According to the book of Job, Job refuses to believe that calamities befell him because he deserved it. He further tells his friends that God punishes both the wicked and the good. This may be somewhat true but as humans, we mostly conclude and relate situations to each other and then think that God has a hand in every bad or good thing that happen to us. I am a strong believer that God is aware but not responsible for everything that happens to us. There is no doubt, there is a God – a spiritual force that sees and can control what happens in life. Does he purposely and actually allow things to happen to us or is it by chance? Or maybe he actually does it to as punishment? This was the same situation Larry found himself in the film “A Serious Man” by Coen Brothers Coel & Ethan.
Larry decides to find answers to the reason why he was going through terrible situations all happening at the same time. First of all, let me analyze Larry’s character and some of the situations that were surrounded by him. Larry is mensch – a Yiddish man who does what is right and was married to Judith who without hint was asking for a get – a Jewish divorce document so that she can marry Sy his best friend. However, he was thrown out from his own house as required by their religion. Larry had 2 troublesome kids Danny who was owing a schoolmate $20 for marijuana and Sarah who always bother and washes her hair every time. Larry also had to deal with his brother Arthur who sleeps on the couch and spend most of his time on a notebook working on what he says is the map of the universe. Larry was a physics professor and was undergoing pressure from being fired from school.
After pointing out some of the situation Larry was undergoing and from close exam...
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...ings are happening to us because it just may be happening for a reason. Although, it was made unknown to us, I can relate to Job’s point and this is seen in the beginning (prologue) of the movie about how God punishes us sometimes. Judging from the the beginning of the movie, could it be that Larry Gopnik’s family lineage was cursed from what they did to Dibbuk (the man that came in from the snow for shelter) and could that be the reason he was going through these situations? Maybe, and that could symbolize God’s punishment for the Gopnik’s family lineage through Larry’s predicament. So therefore, things do happen for a reason, although it may not necessarily be for us but for the sake someone or something that is around us.
Bibliography
A Serious Man. Dir. Joel & Ethan Coen. Michael Stuhlbaeg, Richard Kind, Sari Lennick,
DVD. Focus Pictures, 2009.
There is a lot of evil in the world, and much of it happens unexplainably. In the history of life on Earth bad things have happened and evil has caused problems. In relation to some world wide events, 6 million people died in the holocaust, 65 million people died in the war, 800 thousand died in the Rwanda genocide and 230 thousand people died in the 2004 boxing day tsunami. There is a lot of human suffering in the world, but there is also suffering of animals too. A lot of suffering in humans is due to other humans, however some of it can be caused by non-human causes, such as natural disasters etc. Under religious beliefs god was the creator of life on Earth, so if he was all good, powerful and knowing then he would be capable of at least preventing natural disasters from erupting as they cause life to undergo suffering. Likewise, capable of preventing human suffering from natural disasters, i.e. saving people from hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes etc…
This is an important point, because if our understanding of God is that He is purely good, then why would so many of this heinous events occur. “Theist reply that because God is necessarily good, He would never do anything morally reprehensible Himself nor command us to preform heinous acts.” (Anderson, 2007). However, God is seen punishing not only those who are considered to be evil, but also those who are innocent, He causes floods, plagues and death to many people because of one person’s act, or if He was angry. This is completely opposite to our understanding of God loving us all and to our most important idea that God is perfectly good. Even if these acts were seen as punishing those who are considered evil, then God would have not done any act that would harm someone, nor would He permit us to do so. The bible is filled with these inaccuracies, is God loving of all, or just the few that follow Him, it states different allowances in stories (Infidels.org, 2016). It is my understanding that these stories are proof that God is not purely good, which itself is an argument for Him not to exist or that the stories themselves or false. Murder was perfectly fine for the soldiers of the First Crusade, who slaughtered every man, woman, and child, however it is written in the bible that murder is prohibited, it is a sin. Many other events like this occurred. When we look
Similar to Lear, Larry is an arrogant man who pays little mind to his daughter who fails to worship him like his other daughters do. While this is similar, the most important difference between these two characters is their change as a person throughout the story. While Lear grows, Larry back tracks. Not only does he continue to be self centered and outrageously rude, he fails to accept his flaws and wrongdoings and has no remorse whatsoever, "Daddy thinks history starts fresh everyday, every minute... That's how he keeps on betraying us, why he roars at us with such conviction" (Smiley 215). Larry is not able to reconcile his relationship with his daughters, like Lear did with Cordelia. Larry was not mentally well in the end, and he even believes one of his children died due to the sisters, "She's dead...Caroline! Caroline's dead! I think those sisters stole the body and buried her already" (Smiley 319). Larry pushes everyone away and remains the same throughout the entire novel, proving that these two characters are far from
Religion, past and present, is responsible for the most heinous atrocities and wars known to man. But is God to blame? And if not, how can he allow such crimes in his name exist without divine intervention? God/gods in every religion inspire peace and tolerance. Contrary to this, almost no one remains at peace or is tolerant when it comes to religion. Questioning God is one of the first things people do when horrendous things happen; they may be wars, evil of man, acts of nature, famine, disease, etc. the list goes on. Philosophers have theorized his motives and his role in things.
