Prophets and philosophers

God allowed Satan to put job's faith to the test.Job's cattle were stolen,his sheep struck by lightning,his children killed in a desert storm.And finally Sattan covered Job's boby with sores.Still job did not curse God but extolled His wisdom " not- to be found among men. " When the lord reqponds to Job,He does not boast of His power,but offers only reminders of his glory and the wonders of His creations.He remind Job that he is addressing the Creator.Finally,job confesses that the Lord is "all powerful;that you can do everything that you want."The Lord accepts Job's confession and He bless Job with greater prosperity than ever before.now Job has seven sons and no other women are as beautiful as his three daughters.

Why is job not told why he is made to suffer?Why would a good god allow evil in the world?This problem,one that Judeo-Cristian man had created for himself by belief,has haunted Western thought for millennia.It is plainly a by product of ethical monotheism-a "trilemma" created by the three indisputable qualities of an all-knowing,all-powerful and all-benevolent God.

If God were good,"the British writer C.S.Lewis once observed.He would wish to make his creatures perfectly happy,and if God were almighty He would be able to do what He wished.But the cretures are not happy.Therefore God lacks either goodness,or power,or both.