The Atheist Arguing Job.
Part Two
“The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?” Job 1:7-9 (ESV)
Yesterday I told you about this new application I got for my i-touch that my pastor told our congregation we needed to get and read if we had an i-anything. The i-app is called “The Atheist Pocket Debater” and it contains some of the outrageous arguments against the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that I have ever browsed through. In yesterday’s Freedom Fighter I shared with you a few things that concerned me. One was author Jason Hagen’s insinuation that God would participate with Satan on placing bets on human suffering. The other ones were about his questioning of Job being righteous, that God has an ego and that He is ‘very concerned about His vanity.” Well today I’m still steamed so I will continue with a few more of Jason’s attitude with God through Job.
As this writing goes along Hagen wants his reader to think that God is boasting to the prince of evil by saying, “God asks Satan, “Have you seen my servant Job? There is no one more righteous on the Earth?” Well my friend here’s the part of this Freedom Fighter where I need you to open your Bible and see if this is what the text says. My NKJV does not have this particular wording, however I think the writer wants to change God’s word around to support his own statement that, “God is boasting to Satan.” I will ask you this…Does God need to boast? I for one do not think He needs to boast. His mercies are new every morning that says enough to me. Does it for you?
Something else struck me with unease. As the writer goes along with the opening dialogue that we find in chapter one of the Book of Job he is asking questions and making comments. These are smug comments and his question are those that an unbeliever would ask but he ticks me off with the following statement, “God is being challenged and tested by Satan. Realize, if Satan’s intention is simply and solely to be permitted to punish and hurt Job, and the testing of Job’s loyalty to God is only a ruse, then God is being completely manipulated and outsmarted by Satan. Think about it.” All-RIGHTY THEN!!
Well I have thought about it and whatever thoughts about El Elyon this author wants to plant into the mind of his readers they can’t be good. He had better get his nose into God’s Word and find out what happens when people question who manipulates who and what happens to them. The text simply states that, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.” God even asks the adversary, twice, where he has been and the only answer there has ever been given is, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” I call that wandering around without any real purpose but what do I know, huh?
There is a lot more I could cover and I would need a month of Freedom Fighter space to go on. But there is a good reason why Jason Hagen takes God and the church to task in the fashion that he does. I will cover that tomorrow. So think about how this kind of debating can lead people to fall away from the Church of God if the church does not come alongside those whose faith may be wavering. Remember that Jesus came to straighten out a great big mess that was left in the Garden because Satan was crafty enough to twist the Word of God around and make it look as if the Creation could do fine without Him. – Chris Hughes is a regular Freedom Fighter e-votional contributor and a graduate of the Colony of Mercy
Digging Deeper: Proverbs 28; Zechariah 5-8; Revelation 19
Dig This Quote: “Something has to fill their need. Something has to satiate their hunger and thirst for righteousness. Where truth, doctrine, and Scripture cannot fill, experience enters. The generation of superficial Christians then begins to measure their Christianity, not by what they believe but by how they feel. This is a profound error. Measuring your Christianity by your experience can lead to a myriad of related ailments. Without a true biblical marker and measurement, one is easily deceived into measuring by the amount of tears one cries or the sharpness of the tingle that transverses your spine. This condition is made worse when we realize that our culture measures truth by the same standards. Think about. These days, it is rare to find anyone use the phrase, “I believe.”
Why Churches Die Mac Brunson & Ergun Caner
Determined Digging: Level 1: Acts 1:8; Level 2: John 1:8-14
Determined Praying: Large asking and large expectation on our part honor God. – A. L. Stone
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