Is the Joy of Life worth the Pain?

In this book Satan finally appears and challenges God. The Lord couldn’t resist the contest so he agreed to prove goodness in Job by destroying everything the man had. Still, Job refused to curse God and kept praying and worshipping him.
As stated in the narrative,

“And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (The Book of Job 1:21)

If there is one thing I have learned is that there is no such thing as absolute good and pure evil.

First of all I would like to express my hate towards Job. I really don’t like him at all. In Exodus I enjoyed reading about Moses, but I didn’t enjoy The Book of Job. Like really what´s wrong with Job? How can he be so thankful with God after all he did to him? He destroyed everything he had and even killed his sons and still Job refuses to curse him or lose his faith. Is Job a human or is he like this strange alien without feelings? If God took all I have away because of a stupid game with Satan, “his best friend”, I think that I would probably lose all my faith in the Lord. So, why am I referring to Satan as Gods bff? Well, before reading this I thought they hated each other since one reflects goodness and the other one evil, but they seem to get along really well and talk in a very civilized way. Also, we can see how God has so much pride and it is so easy to manipulate him that he can’t refuse to accept Satan´s test.

Satan said,

“But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.” (The Book of Job 1:11 and 1:12)


Before, I had this great image of God, I thought he was so powerful and superior to Satan, but after this I just see him as someone who does not stand up for himself and his people, and who prefers to win a stupid game and prove he is better than his enemy than to care for his loyal follower (Job). I’m just seriously starting to feel like a toy or a puppet that the Lord can move around whenever he desires. If he brought all this suffering to his “best follower”, Job, what disasters would he sent to the normal people? Still, although I don’t like Job that much I admire him for keeping all the anger inside and resisting the temptation to curse his God. Ok, so now I’m feeling really bad since I’m a Catholic and shouldn’t be saying these things. In fact, I am very devoted to my religion and truly believe in the Lord, but when analyzing the Bible I just feel the desire to express myself. Now, I feel so guilty for judging God and my religious beliefs.


Oh great! Now I’ll have to go to the church and confess all my sins.