Posted on 11/19/2015 7:45:30 AM PST by Gamecock
(I was unable to post yesterday, here is both yesterdays and today's offering)
Recognizing Satan's Reality (18 November 2015)
I once asked a college philosophy class, "How many of you believe in God?" Out of thirty students, twenty-seven raised their hands in the affirmative; three abstained.
Then I asked, "How many of you believe in Satan as a personal reality?" This time the vote was reversed.
I pursued my inquiry. I asked, "Why do you believe in a supernatural being who has the capacity to influence us for good (God) and not in a supernatural personal being who has the capacity to influence us for evil (Satan)?" Their answers indicated that the Devil they were rejecting was what they perceived to be a nonexistent mythical caricature.
Many qualified their positions by saying, "I do believe in the reality of an impersonal force of evil in the world." I found this response fascinating. I asked them, "How can an impersonal force be evil?"
What is this mysterious impersonal force? Cosmic dust? Radioactivity? Impersonal objects, forces, or powers can be many things. One thing they cannot be is morally evil. Here the attempt to be modern and sophisticated becomes an exercise in intellectual regression.
Coram Deo
Do you believe Satan is a personal reality? Why do you believe as you do? How has your belief affected your response to him?
Passages for Further Study
Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Matthew 12:43-45 'When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.â€
Denying Dualism (19 November 2015)
The Devil-as-myth view is Satan's right-hand punch. If that one doesn't get you, then watch out for his left hook. The left-hand attack moves the disinformation to the opposite extreme. If Satan can't get you to ignore him by denying his very existence, he will cunningly lead you to attribute power to him far beyond what he actually possesses. He will seek to persuade you that he is virtually equal to God.
Dualism, as a philosophy and a religion, has vied with Christianity from the beginning. Dualism affirms that the universe is the staging area, the combat zone, for two equal and opposite beings who struggle with each other eternally.
Satan is falsely described in terms of omniscience, omnipresence, and the power to do actual, not merely counterfeit, miracles. He is given attributes orthodox Christianity labels as the incommunicable attributes of God and he is assigned power over nature that rivals the Creator's.
The Bible teaches that Satan is a finite spiritual being. He is temporal and created. In a word, he is a creature. He is more powerful that we, but he is not omnipotent. He is not immutable, as God is. Indeed, Satan's mutability is profound. His most obvious mutation is his fall. He was created a good angel. He fell from his original righteousness and is now totally malevolent.
Coram Deo
Have you been attributing power to Satan beyond what the Bible indicates he possesses?
Passages for Further Study
Luke 10:19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
Acts 26:17-18 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles-to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'
1 John 4:4
Ping!
You can’t watch or make sense of the events happening in this world without believing that the worst of it is being driven and coordinated by an overwhelming evil.
However, I've since read other things that say they are two different beings.
Whereas Lucifer is the fallen angel, Satan appears to be a demon.
Does that sound right?
While there is abundant evidence for God in the universe, where is the like evidence for this supposed Satan except in the minds of human beings?
So the mere fact that G-d exists and is good means that there must be an evil counterpart?
Scripture.
Lucifer was Satan’s name before his fall. He was the “anointed cherub” (Ezekial 28:14), “son of the morning” (Isaiah 14:12) but his pride caused him to rebel against God and lead a third of the angelic beings with him. He was cast to earth and is called the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), the “god of this world/age” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and the enemy and accuser of God’s own (Revelation 12:10). They are the same being according to Scripture.
I'm wondering if it was Satan who caused Lucifer to fall.
I've read that Satan is Vanity, which would explain Lucifer's fall and that thing with Eve in the Garden.
What do you think?
Scripture is like a library. There is history, genealogy, poetry, gospel forms, apocrypha, etc., subject to various interpretations.
I’ve long felt that references to “Satan” therein are various manifestations of God Himself. And, again IMHO, it makes more sense with regard to monotheism.
It was PRIDE that caused Satan/Lucifer’s fall - his own pride. Scripture is pretty consistent in its description of this created being and I am convinced they are one and the same just at two different times. Satan is definitely NOT an equal to God Almighty.
He has already been defeated by the cross - though he has been on a tear as he knows his time is drawing to a close- and all that remains is his final judgment and eternal punishment in hell. Far from the Hollywood myth that he is the boss in hell, he will be the one punished the worst. Hell will be created especially for this reason.
Most things I've read agree with what you said about Lucifer and Satan being the same, but, not seeing it spelled out exactly, I'm guessing that it's a traditional understanding or assumption, not that it isn't also truth, too.
Lucifer and Satan could be the same being yet with different names for different times kinda like Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader are the same yet different.
Regardless, as you said, he's already beaten in the end. I guess it's really just a question of how many of us he takes with him before the end.
Most things I've read agree with what you said about Lucifer and Satan being the same, but, not seeing it spelled out exactly, I'm guessing that it's a traditional understanding or assumption, not that it isn't also truth, too.
Lucifer and Satan could be the same being yet with different names for different times kinda like Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader are the same yet different.
Regardless, as you said, he's already beaten in the end. I guess it's really just a question of how many of us he takes with him before the end.
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