I don't know how beatup I'm gonna get from this,buuuuuttt....
First, God had blessed man with freewill, the ability to choose. Was is not a choice to take a bite of the forbidden fruit?
Next, book of Job, the calamity in Job's life. What God giveth can be taken away? God can curse and send plagues onto mankind? Send angels to smite whomever the Lord deems necessary? Will not tempt us beyond what we can endure? Allows suffering to build our spiritual character?
God can create instances where miracles can be performed, for God who is all mighty has domain over man. God has the power to give kingdoms unto shepards. Make the mighty from the meek.
Whose sins are we judged by? The sins of our fathers. Where does sin come from? Disobedience of God. Does Satan cause us to sin? No, freewill. Who do we fear the damning of our Soul's? Ourselves.
I agree with what you wrote, but don't understand how it answers the question of why God made Satan. Could you elaborate?Actually, I understand that you are speaking of a more Armenian view, but would like for you to explain it so others will understand your point of view.
Blessings,
Leon
PS I expected Walter to jump on this. That is one of the reasons I posted what I did.
Maybe we rationlize our shortcoming by blaming the devil.
It is by freewill, the ability to make choices that we sin. Sometimes we make the wrong choices. Instead of acknowledging or wrongs we choose to blame someone else.
Case in point; Man ate of the forbidden fruit, when questioned why, he blamed the woman for giving him the fruit (tempting him). Then when the woman was confronted, who was she to blame? The first thing she saw...the serpent. They could have chose not to eat of the tree, but the woman saw the beauty of the fruit and desired the taste of it's flesh. Then blamed the whole thing on something/someone else (bearing false witness). See the real lesson here?
The only way we use the devil is to have someone else to blame for our sins. Many have been unfairly persecuted and died for that reason. If there is one sin the devil is responsible for it is bearing false witness, lying, and that is because it shift the blame from us. "It is easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission".
I believe the devil exist but I really don't believe he has any dominion over us. Satan is just the keeper of his own kingdom, which will be filled with the unredeemed soon enough. We in the Body of Christ are redeemed from the world, from our own worst enemy. If bad things happen to us, then we being of the flesh are the only ones to blame. We cannot blame our inequities on someone or something else. It builds our character when we take responsibilty for our own actions. Give up your freewill and turn to God, in that way you keep obedience.
"God made the devil so we will have someone to blame for our sins?"...I do declare...you're just too much! LOL... good point though. Now, Leon work with that!:winksmile:..:ROFL:
BTW, where is Walter? I was expecting him to hit you with his best punch as well. Aww, Maybe he's off getting it all together. lol...
Believe it or not, I mostly agree. I think we often blame Satan when we are drawn away by our own desires and enticed. However, I do believe that he attacks us at times. I believe he has more power than people give him credit for. I have a personal reason to believe that way, but that is another topic.
I believe he tempts us, and lies to us, and uses everything he can, to get us to fall. All because he knows that we have a hard time coming back to God when we have been sinning. In this way, we separate ourselves from God. I believe he is real, and active, just not as much as people think.
If Satan is not omnipresent, like God, what makes me so important that he would bother with me? Wouldn't he be out tempting the Billy Grahams of the world? Why bother a little known Evangelist like me, when we have people like Hagee, Lucado, Jakes, Olsteen, and many more of the same caliber? It just doesn't make sense. He has better things to do with his time.
In the story of Job, didn't Satan ask the permission of God to thrust the curses upon Job? Thus showing that Satan has no rule over us, not unless getting the ok from God first. When we are tested and attacked by the devil are we to believe that God is powerless to help us?
I used to believe that Satan walked the earth, whispering in the ears of the weak, causing all kinds of havoc to break our faith. But he has no power over us, none unless God gives it to him. I am my own worst enemy, where I am now is because of the choices I made. I walked the wide path, I tried to do things my way instead of trusting in God. I sinned because my faith was weak, the devil never had any control over me. Now that I'm humbled God can work through me. The Holy Spirit makes me question humanity. In return I see more of myself.
Funny, most will say that Satan tempts us with riches and power, as he tempted Jesus. Maybe our currency should say "In Satan We Trust", because we can't serve two masters, it seems blasphemous to put the name of the Lord on our money.
Job was cursed solely so as that God may prove to satan that Job was in fact his most loyal servant unto him. God was allowing satan the opportunity to try and disprove that Job loved god and by comparison that humanity is weak and when brought down will change their praises to that of curses against God. God was witness to everything that happened to Job but undoubtedly would have come to his aide had satan gone to far in his actions.
In God�s eyes satan is no more than an unruly child that had taken second place to humanity. God permits his existence not only because he loves him but also because satan still has his uses when brought into contact with mankind.
It has occurred to me that satan is perceived to bear a personal grudge against every single person individually, that does not make sense to me as I see that satan is decisively malicious towards all of humanity rather then the specific individual.
Job was under the protection of God, so Satan had to have His permission to cause him harm. He was doing more than just tempting and deceiving, he was causing him harm. This story was, in my opinion, as much about God trying to bring Satan back into the fold, as it was about Job's faith.
There is so much more about Satan, but I am hoping someone else will post their opinion.
I can't stop myself, I have to say that we don't have the power over Satan that we think we have. Jesus defeated Satan, not us. Any angel is mightier in power than any human. We can no more bind Satan than we can bind the wind. When we say things like that he is his head off. Who do we think we are?
Even Michael, the most powerful angel in heaven was afraid to challenge him when they were face to face, and he was on a mission from god! But we have been taught that we can order him around. Get real. Do you think it is so easy that all we have to do is invoke the name of Jesus? What about the seven sons who tried to cast out the demon in the name of Jesus who Paul teaches? It ran them down the road, naked and bleeding. Don't believe me? Try it.
We have become so arrogant that we think we can do anything Jesus did, and more. I have heard this all my life, but have yet to see it even once. It will happen, the Bible says it will, so it will, but do you think everyone will be able to do this? Show me an example of any time this has happened.
his head off. Who do we think we are?