Dialogue Between Satan and God in the Book of Job

It is futile to use reverse psychology on God. Remember He is omniscient. What is kinda weird is that Satan doesn't know that.
If Satan does know that God is omniscient then He also knows that whatever the outcome God will always win. So Job's suffering was really what God wanted. The only logical explanation to this little wager is that is that Satan is ignorant to God's all-knowing abilities, or maybe he knows but his logic needs a bit of work.

No I don't think you did, but you could manipulate him based on something he said in his OP. The conversation starter is not immune from manipulation.

That's why Jon said;

The problem here is we are not sure who manipulated who. Satan would have manipulated God if all he wanted was the opportunity to some damage to God's "firewalled" servant. God boasting gave him that opportunity. However, if God knew all along the intention of Satan and used it to His advantage, then God is the manipulator. Also it's possible it's just a simple bet between two old antagonists.Knowing more about the characters would certainly help.
So when Jon said: I thought He was looking for a Christian perspective.
Christians believe (I think most do) that Satan is pure evil who would want to hurt God's children. He is also a deceiver who knows all the tricks in the book. So it is fair to assume (from a Christian perspective) that Satan intended to hurt Job and he dug deep into his bag of tricks to pull it off. The problem here is that Christians also believe that God is omniscient which makes the whole manipulation thing a complete waste of time.Edited by honda33, : No reason given.Edited by honda33, : No reason given.

How do you know that?
Maybe they were just carrying out Allah's will, maybe 911 was just a side effect of a bet between Allah and Satan.

Yes I was speculating, I did use the word "maybe"But you were not speculating when you wrote;

Mine is based on the story of Job. God meets meets with Satan, they converse, they make bets and sometimes human affliction is the result.
That's the way of the universe.

What makes something evil? Is it evil if I cook up a brew that causes your body to be completely covered with boils? Is it "natural" if Satan intentionally does it?

Over the next forty years I am going to lose my parents, break my leg, abandoned by my wife, lose my sister, brother and my two kids,lose all my investments and be diagnosed with cancer. These maybe normal over a forty year period but still incredibly difficult to handle. Now consider a person who could control time deciding to intentionally compress all these in a week. I don't think I would find it at all funny.Pedestrians get run over by vehicles every day. It's one of the "natural" consequences of living in a modern world. Yet if I were to intentionally start driving my Humvee over people I am sure you would consider my actions evil. Edited by honda33, : No reason given.Edited by honda33, : No reason given.

But Satan intended to do bodily harm to Job. It was intentionally, maybe Satan's motive was pure but his action was intentional. This is not mindless nature taking its course. These can be the results of mindless nature. When an intelligent being actively causes these things to occur to achieve some purpose, there is INTENT. Job's calamity was not random. Job didn't happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was the victim of a bet between two intelligent beings who decided to alter the course of nature to pull off the bet.
BTW Hurricanes are more predictable than car accidents. How about "acts of Satan" ? Are they based on the Intent to do evil?

No it wasn't God idea. All God did in the first two chapters is boast about His servant Job. Satan used this boasting to get God to do things to Job. God even admitted to be moved by Satan: I don't know ... maybe I connected the dots. Edited by honda33, : No reason given.

And you say I am missing the point. You are missing two chapters. The story writer spent the first two chapters telling his readers why all these calamities suddenly befell Job. He clearly showed that there was a supernatural explanation behind these mis-fortunes.

Do you believe that the writer had a modern view of the workings of the universe? His intended audience certainly didn't. In fact most religious people today believe good things that happen are from God and the bad are from the devil. Some still believe that God directly make bad things happen to people. Did God say that? I believe this is what He said; --------------------------------------------------------------- This is just silly. How can you continue to look at this story from a modern view of the universe? Throughout the Bible God has always used what we today call "natural disasters" to punish people. He used bears, lions, plagues and other people to carry out His will. At least that's what the ancients believed. They didn't think that the big flooding was due to some mindless El nino cycle or the increase in storms was due to global warning or that earthquakes were a result of moving tectonic plates or that diseases are caused by microorganism. When the ancients said "acts of God" they literally meant Acts of God.Edited by honda33, : No reason given.

I don't remember disputing the moral of the story. My contention was with your assertion that Job's calamities were to be seen as some normal everyday occurance. The author clearly went to great lengths to show that calamities were a result of the bet between God and Satan. The relevance to the rest of the story is not up for discussion. That was clearly stated in the opening post. If you and others think that's not fair then take that up with Jon.BTW to be intentionally off topic, I think the story is more about God 's involvement in calamities.. Job may well be just a side issue in his own book. Job's friends claimed to know how God operates while Job at times seemed confused. God never gave an explanation, He just said (my words) I am God and it's none of your damn business. Edited by honda33, : No reason given.

Also don't assume you know how God works. Job's friends tried that , God wasn't too pleased.Edited by honda33, : No reason given.