USR said-
adamah: i personaly believe what paul said, at romans 8.28-3o that god works all things for the good of those who love him,james 1 talks about the good that comes out of trails and god does and allows things always for our good.even jesus learned obediance because of his suffering. the account of joesph being sold into slavery is also good to think about. the bible says satan ment it for bad ,but god for good. so when we see what happenex to job and his suffering we know that god means everything for good, therfore he is just and ethical
Are you unaware of the Book of Job, then?
The cartoon glossed over the point, but the Bible story itself makes it clear that Satan is a member of the 'Elohim' (plural for Gods, i.e. spirit beings who serve Jehovah on the Heavenly Divine Council), serving in the role on Team God as 'the accuser' (Satan is a TITLE like 'Federal Prosecutor', and not a proper name). Jews living in the 1st millenium BC didn't see a problem with God being the source of good AND evil; that WAS the belief. Notice that the prologue occurs IN HEAVEN: what is Satan doing sitting around in Heaven and conversing with God about humans on Earth?
The emergence of the concept of Satan as the 'bad guy' who works independently of Jehovah as his enemy came MUCH LATER, under the influence of the Persian Empire's Zoroasterianism which occurred in post-exilic period (circa 5th cent BCE). Per the Zoroasterian religion, an evil spirit (Angra Mainyu) is the source of bad, where all good and loving actions comes from the creator deity, Ahura Mazda. Judaism adopted (ripped off) the concept to adapt it to Judaism, paving the way to allow Jehovah to become the "all good, all the time" deity you know and love today, based on NT reworking to give God a make-over.
However, it still doesn't change the fact of the depiction of Jehovah as being an angry, evil, and jealous deity in the OT accounts such as Job, since that was the belief of Jehovah before syncretism occurred....
Adam
