by Quentin 84 Replies latest jw friends
The word for Satan in the Old Testament Hebrew was ha-satan
which ment "Adversary". The term is used exclusively to describe
either the enemies of God or the enemies of the Israelite race
in general. NEVER is the devil referred to as the EVIL ONE.
Not until the advent of the New Testament,.. does the term
ha-satan take on the all important role..At this point, satan
become an Angel fallen from grace and expelled from heaven.
People could not understand why we have evil, so they created
satan.
snowbird.... where in the TNK does it say that the serpent was "Satan" or that "Satan" is the source of evil? it's all much much much later theology.
thank you jam... ;) (see my earlier posts)
the only time "satan" is used in the TNK is when it describes a person/angel's purpose/action. never ever ever refers to an actual entity that is named Satan, or even evil for that matter.
So, what are Satan's designs?
Satan and his demons have been studying Mankind through each successive generation on this planet; they know more about how we think and feel than any master human psychologist; they work off NEEDS; they take God given things like sex and food - and they subvert and twist those needs to try and lasso each of us; love verses sex; moderate verse being a glutton; if we over feed our vessels, what are we really doing? Aren’t we cultivating a desire for organic food over all else? And though over eating is not a gross sin, what happens when you've become addicted to organic food and can no longer satisfy that need?
Satan knows the more sin is practiced, the more it becomes deeply rooted in those that become slaves to it; whether it be a slave to food, or a slave to an act that gives short term satisfaction, no one is truly satisfied by those addictions; like drugs that give highs of utopia in the beginning stages, are they not turned into nightmares as the vessel dehabilitates and slowly dies from the sinful misuse of organic compounds injected, inhaled, or ingested on a daily basis - to the point that one will steal to keep up the addiction?
Too tired tonight to comment on the comments made. Will say though seems there is more passion for Satan 's existance than God's. That's my observation. More from me tomorrow.
No I don't think so. The reason is that I feel that the Biblical Satan acted completely illogical to what a perfect spirit creature would in his situation and not involving the questioning of God's right to rule but the way he's supposedly acted since. Here's my theory.
I love to play chess. I learned in the 3rd grade from a very cool and free thinking guidance counselor (Mr. Bankston) at school and think it's a wonderful game that helps to develop abstract thought and think that everyone needs to be taught it at a young age.
OK here's my point. The whole God vs. Satan brouhaha to me always seemed like a chess match. God was the White pieces because as the story goes he made the first move by creating the whole mess in the first place.
Now, it's Blacks (Satan) turn to move. What does he do? He comes to earth and tells Eve that if she eats the fruit she'll know good from evil. OK, Satan has made his opening.
4 "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
White's (God) turn to move now.
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
"Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring [a] and hers;
he will crush [b] your head,
and you will strike his heel."
Alrighty, the clocks rolling on Black's next move...but here's the problem, Satan knows he can't ever win unless he's proven completely true. He has to know this. Supposedly He's a perfect spirit creature with incredible powers of deductive reasoning so what I always pondered over was why he didn't just refuse to play the game. Don't make the next move. Cause the game to grind to a screeching halt. Simply put, let your first move play out to fruition or destruction because in the beginning you had to know that this whole rebellion thing was a huge gamble.
My point is this. Satan supposedly challenges God's authority to rule over humans. Well, there had to be some indication to Satan as he watched these humans being created that they would willfully disobey God or logically he wouldn't have approached them the way he did. The scientific method demands that you not, for lack of a better term, "F*** With" your experiments if you want them to be legitimate and to give you true and verifiable results. So, we're being asked to beleive that this perfect being has started the "experiment" of human rebellion and then has constantly had his dirty hands in it trying to swing the results to his side, when only true and untainted results would benefit (prove him true) him.
Damn, my head hurts now.
I do not "believe" in anything, using belief in the sense of accepting something as true with no proof.
So I do not believe in Satan. No proof .
But perhaps I am Satan ?
LOL @ Sooner.
snowbird.... where in the TNK does it say that the serpent was "Satan" or that "Satan" is the source of evil? it's all much much much later theology.
Exactly.
We have to connect the dots.
Thankfully, as I mentioned, Revelation helps us to do that.
My final say on this matter.
Syl
Boy, it would take a WHOLE LOT of writing about satan for me to even begin. For the record I do not belive Satan exist as an entity. I feel the same as lesabre and jam. Revelations was one of the last books to be included in the Bible cannon. Many Church Fathers opposed it. Don't think there's much more I can say. Thanks all for your comments, most interesting to read.
I don't think he what they (WTS) say he is.
Do I believe in an evil spirit out to get me? No. I don't think that we mean much to spirits... it would be like humans trying to go after ants.