A notable movie I’ve seen is God’s Not Dead. In this film, a student tries to prove the existence of God to his atheist professor. The student brings up the existence of evil, and says how it 's our own free will. Wars take many lives, but are man made. However, what about natural disasters, can 't God prevent this? According to the Biblical perspective, God lets natural disasters occur to focus our attention to him and his power, or as a judgement of sins. Also in the movie, the professor says how he lost his mother due to cancer at a young age. He argues that God didn’t answer his modest prayers and spare her life. The student replies how sometimes the answer is no. Isn’t that what life consists of? Sometimes we hear yes, sometimes we hear no. It’s a part of life. God can not always answer our
Larry Darrell is a young man that is intensely described in the beginning of the book. Physically, Larry is tall, tan, and wiry. Maugham spends great attention to Larry’s eyes. Maugham states on page 23, “His eyes were peculiar...so dark that the iris made one color with the pupi.” The darkness of Larry’s eyes portray the darkness and the pain that he endures in his life. It is becoming painful for
Job was a man of the purest faith. When the world shunned God, Job's faith never declined. Job was a wealthy, handsome man with a beautiful wife and a vast amount of property. At some point in time, Satan made a bet with God that if Job situation was changed, his faith would quickly falter. On this note, God took Job's wealth, his property, his family, and his wife. When times were at their worst, God gave Job pus welts on Job's face, taking his looks. Job's faith, however, did not falter, instead it becamestronger. Job passed the test. God then healed Job, gave him more land, greater wealth , and a better wife. Job was baffled, he wondered the purpose behind his fall and rise. When he asked God this, God replied: "...Because I'm God." That was answer enough.
If God is all powerful and loving, why is there suffering in the world? God is said to be full of love and power but yet He does not prevent bad things from happening in the world. I think at some point in every one’s life we all wonder why bad things happen in our lives. These pains have been from as little as a failing grade to a disease and death and we have all asked why. Why do bad things have to happen to us if God is so good and powerful? This answer is essential to know to truly realize how good our God is. Everyone sees God as so amazing and wonderful in good situations but as soon as something bad happens we all get question Him. Many people explore this topic but a Jewish man, by the name of Harold Kushner, takes
In Ecclesiastes 8:14 the bible states clearly, “there are just men unto whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again there be wicked men unto whom it happens according to the work of the righteous.’ To paraphrase another verse in Ecclesiastes, very simply put, ‘it’s not the swiftness of a runner that wins him the race, or ones skills that gets him favor, nor riches to men of understanding but ‘Time and chance’ happens to them all.’ So, I don’t think the question is ‘why do bad things happen to good people?’ I think the questions are, ‘what do I do in this situation?’ or ‘How do I react or respond in this tragedy?’ ‘What is God using this situation to tell
He wants to find a way to justify God’s actions, but he cannot understand why there are evil people who “harm the childless woman, / and do no good to the widow,” only to be rewarded with long, successful lives (Job 24:21). Job’s friends, say that God distributes outcomes to each person as his or her actions deserve. As a result of this belief, they insist that Job has committed some wrongdoing to merit his punishment. God himself declines to present a rational explanation for the unfair distribution of blessings and curses. He still suggests that people should not discuss divine justice since God’s power is so great that humans cannot possibly justify his
He is in a deep search for answers to many of life’s questions. He has questions about life and God. He tells Isabel, “I want to make up my mind whether God is or God is not. I want to find out why evil exists. I want to know whether I have an immortal soul or whether when I die it is the end”. This search is partly due to the guilt and the inability to comprehend the traumatic death of a friend who gave his life to save Larry’s in World War I. This forever changed Larry and the way he viewed life. He tells Isabel he wants to spend his time loafing. Although he wants to marry her, this is something he must do. He takes a two year break to go to Paris where he reads and loafs. He is not concerned with materialism, social status, or even the conventional idea of work. His travels take him to Germany and eventually Bonn where he meets a Benedictine monk where he spends time learning from him. Still left with many questions, Larry travels to Spain and India. While in India, he finds many answers from the Hindu holy man, Shri Ganesha. He is impacted by the Hindu belief of “Absolute”. As the story continues, Larry asks Sophie to marry him after her husband and child are killed. He does this because he senses the need to help her. Isabel sabotages the relationship by giving Sophie vodka. Sophie relapses and disappears. Later, she is found dead. Larry’s “loafing” and openness led him to life of peace, happiness, and contentment. He went out, not actually knowing what he was looking for, but found what he needed for a fulfilled life. He found it within
God is the source of evil. He created natural evil, and gave humans the ability to do moral evil by giving them a free will. However, had he not given people free will, then their actions would not be good or evil; nor could God reward or punish man for his actions since they had no choice in what to do. Therefore, by giving humans choice and free will, God allowed humanity to decide whether to reward themselves with temporary physical goods, and suffer in the long run from unhappiness, or forsake bodily pleasures for eternal happiness.
Kushner seeks to figure out why God allows bad things to happen to people who are good. After reading through the story of Job Kushner came to 3 conclusions, “A. God is all-powerful and causes everything that happens in the world”, “B. God is just and fair, and stands for people getting what they deserve, so that the good prosper and the wicked are punished”, and that “C. Job is a good person” (Kushner 42). Keeping these statement in mind God punished Job, so either Job is bad, God is not fair, or some other power brought disease, famine, and death to Job. But Job is a good person the story says that Job is “a thoroughly good man who never
I myself have different theory. That yes there is a higher power that puts fate into play. He sits there and watches how his cine will play out. Unlike others I ask myself a question wouldn’t a being of higher power want a little drama a little break from the norm. I believe that he gave us a thing called free will. The ability to put into play our own set of events. If I was a director and I didn’t have to worry about time or money, I would like to see how my movie turned out if I wrote the beginning and let the actors decide the ending.
He was an ordinary boy who lived in big house with his mom, dad, and big sister Susie. One Friday night Larry’s parent went out to dinner and then the movies, leaving Susie in charge. “Don’t get into any trouble, I have to go do my homework and don’t have time to watch you all night” she said authoritatively. “I won’t I promise” he replied in his sweetest voice.