Dialogue Between Satan and God in the Book of Job

Jon writes:According to this, these things WERE evil, and they were brought upon Job by God Himself, and not Satan, as is implied in the opening dialogue around which this thread focuses.

Ringo writes:Once again, the whole point of the story is how Job reacted to his misfortunes. The details of who "caused" what are incidental.

Jon writes:This is where I wanted the discussion to go; into debate about the nature of the characters and whether or not there was manipulation.

Jon writes:Now, if you could show me how those analogies don't fit, or are somehow wrong, then we would be getting somewhere .

Jon writes:Satan has a desire to hurt Job, something he cannot do without permission from God. So, he convinces God that He will have something to gain from allowing him to harm Job.

Jon writes:The following is an excerpt from the book of Job, presenting a dialogue between Satan and God:Satan has just made himself present at a meeting of the "sons of God" Job 1:7 -- And the LORD said unto Sa'-tan, Whence comest thou? Then Sa'-tan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. (8) And the LORD said unto Sa'-tan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? (9) Then Sa'-tan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? (10) Hast thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. (11) But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. (12) And the LORD said unto Sa'-tan, Behold, all that he hath is in they power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Sa'-tan went forth from the presence of the LORDThis exchange of words clearly shows Satan's manipulative power, not just over the ordinary man, but over the Man Himself! He uses God's own ego and self pride against Him that He will grant Satan power to do evil unto His most humble and loyal follower.In what is clearly a brilliantly-worked episode of reverse psychology, Satan has outsmarted the Father of Creation!Satan puts up a challenge... God accepts... Satan's secret agenda is to gain power to do evil.. Whereas God is interested only in proving Satan wrong, and shows no regards to Job, but instead allows His God-ly pride to get in the way of His loving nature.This leaves two possibilities:1) God IS all-loving, except He loves Himself a slight bit more
2) God is less brilliant and genius than SatanI would like this topic to focus ONLY on the above passage of Scripture and its meaning. Please do not discuss the rest of the book of Job. References to Scripture which confirm or contradict any parts of my assessment are allowed.Thoughts?J0N