/lit/ - Literature

>>20790176

The problem of evil is pretty thoroughly addressed in the Book of Job, which is perhaps one of the most gnostic-adjacent texts in the Judeo-Christian canon. Essentially if evil is permitted by divine authorship it is done by some measure beyond all mortal understanding or rationality at the hand of a god who is vastly more powerful and all-knowing than we can even fathom. A Book of Genesis explanation of the problem of evil would be something like "God punishes those who are not faithful but protects those who accept his covenant" but Job posits that even the most faithful and prosperous can have evil cast upon them by God's authorship. Job is the preemptive answer to and archetype of the gnostic - he demands answers to the question of evil and challenges divinity to explain its machinations - in this case literally by appealing to divinity, but figuratively he could have tried through occult means - but is rebuked by God when he appears in the form of a whirlwind and states: "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?"

Gnosticism, from a Judeo-Christian perspective, is Greek-influenced heresy that tries to apply rationality to a concept that definitionally cannot be rationalized. Gnosticism is an interesting thought experiment for contrarians and people who want to get into occultism but its questions are pretty thoroughly answered in the Judeo-Christian canon.

Why didn't he just kys?

What the fuck was God's problem?