The Individual in Judaism and Hinduism

"I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit." Kahlil Gibran

First, let’s look at the topic of the innocent victims. Job was a very good man. He rose early in the morning to offer sacrifices to God on behalf of his children, He loved God, and did no evil. So why would God allow such awful things to happen to him? People often say God is inconsistent and seems to cause tragic things to happen for no reason at all. This is a very unfitting way of looking at things.

There are many similarities between the Hercules myth and the Book of Genesis. One of the differences is that the serpent, is the advisor of humankind in Hercules, while in genesis, the serpent is our imposter. Greek and Eve and Adam went against the words of God and his teachings. In the Greek religion, there is no creator “God”.  Zeus, who is known as “ the father of men and gods” according  to Hesiod and Hera who known as the single mother of all humankind, are the creators of the book civilization.

The Book of Job is of wisdom genre. Job was a righteous, rich man. God and Satan have a confrontation regarding Job’s faith in God. God allows Satan to test Job by taking away his family, sheep, camels, and servants. Job was passed the test. Job was tested again. This time it was his health that was taken away. Job speaks to his three friends and curses the day he was born. The four of them have a lengthy conversation as to why Job is being punished. Elihu enters the conversation and becomes somewhat angry with Job’s lack of faith in God. God speaks to Job in question form. Job repents. God speaks the three friends and advises them to sacrifice a burnt offering. Job was them made prosperous and was “given twice as much as he had before” by God.

His nature, however, is problematic to interpret. The God’s concepts in the book differ from the ones described in the New Testament. Here he is not charitable, merciful, and kind God, we used to know. He appears as omnipotent and even egoistic God with uncoherent speeches and deceptive appearances. At the end of the book He has a conversation not only with Job but with the whole Earth population. He requires them to comprehend the complexity of the universe, to admit their ignorance, and to appreciate the difficult work done by Him ruling the universe.

Zaphar tells Job that he must put away his sins and then God will restore him to former form.3 By saying this, Zaphar claims that once Job repents for the sins he has committed, God will heal Job and he will be well once again. Similar to Zaphar’s speech, Bildad asks Job if he should be blameless and that surely God will awaken in him and restore him to his former domain.4 After these speeches Eliphaz tells Job “Call now! Will anyone respond to you? To which of the holy ones will you appeal?”5 By saying this, he is telling Job to call for help and pity from God and religious officials. He is also claiming that Job does not appeal to anyone in his current state because of his leprosy and distorted state. After all of these accusations and claims against Job, the thought that he may truly be innocent never crosses any of the friends minds.7 And after his friend’s speeches, Job’s other friend Elihu cannot hold his thoughts in any more and begins a tirade against Job.

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.

For many religions, there exists a thin line for the individual people balancing what their faith requires and influences of the outside world. Judaism is deeply rooted and rich with traditions, many of which are fundamental to the religion itself. Sometimes these cultural traditions appear to create difference and conflict with those outside the faith. Fortunately, to live in America means that we citizens of this nation by law are granted individual rights and liberties to conduct our lives as we see fit. The free exercise of religious is protected expressly under the first amendment, so long as they do not infringe on the rights and liberties of others. These rights extend to all races, ethnic groups, religions, and cultures in America, a protected melting pot of ways to live out our lives. Including the liberty to integrate and connect with a closed community, like Hasidic Judaism, which from the outside may appear alien.

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

Job looks for truth when he talks to his friends. They debate about the truth concerning who God is and why he is punishing Job. Elihu puts his input about what he thing the truth about God is. Elihu is angry that Job believes that he is in the right, instead of God, also he is angry that Job’s friends were not able to disprove Job’s statements (Job 11-12). Elihu says that God can let the righteous suffer to

The Hinduism religion is a monotheistic religion. The world’s oldest religion is hinduism it is traced back to 5,000-100,000 B.C. The religion of Hinduism created reincarnation, and also developed yoga. If you believed in Hinduism your were called Hindus. Reincarnation means the rebirth of a person’s soul. Yoga is a way of training to be a leader of the union. Credit to World History book.

“Good” people in Judaism and Christianity are people who fear their God and strive to please Him. Sometimes they would even do sacrifice rituals. The Book of Job clearly shows a man who fears his God so much that even when he loses everything he owns, he is just as faithful. Job only questioned God’s motives for a moment. When God appeared in a Theophany, Job was overwhelmed and believed God when he said that Job was just a small part of the world He created and that Job could not possibly comprehend the universe as a whole. The book of Job is seen as a test of faith. The author of the Book of Job would define the evil in the world as a test of faith.

They then say that God is just and that his sons and daughters had died because of their own sins. Then God appears before Job and curses him asking why he was not there when he created the world or why he isn't omnipotent. God goes on about how Job dares question God's power, wisdom and decisions. God continues to pound him with questions and Job apologizes for questioning God and finally repents to God. God then addresses Job's three friends and tells them that they have angered God and they have to offer seven bulls and seven rams to clear their wrongdoings against God. After all the repenting and prayers, God then gives back all of Job's losses, blessing him with twice the number of livestock he had before and blessing Job with seven sons and three daughters. Job goes on to live joyously for another 140 years before dying.

Eastern philosophies and religions have long been against the idea of individualism. Hinduism for instance, believes that individualism is an illusion. It is the collective that holds the power in such beliefs. The idea that an individual is any different from the collective is considered to be a naïve view. It is not that the philosophy discounts the existence of the individual, it only goes against the fact that an individual is somehow different from the collective. In other words an individual is part of the whole and thus the feeling and sense of identity is an illusion.

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