You are trying as hard as you can to be good and still thing are not going your way. Why is that? The Book of Job is pretty clear that the trouble does not lay within you. That seems to be the entire point. At first God is bragging about Job what a great guy he is. Then Satan says, "Sure he is a great guy. Why would he not be? You gave him everything a man could want. Take it away and you will see he will curse You to Your Face."
God said, "Fine, so take everything away, but leave his soul alone." Thus Job suffered.
Then Job cursed the day he "will be born." But he did not curse God. Then the friends said God does not bring suffering except for sin. Job answered and said, "I know I am innocent of all sin." God then agreed with Job, and told the friends to ask his forgiveness -for they had spoken falsely. So at the end, even God agreed that Job suffered not for sin, but to win a bet he had made with the Satan. Apparently, He won the bet. [What I am getting at here is that the area of numinous reality is beyond reason as Kant noticed, and that if one tries to apply reason to such an area, that leads to self-contradictions. I was somewhat aware of this in high school, which led me to believe that not everything in Torah can be proven, though it can be defended by reason.] [Dr. Kelley Ross also goes into this issue. But we know from the Guide of Maimonides that reason can approach the area of numinous reality. Hegel obviously held the same way. The difference is to the Rambam reason also needs to be revealed from Heaven, and only then can a higher level of numinous reality be revealed. To Hegel the process is dialectical and depends on man--and men working together. To some degree you can see this in someone like Bava Sali who as a tzadik in his own right also depended on the merit of his ancestors, and also his community to some degree in order for there to be the kind of environment necessary for him to reach his level.]
So my question is why did not someone offer the explanation of the Mesilat Yesharim (Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato)? [One who is mostly sinful but has some good- gets reward for his good in this world, and suffers for the sins in the next. One who is mostly good but does some evil- suffers for the evil in this world, and get the reward for the good in the next. ] No one, not even God offered this explanation. Furthermore even though I do not own a copy of the Guide for the Perplexed I recall the Rambam said the Torah agrees with the last of Job's friends. A further question, is it not open in the Torah, " Do these commandments so that it will be good for you and you will have length of days"? "Behold I have set before you this day life and the good and death and evil. Therefore choose life to keep these laws."
God said, "Fine, so take everything away, but leave his soul alone." Thus Job suffered.
Then Job cursed the day he "will be born." But he did not curse God. Then the friends said God does not bring suffering except for sin. Job answered and said, "I know I am innocent of all sin." God then agreed with Job, and told the friends to ask his forgiveness -for they had spoken falsely. So at the end, even God agreed that Job suffered not for sin, but to win a bet he had made with the Satan. Apparently, He won the bet. [What I am getting at here is that the area of numinous reality is beyond reason as Kant noticed, and that if one tries to apply reason to such an area, that leads to self-contradictions. I was somewhat aware of this in high school, which led me to believe that not everything in Torah can be proven, though it can be defended by reason.] [Dr. Kelley Ross also goes into this issue. But we know from the Guide of Maimonides that reason can approach the area of numinous reality. Hegel obviously held the same way. The difference is to the Rambam reason also needs to be revealed from Heaven, and only then can a higher level of numinous reality be revealed. To Hegel the process is dialectical and depends on man--and men working together. To some degree you can see this in someone like Bava Sali who as a tzadik in his own right also depended on the merit of his ancestors, and also his community to some degree in order for there to be the kind of environment necessary for him to reach his level.]
So my question is why did not someone offer the explanation of the Mesilat Yesharim (Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato)? [One who is mostly sinful but has some good- gets reward for his good in this world, and suffers for the sins in the next. One who is mostly good but does some evil- suffers for the evil in this world, and get the reward for the good in the next. ] No one, not even God offered this explanation. Furthermore even though I do not own a copy of the Guide for the Perplexed I recall the Rambam said the Torah agrees with the last of Job's friends. A further question, is it not open in the Torah, " Do these commandments so that it will be good for you and you will have length of days"? "Behold I have set before you this day life and the good and death and evil. Therefore choose life to keep these laws."
