old Testament. All of them show wisdom, but only some show both wisdom and tradition. Books such as Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes values the beauty of creation and the confidence of human life and nature. This was a new concept to Israel. They learned about wisdom tradition through other nations. They were influenced from Mesopotamian literature and took their ideas of meditations of sufferings and God’s justice into their Old Testament Books. Suffering can be seen in Job, but in the next essay and upcoming classes, we will be relating this to women suffering. The wisdom perspectives did not replace the other two major strands of thought in Ancient Israel, that of prophets and priests. It was simply a different focus that was complementary with the other perspectives presented in the Bible.

The concept of faith and suffering in the Hebrew Bible has filled worshippers with fraught throughout the ages of its existence. The crux of the matter is that there is no definition of what exactly these things are and what they mean, leading to many different theories to emerge on the concept of whether suffering is necessary for faith in God. This has historically caused strife between many populations of worshippers, and continues to be a point of bitter disagreement between people. Wildly contradicting itself between various books, the Hebrew Bible is at best ambiguous in many of these concepts, but when analyzing small passages, certain themes can be argued for with much more strength. In the Book of Job, loyalty to God is questioned, and ultimately the theme of free will in faith is addressed through the pain and suffering of its characters.