Suffering In The Bible Research Paper

The idea of consequence is relayed through the merciless punishment God bestows upon Cain after realizing what he did. By declaring Cain a vagabond and fugitive, he feels the same sense of isolation, which eventually becomes too much for him to bear. God draws a clear distinction between consequence and senseless violence and ruthlessness. After rolling back on His punishment, God gives in and asserts that “whoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold,” from this two things are identified, one, is that creating more violence is not a solution, and two, God’s character is becoming more dynamic and fluid as the story goes through the Genesis.

In Genesis, God interacts with Adam by speaking to him face to face. Whether God was giving out instructions or punishment to Adam and Eve, he was always doing it on a personal level. The usual portrayal of God as an omniscient being is instead replaced as mentor to Adam and Eve who is trying to help them understand their existence. This close relationship is shown even when man does something wrong. The only rule that God gives to Adam is that he must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve go on to break the singular rule and be punished; but not to the extent most would think. Before partaking of the fruit God says that, "the day that you eat of it you shall die"(Genesis). Instead of dying, Adam and Eve are removed from the garden and go begin their lives. God punishes them for their actions, but also gives clothes and allows them to take the knowledge they have gained from the tree. Even after breaking the one rule that he has set for them, God allowed them to keep the knowledge they gained to begin mankind. This grace towards humanity is shown once again with Adam and Eve's children, Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel after God accepts Abel's offering and not his own. Even with Cain having killed his own brother, God still does not punish Cain severally; "you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth"(Genesis). This punishment is especially seen as inadequate as Cain goes on to settle in Nod and have his own family. This mercy by God shows that he was unable to punish humanity even for the most serious of offenses. This lack of punishment shows God's sympathy for mankind because of his close relationship with them. This close relationship stems from God's close bond with mankind because of their similar image and knowledge. This relationship that began as two very similar beings, has further blossomed as God has given great responsibility to

God had recognized Abel over Cain and this had turned into jealousy and anger. Both of the brothers are well deserving of the love from God because both of them give God offerings. The failure of recognition leads Cain to murder his brother Abel. God seems to be like a father figure for these two boys and clearly Cain becomes jealous because God seems to recognize Abel more. Even though they both provide God with offerings. This story of Cain and Abel isn’t simply about brotherly love, but what jealousy and anger can lead to. This story provides us with a narrative explanation of what the feelings of guilt and loneliness represent.3 I think if God had equally recognized Cain and Abel then this story would have been very different and then it wouldn’t have ended the way it did. Cain murders Able not because Cain wanted to gain God’s recognition but to simply avoid recognition by Abel.3 Clearly Cain was jealous that God wasn’t giving him the attention and recognition he thought he had deserved. Cain would rather kill Abel than to see God appreciate Abel and shun Cain. After the murder God is very disappointed in Cain and God thought he had to punish him in some way. “And now you are cursed from ground, which has opened it’s mouth to receive your brother’s blood from

The existence of pain and suffering in a world created by a good and almighty God is a fundamental theological dilemma and may be the most serious objection to the Christian religion. In the book, The Problem Of Pain , author C.S. Lewis addresses the issue of pain as a mere problem that demands a solution; he formulates it and goes about solving it. "If God were good, He would make His creatures perfectly happy, and if He were almighty He would be able to do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God lacks either goodness, or power, or both" (p. 16). According to Lewis, this is the problem of pain in its simplest form. In his attempt to solve the problem of pain Lewis evaluates the past and the origin of religion, he

The purpose of this research paper is to compare the public view of suffering in the Old Testament with the public view of suffering in the modern world. In order to properly achieve this comparison, I will explain the relationship between God and His believers in the Old Testament. More specifically, I will elaborate on the opinion that God is the cause of everything, including suffering and relate it to the first poetic book in the Old Testament, the Book of Job. However, influenced by the changes in science, upbringing, and multiculturalism this commonly held view changes. Therefore, I will explain the meaning of each of these three factors as well as their negative impact on religion. Finally, I will use three television shows as examples

There are all sorts of variations around this theme of being too poor to help. Most of us have had times in our lives when money was tight, and giving to the Lord was difficult and a real sacrifice. Invariably though, we can find enough for some of the other things that are not essential—it’s usually a matter of priority and whether we value what the Lord has done for us enough to make giving work.

