Further Exposition on the God of the Holy Bible Attacking, ‘Punishing’ or ‘Cursing

To any Bible reader or person(s) curious about Bible doctrine, I invite you to read and ponder this article that I am preparing for you. It addresses one of the most important issues in Christian doctrine and theology, and that question is, “Does God attack or punish people or their descendants as a part of his master plan for man-kind?”

Note: Due to the multi-layered nature of this discussion, the article is lengthy.

My Answer: The God of the Holy Bible does not attack people; nor does he punish or curse people or their progeny because of some sin that they commit, or so forth. Unfortunately, there are many misinformed (or maladjusted) Christians who have been taught otherwise. The pastors, ministers, bishops etc., of these misguided believers oftentimes point to Bible scriptures (and there are many to point to) that illustrate that a god, namely, God, the supreme being of the biblical universe, punishes people in horrific ways; from destroying their finances, their marriages, their health, and their careers, and deteriorating their mental health, to causing harm, or allowing harm to come to their families or pets, and/or killing that person or “allowing” them or their family to be killed or irrevocably harmed by a third party.

I have addressed this erroneous line of thinking and doctrine from the context of God personally punishing someone for any reason, with Galatians 3:13 as my foundation. You can find that article on my LinkedIn page. I would however like to address another biblical narrative that the more ‘zealous’ Christians believe is ‘proof’ that God allows or pre-ordains hardship, misfortune, or disaster to come into someone’s life as a part of his “divine plan’ or for his ‘self-glorification.’ This scriptures deals with the question of God allowing Satan or a proxy of Satan to harm or cause trouble for someone as a “test” of that person’s faith, because that person transgressed against God, or for another reason.

The narrative that I speak of comes from the book of Job 1:6-12. In this story, Satan, the adversary of mankind, approaches God and after a brief exchange of words, God tells Satan that he has a follower named Job who is the purest man on Earth and that Satan is incapable of causing harm to him due to his uprightness, conscientiousness, and overall righteousness. Satan responds disdainfully and with a challenge, telling God that he has placed a divine “hedge of protection” (or spiritual blockade) around Job, and that if God were to remove that protection, that Satan would be able to destroy every aspect of Job’s life, and that Job would turn on God, and curse (renounce) his name.

God, knowing that Job would not renounce him, took Satan’s challenge, and removed Job’s divine protective blockade, telling Satan that he could take everything Job has, including his health, so long as he does not kill Job outright. Satan left God’s presence, and soon after, began using proxies, namely, the South-Arabian Sabaeans, the mortal enemies of the Iraqi-Semitic tribes that Job and his family belonged to, to kill Job’s livestock, an his servants, and a tornado which destroyed Job’s property, and ended the lives of his young male family members. Furthermore, Satan (somehow) caused painful sores, or boils to grow all over Job’s body.

This narrative culminates with Job keeping his faith, declaring “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21) Eventually, God rewarded Job’s patience by giving him back two-fold everything he had before Satan’s attack. There are over-zealous believers that point to this story to prove that God allows Satan, or proxies of Satan to harm a person to either test their faith, or for another reason.

I contend that this story does not illustrate how the God of the Bible reprimands or test the faith of people. Simply put, and biblically speaking,, the story of Job is an Old Testament story; (4,000 BCE-425 BCE) today’s people live in New Testament times (1 CE-Present). The Old Testament is here for our learning, (Romans 15:4) but to say that the miraculous, devastating, or unexplainable events of the Old Testament can happen today, is inaccurate and a source of frustration for example for Christians that believe that they can be healed with a prayer or that their worst enemy could be rendered incapable by the hand of God, and these things don’t happen.

Certainly there are instances of God punishing people in the New Testament as well, up to and including their death. (See the story of Ananias and his wife Saphira in Acts chapter 5 who were killed by God’s Holy Spirit for lying to the apostle Peter about their financial gains and thus their tithe-paying capabilities.) As is the case of the story of Job, this event is a faith promoting story, is allegorical in nature, and should be examined accordingly. Stories like these are not how the God of the Bible deals with mankind, should such a God exist. Hypothetically speaking, if anyone believes that the cause of their calamity is God or Satan or any Bible character for that matter, it is as King Solomon would say “vanity and vexation of spirit.” Don’t do it to yourself. That kind of thinking is errant and troublesome. If your experience the disappointment, or ponderances of negativity from events like for example, your elderly relative passing away, or maybe someone close to you dies before their time, your child failing a math test, or your best friend getting injured in a car accident, or perhaps your pet dog comes down with cancer, or maybe you were fired from your job, or got passed over on that promotion that you deserved; there is always an explainable reason. Never assume that a sin that you committed or a sin that your ancestors committed is the root cause. We live in a material world, and one that according to Ephesians 2:2 is lock-stock-and-barrel controlled by Satan; could God go against this Bible truth and cause something good or evil to happen to you? The answer is no. The Bible explored spiritual concepts for the human spirit; an immaterial God would not negate his supremacy by punishing flawed mortals over and over and over again so as to prove the validity of a holy book. Your brain, which is the most fabulously complex unit in the known universe and should be conditioned, honed, and prepared to handled the material, intelligible, and tangible circumstances in which you may find yourself.

This image is entitled: Job on his manure – by Jean Fouquet c. 1455 (France)

Technical Notes on this image are as follows: 2-R41-Y5-1455 ——————– D: ——————– J. Fouquet, Hiob auf dem Mist /Buchmal. Fouquet, Jean; um 1415/20 – 1477/81. “Job sur son fumier” (Hiob auf dem Mist, von seinen Freunden verspottet; im Hin- tergrund das Schloss Vincennes), um 1455. Buchmalerei. Auf Pergament,16,5 x 12 cm. Aus dem “Livre d’heures d’Étienne Che- valier” (Stundenbuch des franz. Schatz- meisters Étienne Chevalier), 2. Bild der “Office des Morts”, Ms.fr.71 Chantilly, Musee Conde. ——————– E: ——————– J. Fouquet, Job on the dung / Illumin. Fouquet, Jean; c.1415/20 – 1477/81. “Job sur son fumier” (Job on the dung, mocked by his friends, in the background Vincennes Castle), c.1455. Illumination, on parchmnet, c.16.5×12 cm From: “Livre d’heures d’Étienne Cheval- ier”(Book of Hours of the French treasu- rer Étienne Chevalier), 2nd image of “Office des Morts”, Ms.fr.71 Chantilly, Musee Conde. ——————– F: ——————– Jean Fouquet, Job sur le fumier / Enlum. Fouquet, Jean ; vers 1415/20 – 1477/81. “Job sur son fumier” (ridiculise par ses amis ; au fond le château de Vincennes), vers 1455. Enluminure. Sur parchemin, 16,5 x 12 cm. Du “Livre d’heures d’Étienne Chevalier” (tresorier de France vers 1455), 2eme miniature des “Office des Morts”, Ms. fr. 71 Chantilly, Musee Conde.