Bad apologetics

December 4th, 2007

The book of Job is a study in theologians getting it dead wrong.  Job asks the eternal question “why is their pain and suffering? How can this be the work of a just God?” and his friends try to answer. They don’t just trot out cheap aphorisms and continue on their way- they sit with Job for 7 days before speaking, if I recall correctly. And then they take a lot of chapters to construct a theodicy, a theology of suffering. But unfortunately, it basically boils down to ‘it must be your fault.’

I’m wondering if the book is basically a warning about the dangers of acting as God’s spokesman. Job’s friends are not thanked for their efforts to teach theology to Job or for defending God’s actions. God, it seems, does not need apologists.

Is it ok for Job to ask the questions, but not for his friends to answer them?

I suspect we need to be very careful in rushing to answer this type of question. Maybe it’s important for each individual to wrestle with God and the problems of pain and injustice, and in our hurry to tie up theological loose ends we truncate this process.

I suspect that God is less interested in what we think about these questions, than in how we react to them. But it’s probably easier to explain suffering than try to alleviate it.

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