Is Eliphaz good or bad?

As we start the year 2011, let's expose the hypocrisy of some of the Filipino Roman Catholic apologists concerning private interpretation. As we all know, Roman Catholics criticize us Protestants for not having an infallible magisterium to settle differences in interpretations of the Bible. They point out that private interpretations result to disunity.

Let's get down to business. Concerning Eliphaz, one of Job's friends who visited during the latter's suffering, is he good or bad?

According to Atty. Marwil Llasos:

Job’s unrighteous friend Eliphaz taunted him for calling on the saints, saying: “Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?” (Job 5:1). Unlike his friend, Job was a righteous and honest man who shunned evil (Job 1:1) yet, he was humble enough to call on the saints (in some translations, “holy ones”). Who are these “holy ones” that Job called for help? Zechariah 14:5 of the Amplified Bible identifies the holy ones as the “saints and angels” of God; “And God shall come and all the holy ones [saints and angels] with Him” (Zech. 14:5, Amp.). True enough, “born again” Christians are like Eliphaz the Temanite who taunt Catholics, who like Job, call on the angels and saints.]

So for Atty. Llasos, Eliphaz is unrighteous. Eliphaz is not like his friend Job who is righteous and shuns evil. And Atty. Llasos even identifies Eliphaz with Born Again Christians.

However, for Mr. Franz Luigi Lugena (aka Kapatas and Parabanog), an apprentice of Fr. Abe Arganiosa:

Nagkamali si Eliphaz yes, pero hindi ibig sabihin eh talagang masama syang tao. Si Haring David ay nagkasala ng pangangalunya pero hindi talaga sya masamang tao. Kaya wag husgahan ang tao sa isang nagawang kamalian. Para namang ang babanal nyo.

Kung babasahin mo teksto, hindi nga pinarusahan ng Diyos si Eliphaz eh. Inutusan si Eliphaz na maghandog ng hain sa kanya nang hindi sya maparusahan. So nandun ang pagtatawad ng Diyos kay Eliphaz mula sa handog na inialay. Kung totoong masamang tao Eliphaz hindi sana sya oobligahin ng Diyos na maghandog ng alay na susunugin dahil karumaldumal sa Diyos ang hain ng masamang tao. Right then and there, pinatay sya ng Diyos. Kaso hindi eh.

[Translation: Eliphaz was wrong, yes, but that doesn't mean that he is really an evil person. King David sinned by committing adultery but he is really not an evil person. So don't judge a person who made a mistake, as if you're holy.

If you read the text, God did not punish Eliphaz. He ordered Eliphaz to offer a sacrifice to Him so that he won't be punished. So there was God's forgiveness to Eliphaz upon his offering. If Eliphaz was really evil, he would not be obligated to offer something because an offering of an evil person is not acceptable to God. He could have been killed by God right there and then, but this didn't happen.]

Oooh, so Eliphaz is not an evil person according to Mr. Lugena. So, let's leave the two of them to settle their differences.

By the way, don't bother consulting your infallible magisterium, they never made an official interpretation of all the verses in the book of Job. Yes, they can make an interpretation for you but how long will that take? Will they even bother? And what about the Roman Catholics who were born centuries before you who never heard of an official interpretation on the book of Job?