I do believe in God,Im a pastor,but im saying I struggle with the book of Job and dont like the fact that God uses Job to win a bet with the Devil.I see the book of Job more as a book showing us how wrong we are trying to find reasons for our misfortune,,Look at Jobs friends,,all of them gave biblical responses but all of them were wrong.Just as so many pastors,teachers,and we ourselves try to fing reasons for our troubles.But to win a bet with the devil?Which is what it boils down too,,is wrong in my thinking.
And thats my 2 cents lol
FWIW, I studied Job in the Hebrew and wrote a major paper on it. The opening scene is very ancient and is probably based on oral tradition. The “wager’ never colored my love of the book. The friends came up with all of the answers that we human beings can come up with as to why bad things happen to good people, all of them wrong. Elihu is the interesting one. His speech is almost word for word the same as God’s. The answer is that God knows and we don’t, trust Him. Job said that he had heard about God with his ears, but “now my eyes see you.” He finally came to a clear vision after God explained things to him. Having experienced that moment of “Oh, now I see!” I understand it, and I suspect that you do too. Peace