The mystery of the 'Devil's Bible': Claims world's largest manuscript was written by Lucifer

I really should have said Torah, where I believe mention of the “serpent” refers to God himself. And any other mention in the Tanach thereof.

I believe that “Satan” - call it what you will - undermines monotheism, and still calls man away from himself as an “excuse” for his own sins.

As I mentioned earlier, while I see many examples of God in the universe, there are NONE for “Satan” before Man begins to abstract him from his own mind.

Well, I didn’t mention the serpent...thought it couldn’t have been God, because God doesn’t attempt to mislead nor contradict His own word.

There’s no excuse for sins. We choose daily-—God or the devil. Good or evil. Satan existed long before we ever came along.

There are many, many people who have experienced real supernatural evil...sometimes because they invited it, sometimes not. You don’t have to look far to find them or their accounts. Those people know firsthand that the devil exists.

I won’t go any deeper than that because I suspect you wouldn’t be disposed to believe, but...there it is.

"I don’t see God contradicting his own word with regard to the serpent."

You must have missed a part, then.

God told Adam that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would cause them to die.

The serpent told Eve that they would not die if they ate from the tree. If the serpent was God, he contradicted himself and made himself out to be a liar.

Which is not possible, of course.

"And just one example of Satan in the universe before Man? Just one?"

Sorry, I'm not quite sure what you mean...before Man?

Unless is meant spiritual death, to which I do subscribe.

And unless you’re into 6 day creationism, there was a lot transpired in the universe prior to the onset of Man. Just in the Milky Way alone it took at least two, and more likely three, earlier generations of stars to fuse the heavier elements of the Sun and planets...unless you’ve got a better theory as to where they came from.

Though as said, I believe God was instrumental in it all. But where was “Satan” during all this?

Granted “he” may have been bothering other civilizations elsewhere. But they would have to have invented him too.

There is but One God everywhere. Even before time began.

"Unless is meant spiritual death, to which I do subscribe."

Yes, I believe so, as well.

"And unless you’re into 6 day creationism, there was a lot transpired in the universe prior to the onset of Man. Just in the Milky Way alone it took at least two, and more likely three, earlier generations of stars to fuse the heavier elements of the Sun and planets...unless you’ve got a better theory as to where they came from."

Yeah, I do, actually. The six-day creation described in Genesis.

God only needed to will the Milky Way into being. It wasn't a difficulty for Him.

"Though as said, I believe God was instrumental in it all. But where was “Satan” during all this?"

Well, Ezekiel 28 says that Satan was in the garden of Eden:

"13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.

14 You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.

15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.

So he was clearly in that blessed state, cherished by God, in the Garden at the beginning of creation. It was later that he sinned and was cast out of heaven. Maybe he became jealous of the friendship God shared with Adam and Eve. Regardless, his pride became his downfall (literally).

As for when Satan was created, Genesis says that God made everything---the heavens, the earth, and all that's in them---during that six day period. Satan, as a heavenly being, was created then.

"Granted “he” may have been bothering other civilizations elsewhere. But they would have to have invented him too."

I missed reading this part of your post. See above; he was part of the heavenly creation at the beginning.

"There is but One God everywhere. Even before time began"

Absolutely true. But Satan isn't a god. He wanted to be one and thought he could be one. He was just another of God's handiwork. The powers he has now are allowed to him for a time. We know what his ultimate fate will be.

A “six day” creation seems possible...if viewed in relativistic terms given the expansion of the universe, as has been demonstrated, time passes more slowly in extreme gravitational environments. And whereas the universe would have been more “compressed” in the past, it seems such a scheme is viable.

And as radioactive isotopes decay at known rates (rubidium 87-strontium 87 with a half-life of 50 billion years - which is older than the universe itself) have been used to date igneous an metamorphic rocks, as well as meteoric and lunar samples, it seems odd to me (and to you from earlier)that God would wish to play tricks on us. Without the physics to uncover these phenomena, it would be impossible even to light our cities. Thus I am more inclined to these miracles than a literal six day creation.

It seems important for me to state however, that I do not believe the United States could ever have been founded without benefit of Christianity, to which I am eternally grateful...noting too that Benjamin Franklin had a scientific bent.

And, just changing the subject momentarily, I love your screen name. She was a very brave and faithful woman indeed.

Onedoug, I don’t think he’s playing tricks. Maybe he’s just letting ideas of evolution play themselves out, to see who will stick with what He told us and who will be drawn away to believe something else.

Differing literary styles are found throughout Scripture...parables, poetry, letters, prophecy, authentic historical fact, etc. One by one, those styles can be eliminated when describing Genesis, except for the latter. It isn’t poetry, or prophecy, etc....but it is an historical account. It’s the only way it can be read.

The people in the pages of Genesis are real individuals who lived and breathed; they’re mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. Jesus-—though I know you don’t believe in Him-—referred to Adam and Eve as real, and as having been made in the beginning.

If we discount the creation story as myth, then the entire Bible begins to fall apart. It begins with man’s need to be redeemed and how it happened, and ends with the foretelling of ultimate redemption.

About my Freep name-—thank you. You know, what you said about C of A is exactly why I chose her as my alias here. She underwent terrible trials, but she never broke and she never lost her faith. An admirable woman, IMO.

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