20110110

Job

Have you ever heard of Job? He's a character in the Bible over which Satan and God make a bet. God boasts that Job will believe in him no matter what, that there is an ideal worshipper and he already exists in Job. And Satan says that sure it's easy for Job to believe when you give him everything. Family. Wealth. Respect. And God challenges Satan to turn Job into a disbeliever. He tells Satan to do whatever he wants to Job and he guarantees that Job will continue to believe.

So Satan creates a drought to ruin Job's crops. He has lightning and fire destroy Job's home. He murders Job's wife. Murders his children. And, through all this, Job continues to believe.

Satan then convinces the townspeople that Job was the one that murdered his own family. The townspeople rise up and beat and torture Job. And Job continues to believe.

Satan then infects Job with painful boils that cover his skin. He ruins his eyesight with cataracts. Ticks burrow into his flesh.

Now imagine that you are Job, and imagine that after all of this, you find out with one hundred percent certainty that God does not exist. What would you do?

In my life, Job is me, and God is my pills and therapy. And, still, I continue to believe.