In this verse, Job was praying to God but the message in this passage is telling us that only he has the true authority to choose when we should live or die. Our times are in his hands, the powers of nature act under him; in him we live and move. We should therefore humble ourselves before God, and cast ourselves wholly on the mercy of God, through our Divine Surety. He has just given utterance to an intense longing for a life beyond the grave. Job’s friends tried to help Job, but their advice was wrong. They did not think that God would allow an innocent person to suffer so they thought that Job was guilty. They guessed that Job had done a lot of bad things but that wasn’t the case. God was merely trying to prove to the

God comes to Cain to confront him with the responsibility and Cain denies him. God comes not to find the truth, but to allow Cain the opportunity to admit the truth. Never being able to admit his sin and receive God's blessing, he receives a curse. His farming shall not flourish as it once did, and he must wander and be a fugitive. God puts a mark on Cain as one of deserving of death yet one chosen by God to live. One interpretation of the mark is that God believes death is too good for Cain and punishes him by making him live with what he has to do. It can also be looked at as allowing Cain an open door through which he can return whenever he is ready to face things more honestly.

Stephen Mitchell’s translation of The Book of Job tells the story of Job - an upright, righteous man with a big family and lots of property. He’s so perfect that God boasts him to Satan and describes him as “a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and avoids evil” (6). This prompts Satan to offer to take away everything meaningful to Job in order to test his faith to God, and God agrees to this. Just like that, Job loses all his servants, property, and family (except his wife). However, he stays loyal, prompting Satan to give him a plethora of rashes and blisters all over his body to further test him.

The term suffering can be defined as any unwanted condition and the corresponding negative emotion. It is usually associated with pain and unhappiness, but any condition can be described as suffering. Christians suffer throughout the world everyday and it is not through their lack of faith. Christians under Nero were persecuted for their faith in God, through this suffering God promised them a place in his kingdom. God also promises us a place in his kingdom, even though throughout our lives we will face the good times and the bad, God is always with us. Others believe that since God is a ‘good God' why does all this suffering exist? We don't know the answer to this but perhaps some people become better people through suffering.

Cain’s suffering lead to the moral actions have consequences. In the story, the Lord has a confrontation with Cain about the killing.

The Book of Job has been praised but also neglected all at the same time. Its literary work is written in a poetry sense with a prose format and considered one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time. The Book of Job is one of first book of five generally called "The Books of Poetry", which contain Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. The Book of Job is written in the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible and the main theme that is seeks out is "Why does God allow the righteous to suffer?" First of all I will be talking about the origins and history of the book, and then I will give a brief summary on the story and theme of what the Book of Job is addressing. I will then be breaking down, in

The concept of suffering plays an important role in Christianity, regarding such matters as moral conduct, spiritual advancement and ultimate destiny. Indeed an emphasis on suffering pervades the Gospel of Mark where, it can be argued, we are shown how to "journey through suffering" (Ditzel 2001) in the image of the "Suffering Son of Man" (Mark 8:32), Jesus Christ. Although theologians have suggested that Mark was written to strengthen the resolve of the early Christian community (Halpern 2002, Mayerfeld 2005), the underlying moral is not lost on a modern reader grappling with multifarious challenges regarding faith in the face of suffering. In his article "A Christian Response to Suffering", William Marravee (1987) describes suffering

Firstly, Job seems to be just a regular human. Many of the Old Testament characters are prophets and perform miracles through the will of God. I think this is still possible, but just does not happen to the magnitude today that it happened in The Bible. Job does not perform these miracles or share prophetic messages. The only thing that sets him apart from the regular population is that he follows God closely and has a very successful family. He has thousands of sheep and camels, hundreds of oxen and donkeys, hundreds of servants, and ten successful children all because he follows the Word of God very closely. He fears God, loves Him, and wishes only to follow

Commentary: Many people look at this story and think “wow, Job was a man of God and God would still tear everything from Job, God is cruel and mean”. However, if the reading was continued to the ending of the book of Job it would be discovered that Job, similar to the story