Interesting take on Job from Stephen King.

[Goblinmonger]

Found this when I was looking for a King quotation on something else (he bashes Twilight pretty hard). Though some of you in Religion/Theology might find this interesting:

When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, "Why god? Why me?" and the thundering voice of God answered, "There's just something about you that pisses me off.”
― Stephen King, Storm of the Century: An Original Screenplay

[hedgehog]

1. Wasn't the actual response closer to " It's a God thing, you wouldn't understand"?

[Abin Sur]

2. I prefer Heinlein's take on Job.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job:_A_Comedy_of_Justice

Plot summary

The story examines religion through the eyes of Alex, a Christian political activist who is corrupted by Margrethe, a Danish Norse cruise ship hostess — and who loves every minute of it. Enduring a shipwreck, an earthquake, and a series of world-changes brought about by Loki (with Jehovah's permission), Alex and Marga work their way from Mexico back to Kansas as dishwasher and waitress.

Whenever they manage to make some stake, an inconveniently timed change into a new alternate reality throws them off their stride (once, the money they earned is left behind in another reality; in another case, the paper money earned in a Mexico which is an empire is worthless in another Mexico which is a republic). These repeated misfortunes, clearly effected by some malevolent entity, make the hero identify with the Biblical Job.

On the way they unknowingly enjoy the Texas hospitality of Satan himself, but as they near their destination they are separated by the Rapture — Margrethe worships Odin, and pagans do not go to Heaven. Finding that the reward for his faith, eternity as promised in the Revelation, is worthless without her, Alex's journey through timeless space in search of his lost lady takes him to Hell and beyond.

Heinlein's vivid depiction of a Heaven ruled by snotty angels and a Hell where everyone has a wonderful, or at least productive, time — with Mary Magdalene shuttling breezily between both places — is a satire on American evangelical Christianity. It owes much to Mark Twain's Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven.

[Goblinmonger]

3. Just ordered a used copy of the book from Amazon

It will move near the top of my reading list (the most recent Pulitzer winner still gets the #1 slot).

[Silent3]

4. The thing that has always bothered me most about the story of Job...

...isn't so much how God treats Job just to test him, which is bad enough, but how Job's children and slaves (not to mention quite a few animals) are treated as expendable objects in God's little game.

[MarkCharles]

5. Reminds me of this little video from an Irish Atheist I saw recently..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYf1Vyln8zo

Worth Subscribing-to if you're a fan of a bit of atheist satire.

[bananas]

6. Oh, I thought this was about Steve Jobs.

My bad!