- Upcoming Activist
Opportunities
- Job and the Theodicy Problem, part 2
- This
Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman
1. Upcoming
Activist Opportunities
9/25 CO
Denver
Hillsong Live Cornerstone Tour
9/25
CO Denver
Hillsong Live Cornerstone Tour
9/29
NC Charlotte Kutless Christian
Rock Concert
9/28-29 CO Denver
Women of Faith Conference
9/28-29 PA Pittsburgh
Women of Faith Conference
9/28-28 MA Amherst
Acquire The Fire Youth Conference
9/30
GA Valdosta Kutless Believer
Tour
10/3 NY New York City
LaCrae Unashamed Tour
10/5-6 WI Milwaukee
Women Of Faith Conference
10/5-6 OR Portland
Women of Faith Conference
10/6-7 CA San Francisco
TABLE World Vegetarian Festival
10/14
IN Anderson David Crowder
Band Concert
10/14
IN Anderson David Crowder
Band Concert
10/21
FL Miami
LaCrae Unashamed Tour 2012
10/25-26 NC Raleigh
FREE Benny Hinn Miracle Service
10/6-7 CA San
Francisco TABLE World
Vegetarian Festival
10/7-8 PA Philadelphia
Women of Faith Conference
10/27-28 MA Boston
TABLE Vegetarian Food Festival
10/12-13 CO Colorado Springs
Hearts at Home Western Women's Conference
10/13
FL Tampa
TABLE VegFest
11/17
NY Albany
TABLE NY's Capital Region Vegetarian Expo
Contact Paris at
christian_vegetarian@yahoo.com if you can help.
To find out about
all upcoming leafleting and tabling opportunities in your area, join
the CVA Calendar Group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/christian_vegetarian/.
2. Job and the Theodicy Problem, part 2
Last week, I discussed
how the prevalence of unnecessary suffering in the world made it
impossible to hold that God is both all-powerful (i.e., we live in
theodicy – a world governed by God) and that God is good. The Book of
Job deals with this problem.
Job begins with a description of
the protagonist, who was “blameless and upright, one who feared God,
and turned away from evil.” Job was also the most fortunate of men,
with the greatest wealth in the country and seven sons among his
children. It was unlikely a coincidence that the most blessed man was
also the most righteous. Indeed, after God brags about his “servant
Job” to Satan, Satan replies, “Does Job fear God for nought? Hast thou
not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every
side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions
have increased in the land.”
Satan’s comments confirm the
world as a theodicy, with God in charge. What happens next is
troubling. Satan declares that Job will curse God if Job’s fortunes
are reversed, and God gives Satan permission to take away all that Job
has. The subsequent calamities see Job lose all his wealth and his
children are killed, yet “Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”
Even after Satan, with God’s permission, afflicted Job “with loathsome
sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head,” Job “did
not sin with his lips.”
Job didn’t accuse God of wrong, but
that doesn’t mean that God was blameless. The story describes a
theodicy in which God allowed the unjust treatment of a righteous man.
The goodness of God is in question. If God chooses to have those who
are innocent suffer, then it seems we have two choices. We can
challenge God’s goodness or we can adopt an ethic that endorses
victimization. The latter approach turns the notion of “good” on its
head – to the point of making morality a meaningless term.
In
upcoming essays, I will explore, through the lens of the Book of Job,
the challenging question of whether or not God is good.
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.
3. This Week’s Sermon from Rev.
Frank and Mary Hoffman
Where Is Their Mercy?