My Confession: Reflections on Job 15

 

I continue my reflections on Job.

After hearing Job defend himself yet again, Eliphaz the Temanite responds.

The meaninglessness of Job's defence

Eliphaz accuses Job of engaging in empty rhetoric.

“Would a wise person answer with empty notions
    or fill their belly with the hot east wind?
 Would they argue with useless words,
    with speeches that have no value?" - Job 15: 2-3

He criticises Job's wisdom and claiming that Job's limited experience of a human limits his understanding of God.

“Are you the first man ever born?
    Were you brought forth before the hills?
 Do you listen in on God’s council?
    Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
What do you know that we do not know?
    What insights do you have that we do not have?
 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
    men even older than your father."- Job 15: 7-10

Eliphaz puts forth his wisdom on the consequence of good and evil

Eliphaz then explains his position.

“What are mortals, that they could be pure,
    or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?" - Job 15: 14

“Listen to me and I will explain to you;
    let me tell you what I have seen,
 what the wise have declared,
    hiding nothing received from their ancestors
 (to whom alone the land was given when no foreigners moved among them):
All his days the wicked man suffers torment,
    the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him." - Job 15: 17 -20

In fact, he reiterated that the wicked will face punishment.

"Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless,
    for he will get nothing in return.
 Before his time he will wither,
    and his branches will not flourish.
He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,
    like an olive tree shedding its blossoms." - Job 15: 31-33

Impressions

I think my first takeaway is that despite Eliphaz's claim that no mortal has monopoly on wisdom (Job 15:8), he presents his own wisdom to counter Job's earlier arguments. Eliphaz's justification was that Job was not the first man alive or the oldest or had a vast wealth of experience.

Such ad-hoc arguments may be good for a sound bite, but none of what Eliphaz said had any bearing on what Job had discussed before. What had Job done wrong that God allowed the misfortunate of the loss of wealth and the death of his loved ones to fall on him? (Job 12:7-9)

Finally Eliphaz affirms earlier claims (eg: Job 8:2-3)that Job must have done something wicked to deserve such fate. As this did not sway Job the first few times, Eliphaz repeat of the logic reveals that he may lack the wisdom that he felt Job lacked.

This lack of wisdom will eventually be addressed in the next chapters, Job 16-17.

My Confession: My reflection on Job 9-10

 

I continue my reflections on Job.

Synopsis
After Bildad's simplification of God's justice in Job 8, Job expressed his understanding that it is impossible to show your innocence in the light of God's power and wisdom.

Then Job replied:
“Indeed, I know that this is true.
    But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?
 Though they wished to dispute with him,
    they could not answer him one time out of a thousand.
 His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
    Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?" - Job 9:1-4

Yet Job maintains his innocence.

“Although I am blameless,
    I have no concern for myself;
    I despise my own life." - Job 9: 21

In addition, there is no point repenting because he has already been deemed guilty and he has no way of addressing his charges.

"If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
    I will change my expression, and smile,’
I still dread all my sufferings,
    for I know you will not hold me innocent.
 Since I am already found guilty,
    why should I struggle in vain?" - Job 9:27-29

“He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him,
    that we might confront each other in court.
 If only there were someone to mediate between us,
    someone to bring us together,
 someone to remove God’s rod from me,
    so that his terror would frighten me no more" - Job 9: 32-35

Job therefore chooses to complain. He questions God, on why Job was born and then made to suffer.

“I loathe my very life;
    therefore I will give free rein to my complaint
    and speak out in the bitterness of my soul." - Job 10:1

“Your hands shaped me and made me. 
    Will you now turn and destroy me?
 Remember that you molded me like clay.
    Will you now turn me to dust again?" - Job 10: 8-9

Job also demands an answer to whether he is guilty or innocent. He also recognsied that there is no apparent difference between his fate whether he had sinned or not.

"If I am guilty—woe to me!
    Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head,
for I am full of shame
    and drowned in my affliction." - Job 10: 15

Reflections
What strikes me is that Job did not take the easy way out and just agree with his friends. To Him, God is a living all-powerful entity. He did not want to pay lip-service to God and suffer in silence over his innocence.

He also brings up an important message - what is the point of being innocent or guilty if the result is the same? Yet Job rightly points out that he has no entitlements; God does not have to answer his demand for a mediation.

Thus in a way, Job respects God's demand for authenticity (by being honest) and respect (by recognizing his status with God).

