I PROTEST!

I listened to Phillip deCourse recently. In his sermon he became emotional and quickly listed at least five beliefs that are at the core of the Catholic Church that are not Biblical. Perhaps: praying to Mary, celibate priesthood, purgitory were three. deCourse quickly and clearly explained what was unbiblical about each of these things and how they might keep people from drawing close to God, our Creator God.
I was heart hurt and guilty because I had let myself forget these wrong things in the Catholic theology. I was letting myself believe that "it's ok. They're Christians. They believe right." That is much easier than trying to talk to someone about a difficult thing, criticizing their fervent beliefs.
(. . . I have more to write on this, but I have several unfinished blog posts on various topics and have decided I want to just post some in their unfinished state to "get them out there". This post is one of them. Unfinished. But read anyway.)
So, as Martin Luther said,
I PROTEST!

WHAT JOB MIGHT MEAN

What JOB might mean
JOB is a book in the Bible about a man named Job. (the name is pronounced in English with a long "o", and means "tears" or "crying")

Job's story does not refer to any other Bible people (other that God and satan) so we don't know when his story was; but I believe that whatever else Job's story is, it also is God telling us about our story of mankind, answering our questions.

Job's job was to be God's loyal creation, to prove to satan and all  that Job would stay true to God, loving and honoring God even when horrible things "happened" to Job.
Satan had gone to God, in the story, to say that Job's loyalty was untested because his life had no troubles. God allowed satan to cause Job  some horrible troubles so that God and satan and Job and all would all know that Job could and would continue to always love and honor his Creator in spite of all.
I believe that that is God telling us why we have troubles in this world. (Or why the world is the way is it is. In Christianity, we use the phrase "free will" to think about why God made us humans such that we can choose His good or choose our own way, which can be selfish, or even viciously evil. Job's story is about this "free will" test.)

That's the first part of the meaning of JOB.
The second part of the meaning of JOB is that in the story, Job at the beginning is bemoaning and grieving his losses of his children. and health (and property?) Then his three friends come and wordlessly grieve with him. Then the three friends take turns trying to explain to Job and themselves why Job is having all of this horrible stuff happen to him.
At the end of the story, our Creator comes and talks to Job directly. God mends Job's life; AND, God tells Job to pray (with a sacrifice for their sins?) for Job's three friends.
This means to me that God considered that the the friends were NOT a help to Job, but rather a hindrance to Job, or became a hindrance to him.
To me , that could symbolize God's desires for us, that we have a personal relationship with Him, and that "religion" as symbolized by the the friends can come between us and our Creator , not helping us to be with our God.

I will finish here with a quote from the Bible:
MICAH 6:8
What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.