Can Satan create life?

by peacefulpete 18 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  peacefulpete

  The familiar tale of Moses approaching Pharoah with the demand to free Israelite slaves has always purplexed me. The account says that YHWH miraculously changed Moses staff into a serpant but then just as miraculously Pharoah's priests did likewise. Does this not "prove" that Satan is equally capable of creating life from nothing? Or rather more likely does not this tale reflect a very primative understanding of the world,an ignorance that sees no problem with miracles and supernatural magic being everyday possibilities in the hands of wizards.Or possibly the tale was just that, a tale about the superiority of Israel's god over the gods of the other cultures around them,(his snake was bigger) and never meant to be literalized.

  Which do you think is the case?
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  Elsewhere

  I think the story is a homoerotic dream that Moses put in the bible.

  "As every one knows, there are mistakes in the Bible" - The Watchtower, April 15, 1928, p. 126
  Believe in yourself, not mythology.
  <x ><
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  Elsewhere

  One man's "snake" being bigger than the other man’s; a "snake" being swallowed. You do the math.

  "As every one knows, there are mistakes in the Bible" - The Watchtower, April 15, 1928, p. 126
  Believe in yourself, not mythology.
  <x ><
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  Adonai438

  Well, Satan came in snake form to eve in the Garden but I think it's more of an illusion or form taking than a creation of life. As for your belief that it was a primitive society hoping in miracles I would have to say that miracles still happen today so why couldn't the records of miracles past be true? Miracles happen everyday for/to innumerable amounts of people around the world. I have seen and experienced miracles myself and know God exists not only because of intellectual logic and scientific support but also because of experiencial knowlege. I think society today doesn't experience less miracles than the ancient israelites and other people of God but they are more likely to go unnoticed, unrecognized, ignored or attempted to be explained away by some logical or scietific reasoning.
  God isn't stingy with them and he is Awesome <>< Angie
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  peacefulpete

  Adonai

  Does this also explain why the magic priests were able to conjure up blood from water and frogs that lept about?The Bible does not suggest or hint that what was happening was an illusion rather that they did this through"secret arts"Ex 7;22.

  Your response illustrates the length we have t go to to explain away accounts that naturally offend our modern understanding of the world.

  The account in Gen does not say the snake was anything but a snake.The later exegesis was necessary to accomadate the more critical thinking of Hellenistic Jews and Chritians.
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  Xenu

  The Apollyon is an agent of deception. This personage, as the Holy Book informs us, has mystical powers that we in this realm may never understand.
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  Simon

  Didn't the WTS teach (quite a while back) that some things were created by Satan? I think it was mainly nasty stuff like flies and wasps and maybe some germs.

  It was obviously when they didn't understand how everything contributes to the eco system or is there because it evolved into a niche and were trying to reconcile 'loving god' creating nasty things.
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  LDH1

  heh heh heh

  he said snake.

  Lisa
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  noidea

  LOL@ Lisa
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  Abaddon

  Xenu; "The Apollyon is an agent of deception."

  Well, thanks, you barely know me!

  Mystical powers? Well, someone's obviously been talkling, but honest, I'm mortal.