God Guilt And Death By Mervold Westphal

Religion has been an important part of human culture since the earliest human societies. The purpose of that religion has served has been different for every group, and in a lot of cases different for individuals in the groups. But is has always been in part of humanity, so religion must be filling some need that people inherently have. Religious literature can give a perspective on what role religion serves in the life of a religious person. In Mervold Westphal’s book God, Guilt, and Death, Westphal gives examples old biblical texts that show a need for religion, and different types of needs that religion fulfills. Each of the needs for religion that Westphal addresses can be seen in religious literature like Confession’s by Augustine and

The story of Job is an important biblical story to be discussed when talking about the role that religion servers for its followers. The story of Job goes that Satan bet God that Job, a strong religious believer, will no longer be religious if all of his possessions were stripped from him. So, God strips Job of all his wealth and belonging to see if he will still be a faithful man. Even after enduring pain, suffering, betrayal and grief, Job never loses his faith in God. God comes in a restores Job’s health and gives him more than he had before the suffering. The story of Job presents readers with how a relationship with God should be. God does not return blessings in an organized way, and no amount of works can guarantee a happy life. This belief contradicts what the purpose of religion is to many people. A large percent of believers see religion to make sure they do not suffer in the human world. Using God for material gains creates a merchant like persona for God. Believers pay God in prayer and sacrifice to receive worldly benefits from Him. Westphal quotes Martin Luther talking about this type of relationship with God saying it is a, “evil, false, and deceitful guile.” The Job story proves

So many religious people see God as a way to gain wealth or knowledge that they did not have. This leads to religion seeming like its main purpose is the grant good fortune on the believers. But the story of Job contradicts that. God in not a merchant that believers trade services for to gain from. God is beyond human’s ability to comprehend, so to imply that He would make deal with His believers is blasphemy. Merold Westphal uses categories, in his book God, Guilt and Death, to separate the different kinds of needs that religion fulfills for people. Believers use religion as a way to gain physically with materialistic needs, and spiritually with spiritual materialism. These two classifications can be found in the vast majority of religious believes, like Augustine in his book, Confessions or in James Goldwin’s Go Tell it in the Mountain. Religion has been around for so long, but very little people consider why is stays in all cultures, and the main reason is the needs of the groups that religion is catered