Well, the book of Job is a profound work on human suffering and is worth a lifetime of

study and reflection.

But was Job himself a real historic character, like John Bunyan, or is Job a mythic legend

like Paul Bunyan, and does it really matter in the end, which he was fact or folklore?

The question comes from my listener named Laurie, dear pastor John, I have enjoyed your

messages on the book of Job recently, I was at a memorial service at a reform church

in which the pastor said, Job was a fictitious character.

The lessons of the book he said are still helpful, but what do you think was Job a real

person or not, why or why not?

And do you think it really matters in the end?

Yes, if I heard my pastor make the confident statement that Job was a fictitious character,

I would seriously consider finding another church.

Now I want to be sure here that I'm not assuming that Laurie got it right, that is, that

she's really quoting her pastor accurately.

She may not be, and I say that, not because it can't be true and the Bible still be

infallible.

I say it because that is, I say I would consider leaving the church, I say that because

there are no grounds for being dogmatic that Job is fictitious, that's my first reason.

Second reason, the inclination to take the book as fiction with a moral truth, fiction

with a moral truth, betrays a mental leaning that I think throws the pastor's biases into

question.

That's the way I would put it for myself.

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