The J.B. by Archibald MacLeish Argues Why God Allows Evil and Suffering

In the book of Job God boasts to Satan about Job’s goodness, but Satan argues that Job is only good because God has blessed him abundantly. Satan challenges God that, if given permission to punish the man, Job would no longer worship him and turn from him and curse God. In one day, Job receives four messages, each bearing separate news that his livestock, servants, and ten children have all died due to marauding, yet Job continues to bless God in his prayers. Satan appears again with another test for job yet this time; Job is afflicted with horrible skin sores. Eventually he is also told by his wife to curse god but yet Job refuses her request and accepts the outcomes.

Why Does God allow suffering? This question is probably as old as religion itself. It is a stumbling block for some of us, and for many more at given moments of tragedy. There are as many answers to this question as there are people who care to engage in theological dialogue. One understanding is that yes, God allows "bad" things to happen; God does not cause them to happen.

Throughout history, the Problem of Evil has always been a topic of debate between many philosophers. Some philosophers find it impossible for the existence of an all-knowing God and the existence of evil at the same time. Other theists have been able to defend how the two are compatible. J.L. Mackie, a former Philosophy professor at Oxford, attempted to prove the theists’ arguments of the co-existence of God and evil to be invalid. Mackie presents many counterarguments for the Problem of Evil.

Her daughter Sarah was six years old and suffered horribly for nine days until she died. She describes to us how awful it was and how she had nothing to comfort her except for a little cold water, but when she dies she once again gives God the glory that he kept her mentally strong. “For preserving me in the use of my reason and senses in that distressed time, that I did not use wicked and violent means to end my own miserable life” (Rowlandson 132). Shortly after her daughter dies, she goes to see her ten-year-old daughter Mary. However, because Mary weeps

The Book of Job dives into the life of a blessed and faithful man in which his life takes an unsuspecting turn. From the loss of property and loved ones, to only be accused of wickedness by friends as the explanation of this calamity that has befallen Job. Author J. Gerald Janzen, whose personal struggle has opened a corridor that creates a connection with the life of Job takes us on a walk with Job through his journey from prosperity, to loss and bitterness then into the presence of God. At the Scent of Water will open our mind to the possibility of hope and grace to anyone who has gone through suffering in the past or is going through times of difficulty in the presence.

In Richard Swinburne’s section entitled, “Why God Allows Evil,” Swinburne states that evil is necessary for human beings to allow for the ability of free and responsible choice. He then divides evil into two categories, moral and natural evil, and argues that both are significant and necessary for free and responsible choice, but for different reasons. Moral evil is, “All evil caused deliberately by human beings doing what they ought not to do…and also the evil constituted by such deliberate actions or negligent failure,” (p.90). While natural evil is, “All evil which is not allowed by human beings to occur as a result of their negligence. Natural evil includes both physical suffering and mental suffering, of animals as well as humans; all the trail of suffering which disease, natural disasters, and accidents unpredictable by humans bring in their train,” (p.90). Furthermore, Swinburne claims that natural evil makes it possible for human beings to have free and responsible choice in a fairly significant way. I disagree to an extent and believe this claim to be weak due to Swinburne’s reasoning because of the implication that natural evil is the only way to experience these choices and the majority of the fundamental instances of choice that natural evil provides human beings with can be found within moral evil.

Author explained in his sermon why God allows Tragedy and suffering in .... He said that God did not create suffering; mankind did. God gave us free will in order for us to truly love Him, but mankind decided to turn away from Him. When humans rebelled, sin entered the earth and corrupted nature and human morality. We are the ones who choose whether we sin or not, and that creates an effect resulting in a tragedy or a blessing.

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

The problem of evil has been around since the beginning. How could God allow such suffering of his “chosen people”? God is supposedly all loving (omni-benevolent) and all powerful (omnipotent) and yet He allows His creations to live in a world of danger and pain. Two philosophers this class has discussed pertaining to this problem is B.C. Johnson and John Hick. Johnson provides the theists’ defense of God and he argues them. These include free will, moral urgency, the laws of nature, and God’s “higher morality”. Hick examines two types of theodicies – the Augustinian position and the Irenaeus position. These positions also deal with free will, virtue (or moral urgency), and the laws of nature. Johnson

If God loves us, why does He allow us to suffer? The central question in Shadowlands challenges traditional religious and moral conventions. It is a question asked by many, with few satisfactory answers. Before attempting to answer the question, and explore its relationship to Shadowlands, let us first define the question, so its implications may be more clearly understood. At the heart of the question is a doubt in the goodness of God, "If God loves us". From the beginning it is clear that God is being judged and criticized by the question. Then the second phrase follows"Why does He allow us to suffer?". The assumption made in the second phrase is that God has enough control over the world to prevent suffering. If He can prevent

The existence of famine, war, disease, and other distasteful aspects of humanity pose a tough, insistent question as to why God chose to create evil. As an infinitely powerful creator, surely a morally perfect God can and should create a world where evil does not exist in the first place. To propose otherwise seems to paint God as a malevolent being who apparently takes joy in watching the chaos. Bernard Leikind (2010) is a physicist who published an article that paints a representation of the mystery of evil as seen by most non-believers. In his article, Leikind uses the Old Testament biblical figure Job to support a malevolent God who just as easily gives as he takes away. He references Job 38:1-4 (NIV):

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.

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.

Alas, poor Job is left to ponder why such misfortunes were heaped upon him, for God never really answers this question. Moreover, throughout history, people have been pondering the very same question. Many books and essays have been written on "The Book of Job" in an attempt to try to explain the cause of suffering, but the theories that have been extracted have had primarily western theological overtones.

In the book of Job, the author portrays the importance of true friendship as the biggest lesson in the book, which can be applied to the reader’s daily life. This lesson is shown through examples of good and bad friendship, which are reflected by the characters who play the role of Job’s friends, family, God, and Satan, and these examples help to demonstrate that true friendship enriches Job’s and others lives. True friendship is the key to having a happy life and that is exactly what Job achieves after choosing good friends rather than bad friends. This decision also allows Job to decide on his own and not be led to different conclusions from bad friends’ selfish suggestions. Job chooses good friends over bad because if he sides with the friends that display qualities of a bad friend, then he would end up in a worse predicament than he is in. Choosing good friends is important because it makes Job the best person he can be and makes his life better. From this, the interpretation of true friendship is found as the reader connects these examples of Job, favoring one friend over the other, to their own individual life in such a way that they are able to recognize who their true friend really is. This capability is manifested as the reader particularizes the examples of Job to their own life through the understanding of the text.