[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> <<To me the song is about someone's faith being
> tried in the extreme and their subsequent struggle to understand why.>>
>
> It addresses one of the universal questions of humans: Why do bad things happen to
>good people?
>
> Even today, people think that faith, belief in God, and/or good works will only
>result in good things happening to them. Of course, it's as false a belief now as it
>was in Job's day.
Many many people, religious or not, are brought up with the implication that being
good will mean bad things do not happen. Behave well, study, do well at school, get a
good job, your home etc etc etc. Of course none of that is true. Not that it doesn't
happen but life
isn't as smooth as that.
the saddest part about it is that people tend to balme themselves when things go
wrong. Sometimes personal reponsibity may be appropriate like in a divorce or
accident. Many times, like in the case of disease, it isn't appropriate. Many see
getting a serious illness as
'puunishment' for their wrong doing or just for being a 'bad person'. It never occurs
to those who constantly worry about whether or not they are a good person that a 'bad
person' wouldn't be thinking about it!
Many 'self help' books unfortunately reinforce the 'blame' aspect of everything. If
you have cancer, you can 'heal your life' and if you die, it is your fault because you
didn't love yourself enough or do the excercices or whatever is being pushed. Or if
you have a
particualr illness it is realted to your feelings of-insert whatever you like here-so
people who are lost and searching and frightened end up being blamed for their lot.
Then of course is the 'you chose this'. Or this is happenig because it is pay back
time from a
preveious life. All of these resaons are bogus and just serve to make a person feel
worse and is yet another way of 1. balming the victim and 2. making the believer in
these reasons feel better and less afraid. After all, if you can attach blame for
these things upon the
victim, then the blamer can carry on keeping their own fear at bay. Until that is
soemthing dreaful happens to them. then they might re-evalutate their belief system or
blame it on the 'forces of evil'.
Some brands of Xtianity also do this. The lady up the road who i know quite well,
believes nothing will befall her children in the way of illness of accident becasue
she believes in the Blood Of Jesus and therfore they are protected. She also believed
a Demon made her
young 3 year old refuse to eat her dinner and have a tantrum and believes her prayer
exorcised the demon whent he child stopped acting up. I don't find much difference in
these varoius beliefs-they are all designed to lessen fear but none are well thought
out.
Bad things happen to people all the time. It has nothing whatever to do with the
beahviour of the people. I am sure we all know really nice, caring people who died
horribly and know rotten, vicous bastards who are still alive well at an old age!
In the end, it is the security we feel within our selves-that we will have to deal
with whatever happens that enables us to live with fear. And the acceptence that life
is precarious abnd short and that death happens to everybody, no exceptions.
I feel badly for the people who suffered terrible loses this weekend: A lady who lost
her husband and two sons in a road crash. and the man and woman whose parked car
rolled into a lake drowning their 3 children.
Imagine having to deal with pain.
bw
colin
>
>
> Most biblical scholars agree that Job is a fable and not based on a real event. The
>book was written by a couple different writers, starts as a simple narrative, and has
>an epic poem in the middle. Regardless of your personal beliefs, it makes for an
>interesting study.
>
> Bob
>
> NP: Buckingham-Nicks, "Garbo"
--
bw
colin
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