I know “What is teleology” has been asked, but I really need an example so I can understand. Honestly, some of the answers on the other posts are still too complicated for me… so maybe explain like I’m a really dumb 5-year-old?
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A teleological argument is basically asking the question “why do bad things happen?”
If you want an actual historical teleological argument, the story of Job is just that. Job was the most pious person in the world. So god and the adversary get into an argument. The adversary claims Job only claims to love god but doesn’t actually, he just loves god as long as he has it good.
So god and the adversary make a deal. They’ll take everything away from Job and learn if he is still pious. Turns out, yes, he is. After losing his wife, children, home and getting disfigured from disease, he still doesn’t renounce god.
So god gives him a new wife and children (old redshirt wife and children are still dead, apparently resurrect wasn’t a spell god had learned at that point yet)
In short, Job is a book that makes an involved teleological argument as an allegory. Job never existed, he was never real. It was a story made up by people to figure out why bad things happen to good people.
Adversary in hebrew is Ha-Satan. The Satan is just an angel who tortures people when god wants to test their faith. Satan isn’t evil, he’s an ally of god. Well, technically that would make Satan evil by association but you get my point.
Fun side fact, Job is actually the oldest book in the bible. It was written at least 200 years before any other part of the old testament. That’s how long people have been making teleological arguments.
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