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Wow. Thank you. As a newly called Gospel Doctrine teacher, I was seeking a framework for presenting the lesson on Job. And here it is. I live in an Assisted Living facility in Utah, and our congregation is rich in gospel experience, church service, and personal righteousness. I refer to this place as a “Mini Zion”. I have taught Gospel Doctrine in other settings and it is probably my favorite calling. But I have felt somewhat intimidated to be given the responsibility to offer insights to these wonderful folk. I love all the layers of meaning in the scriptures. And I am grateful to scholars who help me find them. Again, thank you.
Here I thought I had a pretty good understanding of Job. It is one of my favorite books of the OT. It’s relation to the Temple I had not considered! Thank you!
It is obvious that Mack Stirling has given the book of Job, along with Job-related periphery, much study and thought. I found the pattern of Job’s experience as related to the culmination of a temple manifestation (man’s introduction to God) to be interesting and instructive.
Perhaps the biggest individual understanding which I have gleaned from this rendition, is that each man must approach His creator solely and individually. There are no substitutes, and we must individually plot our salvation before our Maker (It may be true that we have an arbitrator. But even if we have an arbitrator, He does not substitute Himself for us in the sense of managing our own salvation. He can only substitute Himself for us in the gap between where we have attempted to reach, and how far away we’ve actually failed: a great Mediator who bridges the gap for us.) Also, a second part of this gleaning which I have derived from Mack’s relation of Job’s story, is the assertion that the way is fraught, slippery, and made even more difficult because of probable hecklers or infringers who might probably want to attempt to subvert our return. Unexpectedly, they will probably end up sounding pretty convincing because they’ll be using a mixture of arguments potentially combining scripture and some truth mixed in with liberal doses of false philosophy. The final gleaning which I received from this article is that if we do not expect that Satan, himself, will not attempt to prevent us from obtaining the piercing of the veil, then we do Job, Lehi, Moses, Abraham and others who have fought against the dark force a disservice in our assumption that we will not be so tested. This lack of our understanding would apparently be consistent with the assumption that we are somehow better than they, and that we can attain the parting of the veil and partaking of the meeting of majesty without the final effort of subduing (or at least rebuffing) the lord of darkness.
I must admit that just getting past the peers and friends with their wholehearted but erroneous advice is daunting to me; managing to overcome (rebuff) the evil one prior to receiving one’s sublime manifestation fills me with even more trepidation. Still, if there’s anything we’ve learned from Job’s story, it is that apparently there are those who are successful, and perhaps if they can do it, so can we. After all, if the story weren’t made as a guide for us, then why was it ever given?
I loved this presentation years ago when first given. In fact I eventually spoke at BYU about one particular aspect towards the end of Job that I found particularly powerful. Hope many people study this.