It would be easier if you were just a thought in my head
Simply something that I once read
A belief needing my defense

And it would be easier if you were something I once knew
A hope just to hold on to
But you're holding out your hands -- Tenth Avenue North (from the song The Truth Is Who You Are)

Alternative Culture: Kyle Rittenhouse, truth and lies

 

Kyle Rittenhouse preparing to testfy

Recently, Kyle Rittenhouse declared "not guilty" of all charges, after shooting three men in self-defence at Kenosha, Wisconsin, 25 Aug 2020. Two of the men died, and the third man was severely injured.

I have been following the case, and I have to admit that it was one of the clearest case of self-defence I had ever seen.

Rittenhouse had went to Kenosha (where Black Life Matters protestors) to defend property and render first-aid. He even treated the protestors (whom he disagreed with politically). After being chased by three men (one of whom reached for Rittenhouse's rifle, another hit Rittenhouse with a skateboard and another drew his gun at Rittenhouse), Rittenhouse opened fire while retreating. Rittenhouse surrendered himself to the police straight after that.

Despite that, I am disgusted by the behaviour of the prosecution and the media coverage of the trial. For instance, 

A) NBC tried to make it a racial issue, although the men Rittenhouse shot were of the same skin colour as him.

B) The Guardian (which I used to have immense respect for) tried to make it sound like Rittenhouse went to Kenosha looking for trouble. This ignores the fact that Rittenhouse worked in Kenosha, his father lives in Kenosha and that he was asked to protect properties by small business owners.

C) Ana Kasparian of the Young Turks even conceded that she did not watch the video of the incident, even though it was available since last year

D) The state prosecutors brought tempered evidence and questioned rights during the trial.

I am left wondering why such obvious lies and falsehoods are being peddled. 

Theological review

Although not quoted in the context of this trial, I am beginning to see how trading truth for lies is in action (Romans 1:25).

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen - Romans 1:25 

I continue to pray that we as a community will not be misled by ideologues and always seek truth.

Alternative culture: The City Harvest Case

St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, July 2011

Recently, five members of the City Harvest Church (including the pastor) were arrested. City Harvest Church is one of the biggest churches in Singapore.

Now, if you came to this site for a legal analysis on what happened-- you will not find it in this blog. If you came over here for a theological discussion and expect me to criticise the theology of City Harvest Church, you will not find it here either. Personally, I have never heard any sermon from City Harvest, so I do not want to write about something I know nothing about.

Nevertheless, some of my friends have approached me to blog about the incident, and I shall obliged them. This my stand, short and simple. I will pray for them.

My temptation
I must confess that I am tempted to cut City Harvest  from the community of Christians, by making sweeping statements like the following:

"It's not my church!"

"They weren't really Christians in the first place!"

But the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthains 12:26:
If one part [of the church] suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

So as a Christian, I must not take joy or self-righteousness from the trials that City Harvest is going through now.

God of justice
Often we Christians just portray God as slow to anger, and abounding in love (Jonah 4:1-2). However, we often forget that God is just.

In his struggles, King David wrote in the Psalms 11:7:
For the Lord is righteous,
    he loves justice;
    the upright will see his face.


As Christians, we should be concerned with social justice (helping the needy and the poor) and legal justice (doing things according to the laws of the state).

Conclusion
So my prayer is this-- if the involved parties are guilty, let them be charged. If they are innocent, let them be free. Above all, God's will be done. That's all I'm willing to blog about the matter.

With Due Respect: God is unfair!

Poor apologetics

One of the most common mistakes that most of my Christian friends (and I) make is to jump into a direct rebuttal to our non-Christian friends. However, that demostrates poor listening skills. Often people expressed an opinion (in this case on the fairness of God), we give them 101 reasons or examples why God is fair. But we need to get to the heart of the issue-- what do they actually mean?

The concept of grace is unfair!
One way that they could actually mean is that grace is unfair-- how can God make salvation something a gift rather than something we can earn?


If you think about it deeply, it is true-- the concept of grace is unfair. By dying on the cross to redeem mankind, God made salvation a gift, rather than something anyone deserves(Romans 5: 6-8). Because if God gives us what we deserve, we'll go to hell--no one is simply good enough (Romans 3: 9-20).

Attempting to define God's intention
Another aspect that non-Christians may misunderstand is to set up false aims that the Christian God intented to achieve. For instance, some may argue that if God was fair, everyone would be healthy, wealthy or the like.

However, nowhere in the Bible does it state that God's ultimate intention for mankind is for everyone to be without illness or poverty.

Conclusion
When non-believers say that God is unfair we must carefully examine what they mean, instead of giving textbook answers without getting to the heart of the matter.

Note that this list of potential reasons why non-Christians view God is unfair is not exhaustive, but simply a starter to such conversations.