Zone1 Why doesn't god just kill satan

[ding]

I suspect the devil has performed many services in many religions at many times. He came into his own when Jews and Christians re-imagined their religion from a religion of a people to one of an individual.

Yes, Satan's domain is only that of the religious.

 

[Carl in Michigan]

The Bible gives us a pretty clear picture of what happens to us when our clay exterior gives out

It's NOT a clay shell.
MORTAL Man is TRANSFORMED IF he has the Holy Spirit. Otherwise YOU return to the dust you were created from.

I'm surprised you seem to follow Mormonism in the lie that you are an IMMORTAL Spirit.

Eternal Life is a GIFT of God. The wages of sin is real DEATH aka NONEXISTENCE

 

[The Irish Ram]

I have a different belief which is that there is no Satan - either fallen or working for God - and that man is his own worst enemy

And yet:
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Ding, what do you think about Lucifer being cast out of Heaven and 1/3 of the angels going with him?

 

[ding]

And yet:
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Ding, what do you think about Lucifer being cast out of Heaven and 1/3 of the angels going with him?

I believe Revelation is about the fall of Rome and that they used imagery as a means to disguise their message because it was written when Rome was still in power. It was the only way they could write it and get away with writing it.

 

[ding]

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

And this couldn't be men? Do you really believe that Satan is responsible for everything that is bad? That seems like a textbook external locus of control to me. We don't really need to be accountable for anything because it was Satan's fault.

The whole point of the account of the fall of man was about failure to take accountability.

Adam did you eat the fruit?
The woman you made gave it to me.
Eve did you eat the fruit?
The serpent deceived me.

And it was after they failed to take accountability, that God read them the riot act. Up and to that point, it was a cordial discussion. Now it would be idiotic to believe God didn't already know what they had done, right? He could have laid into them without even asking. But he didn't. The punishment came after they made excuses. Adam blaming Eve and Eve blaming the serpent. Lastly, if everyone on earth took accountability for their actions, the world would change overnight. Blaming others and making excuses is man's original sin.

 

[toobfreak]

No. You have it exactly backwards. Good doesn't need evil in order to exist. But evil can't exist without good.
Good exists in and of itself. Evil is not extant... evil is the absence, or opposition of good.
It's like light and darkness. Darkness is not an actual thing, it's simply the lack of light. Light is a real thing. That analogy can be applied spiritually.

You still miss the point. Good and evil go hand in hand just as do light and darkness, front and back, top and bottom. One is not real and the other merely absence thereof. Each are the opposite sides of the same thing.

 

[ding]

Each are the opposite sides of the same thing.

No. One exists and the other is the negation of the thing that exists.

 

[BackAgain]

The Jewish belief - or at least one of them - is that Satan is an angel working for God to tempt man as a test. So, yeah, according to that belief God wouldn't be punishing Satan.

I have a different belief which is that there is no Satan - either fallen or working for God - and that man is his own worst enemy and serves as his own personal Satan and that we are being tested by God in how we respond to pretty much everything. That it is our hardships which shape our character for better or worse. So all of these idiots - like the OP who are waiting for a sign from God - might as well be jerking off because God's plan doesn't call for letting anyone know they are being tested. If you want to know what someone's character is in reality, they need to be observed without knowing they are being observed.

And oh, yeah... this is certainly not the Catholic position on Satan. For all I know they are right and I am wrong.

I most frequently avoid the religion forum. Why? Because I don’t “know” which belief is right — if any.

But I still harbor my own beliefs.

1. The entire universe came into being at some point. Since I also believe that nothing exists prior to itself, it seems to me that matter/energy/space/time has to have been created.

2. So, did the rules of science get suspended just for the creation — and all that stuff came into existence without any prior thing creating it? That sounds supernatural (literally beyond nature).

3. If the creation could be the product of something supernatural, then why can that “thing” not be “God?”

4. Then, I factor in all the rules and laws of science which we have been able to unravel. And I have to ask myself this (fairly obvious) question: do all these amazing rules come about as a pure accidental byproduct of random creation? (I find that beyond unlikely.)

5. Don’t ask me about any organized religion or faith. I simply don’t know. But I do find it difficult to buy that the God I believe exists can possibly give a hoot about which religion any of us have. Why would an almighty Creator wish to be or need to be “worshipped?”

 

[Z99]

The wages of sin is real DEATH aka NONEXISTENCE

Nobody will cease to exist.

