Job (the man in the Bible) & a 21st Century Atheist

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A few years ago, the book of Job came up in the lectionary. (The lectionary is a system of weekly Bible readings that I often use for selecting my sermon texts.) Since Job's struggle with adversity has fascinated me for decades, I decided to devote several weeks to a sermon series using the lectionary texts from Job. I projected the series, named the sermons, and began to devote my studies to the book in preparation for the weeks ahead.

At about the same time, I began a conversation on Facebook with a young man who declared himself an atheist, the son of a minister who grew up in the church. So, unrelated to one another,  I began this conversation and my study in the book of Job. However, as my study and this conversation unfolded, they intertwined in my mind and I began to see several parallels!

• Both Job and this young man were questioning and rejecting the traditional interpretation of God: Job, rejecting the tradition that said faithfulness brings blessings, unfaithfulness brings disease, disaster, and defeat; the atheist, rejecting the traditional view of the God of his youth.
• Both Job and the 21st century atheist were struggling to find a new way of thinking about the world and what was happening in it, reconciling it with their understanding of God or rejecting God altogether.
• A variety of voices bombarded both men, voices arguing for the traditional view of God. For Job the arguments came from his wife and his friends. For the young man it was his family and friends who tried to convince him of the error of his ways.
• Both Job and the atheist eventually rejected the traditional view of God, but not without inner struggle and anguish.
• There, for me, the parallel ends because Job came away with a stronger renewed faith... a new perspective on God's activity in the world. The atheist in the 21st century, at least this particular young man, continues to seek an expression of his spirituality while rejecting God. 

When someone says, I am spiritual but not religious, I hear Job speaking as he questions the traditional view of what it means to be religious... questioning and rejecting... attempting to define a new reality of spirituality that the religious institutions have blurred, marred, and in many cases, completely destroyed.