Job's suffering and the five stages of grief according to Kubler-Ross

¶ … Job in the Bible and the Grieving Process

Review story Job Bible, focusing suffering grief. Examine story correlates grieving process defined Kubler-Ross. 3) In a paper 750-1000 words include: a) Compare contrast grieving process defined Kubler-Ross story Job religion.

The understanding of the process of grief helps many to understand how to deal with their emotions and also how to react physically to the loss. Kubler-Ross described a five stage process of grief. The stages can occur in any sequence, and they can recur during the experience. Also, one stage can last longer than the others Flatt, 1988.

The story of Job in the Bible relates closely to the five stages of grief, and it is a quintessential example of the application of the five stages of grief.

The five stages of grief

The first stage is that of denial. This is where the person denies that the loss has occurred and ignores the signs of the loss. The second stage is bargaining. This is where the person bargains or strikes a deal with God or other people. The third stage is anger where the person becomes angry with God and others for the loss. The fourth stage is despair where the person becomes overwhelmed with the pain and anguish of the loss and they begin to have uncontrollable spells of weeping, silence and melancholy. The last stage is that of acceptance where the person reaches a level of awareness and understands the nature of their loss. They begin to think rationally about the loss and begin to exhibit behavior which shows they accept the loss. Kubler-Ross posits that a person needs to pass through each of these phases of grief otherwise they may not be able to fully come to terms with the loss Levin, 1998()

The story of Job

The story of Job in the Bible does exemplify the five stages of grief that were described by Kubler-Ross. In the first chapter of the book, Job is seen to be in denial about the gravity of his situation, "the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised," Job 1:21 and Job 2:10 "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In the seventh chapter, his anger about God is seen.

"Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard? When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine." Job 7:11-15

Job begins to bargain with God in the ninth chapter "if only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more," Job 9:33-34. Depression becomes evident in the 10th chapter, "why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me," Job 10:18. In the 13th and 42nd chapter, Job finally accepts his situation, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face," Job 13:15 and "You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know," Job 42:3.

Job does go back and forth between the five stages when dealing with his suffering. At some point, he wishes he was never born which is in line with the anger stage of grief and when he wishes for an arbitration session with God, he is in the bargaining stage Lyon, 2000()

Personal view of grief

My personal view of grief is that it is a long process, and it needs to follow a particular process in order for a person to be able to handle it. This is because the loss process is quite long and it is expected that a person needs to work on their response slowly in order to return to full emotional health and good adaptive functioning. The person needs to get support from the outside in order to handle the loss.

Looking at the grief process model as well as the Hindu culture, my preferred method of handling grief is through going through the five stages of grief since this process is slow but sure to help the person to handle the grief. It also creates an avenue for the person to be helped by a grief counselor who will guide the person through each stage of the process.