Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
PHall | November 30, 2022
Job is a Type of Jesus? Job is a forerunner of Jesus in dealing with suffering and Satan. In both: 1. The innocent offered sacrifice for the guilty. 2. The “victim” is blameless though suffering. 3. The trials are met with triumph. 4. The friends turn on their friend by falsely accusing. 5. God held […]
PHall | September 1, 2018
Many know the mistake of Job’s friends. Their theological position was God intervened as a moral arbiter in everyday life. This meant only the wicked suffered (this is actually the general truth presented in Proverbs). Since Job suffered, he must have been unrighteous. Since he wasn’t unjust (at the beginning), his friends therefore unjustly accused […]
PHall | January 27, 2018
In talking to Job, God uses animals as lessons for humans (Job 38ff). Today we can still learn. Surprising I have learned from my dogs more about fearing God (Deuteronomy 6:2). In short I have learned the proper response to fearing a master. We are babysitting my parents’ dog. She is a recent rescue and […]
PHall | December 1, 2015
Scratched into a wall in Germany during World War II by someone hiding from the Nazi’s are these faithful words: I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I am alone. I believe in God even when He is silent. Nothing may be more frightening than […]
PHall | March 23, 2015
Silence. A silent stare. A turned back. Aggression. Resignation. Contempt. Confusion. Disappointment. Restlessness. Disease. Ignored. Cast out. Which of these hurts the most? The answer might depend upon the definition and direction of hurt. Job is praying. Again. “Again” is painful knowing that if he had been answered the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth […]
PHall | February 24, 2015
“Why do bad things happen to good people;” is the inverse of “Why do good things happen to bad people?” Most of the rich are unbelievers. Many shadowed by “bad luck” are believers. How do we reconcile this reality with a good God? Something strange happens in Job’s second response to Zophar. He repeats the […]
PHall | February 14, 2015
Was Satan right about Job? Satan’s challenge is this: Would Job be more adversely affected by the ravaging loss of his health (Job 1.22), than the loss of his children (1.11)? Hearing Job talk, it isn’t until the second round of speeches that this godly man even mentions his children: “Surely He has now exhausted […]
PHall | February 6, 2015
My relative was schizophrenic. Those who suffer, endure mentally twisted hallucinations and delusions forming false realities. Making this practical, pain can make us experience what I’ll call “sane schizophrenia,” producing unearthly realities. Pain can produce an irrationality of hope superseding human experience. This pained induced thinking then enables us to expand beyond man’s reality, to […]
PHall | February 4, 2015
Sitting in a court room, the accused is dressed to look respectable; looking respectable looks innocent. The defendant tries to look calm. Each is faking serenity while someone else is deciding their future. Sitting there, they appear to be in total control, while the reality is control is totally out of the grasp. Job feels […]
PHall | January 27, 2015
Pain brings rash words. That is the explanation – or rationalization – of Job to Eliphaz (Job 6.3). He does what is so easily and commonly done; He blames God: “Surely the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks of their poison. God’s terrors are arrayed against me” (Job 6.4). Job’s physical […]