Pamela Jean over at Coming2Terms had an excellent post that got me to thinking about suffering and how society reacts to it. Interestingly, I had just come from reading a rather vitriolic set of comments about victims of the banking industry – where they were blamed for what would have been illegal lending practices just a decade prior. She was talking about the idea of the just world and how it damages the ability to feel compassion and empathy.
Pamela Jean’s article struck me with how many people of faith fall into this falsehood. In the case of her blog post, she was talking about how many people judge those dealing with infertility as somehow being deserving of this fate. Of course, these are the same folks who believe any disease or circumstance is a punishment from God. Well, these folks are just plain wrong from a Biblical perspective.
I believe both Christian and Jewish people of faith are familiar with the Book of Job and how he is visited with plague upon plague due to the adversary’s challenge towards God’s belief in Job’s faith. I wonder if a read-along with discussion would interest anyone? If it would, I would tend towards using the King James Version since it is:
- Familiar widely – despite some of the inaccuracies in the translation;
- Out of copyright - so I don’t get attacked by the RIAA;
- And available online for both reading and download:
If no one is interested, I may continue with my own navel gazing, but I would be really interested in a diverse group’s thoughts on this Biblical story. It is considered somewhat controversial due to its scenes with the adversary and God – among other reasons. It would also be interesting to try and figure out the culture(s) that influenced its present form, after all, it is the oldest known scriptural writing included in the Bible.