1 Corinthians 15:22
English Standard Version
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

 

[Z99]

But I do find it difficult to buy that the God I believe exists can possibly give a hoot about which religion any of us have. Why would an almighty Creator wish to be or need to be “worshipped?”

I believe that God created us out of love and a desire for companionship with us, his children. He wants us to follow him and not someone or something else.

 

[toobfreak]

No. One exists and the other is the negation of the thing that exists.

Wrong. Evil is not the absence of good, but its opposite.
Top is not absence of bottom, but its opposite.
Front is not the absence of back, but its opposite.
Generosity is not the absence of stinginess, but its opposite.
Fullness is not the absence of emptiness, but its opposite.
Wisdom is not merely the absence of ignorance but its opposite.
Light is not merely the absence of darkness but its opposite.
You cannot have a front to a sheet of paper without having a back.

It all cases, you cannot have one without there likewise existing the other. Both go hand in hand, mutually co-dependent. This is true because all of nature is dualistic, not monistic.

Suffering is not something God can simply wave a wand and eliminate, because suffering is in essence being apart from God. Suffering is the opposite of oneness.

 

[Meriweather]

5. Don’t ask me about any organized religion or faith. I simply don’t know. But I do find it difficult to buy that the God I believe exists can possibly give a hoot about which religion any of us have. Why would an almighty Creator wish to be or need to be “worshipped?”

Go back to the Hebrew etymology. It means, place God first in one's life. That's for our benefit, not God's.

 

[Meriweather]

Wrong. Evil is not the absence of good, but its opposite.

God brings good out of evil. We can also turn what is good to evil. Does that qualify as opposites?

 

[Moonglow]

?
It doesn't make sense to me. Just seems like a way to instill fear.

Soap operas never die, they just go to a commercial break...

 

[toobfreak]

God brings good out of evil.

For there to be one, there has to be the possibility of the other.

We can also turn what is good to evil.

Like I said.

Does that qualify as opposites?

I supposes as one cannot exist without the other.

 

[The Irish Ram]

It's NOT a clay shell.
MORTAL Man is TRANSFORMED IF he has the Holy Spirit. Otherwise YOU return to the dust you were created from.

I'm surprised you seem to follow Mormonism in the lie that you are an IMMORTAL Spirit.

Eternal Life is a GIFT of God. The wages of sin is real DEATH aka NONEXISTENCE

I've never studied Mormonism, but it is scriptural that we are eternal beings. It is actually an important theme in the Bible. When Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you." he was referring to the place in Heaven for them after they die here. Our last breath here is our first breath in Heaven.
Eternal life is mentioned dozens of times in the Bible. One of the most popular verses is:

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.​

Romans 6: 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord​

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life​

Matthew 25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life​

^
That is just a few verses. There are many. And it is verified by Luke's description of Abraham's Bosom. It is kind of hard to ignore. When we walk through the narrow gate, it is because we just died. Our BEMA Judgment takes place in Heaven, where crowns are handed out. It is all predicated on the fact that there is life after death, for the believer, and the nonbeliever.

 

[ding]

2. So, did the rules of science get suspended just for the creation — and all that stuff came into existence without any prior thing creating it? That sounds supernatural (literally beyond nature).

The universe was created according to the laws of conservation and quantum mechanics which means the laws of nature existed before the creation of space and time. This guy explains it clearly and quickly.

 

[ding]

4. Then, I factor in all the rules and laws of science which we have been able to unravel. And I have to ask myself this (fairly obvious) question: do all these amazing rules come about as a pure accidental byproduct of random creation? (I find that beyond unlikely.)

Given all of the improbabilities and implausibility, it's obvious to me the universe was created intentionally.

 

[ding]

Wrong. Evil is not the absence of good, but its opposite.
Top is not absence of bottom, but its opposite.
Front is not the absence of back, but its opposite.
Generosity is not the absence of stinginess, but its opposite.
Fullness is not the absence of emptiness, but its opposite.
Wisdom is not merely the absence of ignorance but its opposite.
Light is not merely the absence of darkness but its opposite.
You cannot have a front to a sheet of paper without having a back.

It all cases, you cannot have one without there likewise existing the other. Both go hand in hand, mutually co-dependent. This is true because all of nature is dualistic, not monistic.

Suffering is not something God can simply wave a wand and eliminate, because suffering is in essence being apart from God. Suffering is the opposite of oneness.

So cold isn't the absence of heat and darkness isn't the absence of light?

 

[alang1216]

Yes, Satan's domain is only that of the religious.

Who else would blame Satan for anything?