Questions about the book of Job:
Why does God play dice with a mortal man to see if he will succumb to the temptation to curse God?
Also, does it not seem strange to give Satan charge of the diseases when God has created a world to operate within certain laws of physics?
Someone asked if Satan had the power to control natural disasters on earth. I remember telling him 'yes' with the stipulation of how permission was given in the book of Job, which really only avoided the real question of why a holy God would allow such juvenile antics.
All my life I have been led to believe this book historically happened and this is how Christians get the idea to blame Satan for certain events. The book of Job is a Hebrew poem, not to be taken literally or as historical fact. It was written in the post-Babylonian exile area when the Jews were asking the questions of why would God allow the righteous to be forsaken. It's like a parable in the New Testament where the Good Samaritan does not and more than likely did not exist. Jesus was making an overall point, not trying to tell us of an historical event.
The events in Job never happened because it is a poem asking a larger point.
