Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: kamphau@oktext..sbc.com (Mark Kamphaus) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Is Satan a God? (was:Question for Net.theologians) Message-ID: Date: 5 Jun 90 03:12:00 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 52 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu >In article ii44@vaxb.acs.unt.edu writes: >> Satan is capable of taking any good thing that God created and turn it >> to evil purposes: he has done so with every emotion that God made for mankind >> to use for good. Love, pain, anger, kindness, compassion (although Satan I >> think may have a difficult time with this one)... In article jeffjs@ihlpb.att.com writes: >Alas, Satan has quite an easy time with that one, so much so that he made >distorted compassion the major component of the "in" psychological/addiction >problem of recent years, most commonly known as "codependency". {text on codependency deleted} >So you see, Satan is, alas, highly ingenious, since he can even spoil "the >milk of human kindness". But no matter how clever he is, Christ is greater -- >and Christ is in us! That being the case, we have all the strength, love, >joy, peace, power, wisdom, and anything else we need to annihilate Satan's >influence over our lives. I see a trend here that I would like to see more fully discussed. 1) Who is responsible when man sins-man or Satan? (Is "blaming" Satan a way of avoiding guilt?) 2) Is God Omnipotent (Why can't he stop Satan from interferring) 3) Is Satan deified by such claims as above ( An equal but opposite "god") 1) I believe that man is responsible, not Satan, for the evil that man does. This doesn't mean I don't believe in temptation, but that I do believe that Satan cannot make me sin. My Sin, as is explained in James, is from my own desires to do evil. My "lusts" grow into action and then sin and finally death. Satan only tempts us and we do the rest. Man can also be guilty of leading people astray. There is "sin" implied during the 1000 yr reign of Jesus because his ruling with an iron rod, and justice being carried out swiftly. During this time Satan is bound. Man is only tempted by himself and other men. As man does not seem to like to be responsible for his own actions, it would seem to be convienant to have someone else to blame. If man does not feel responsible, then he doesn't have to do anything to make amends. (see below) The only way for the "milk of human kindness" to get spoiled is if I put it out of the 'fridge!' 2> I believe God is omnipotent. Biblical examples of Job and Peter show that Satan must ask permission before temptation takes place. We pray that God "lead us not into temptation..." It is in Gods Plan that Man be refined. This means being subjected to discipline. (another way this could be viewed is that God allows Satan to Expose mens sins forcing the man to become repentent and turn to God, or to expose his wickedness to others so they won't be decieved.) 3> Satan was created along with all the other angelic host. He fell because he desired to be as God. We are told that God created "vessels bound for destruction" but has not yet destoryed them because he uses them to make His power known. We see this motif in the Amalkites, which instead of fire and brimstone, are destroyed in an act of faith by Moses. IMO, giving Satan these attributes does describe him a a god. He seems unrestricted and does whatever he desires. God must overcome his schemes to get man saved. That type of reasoning seems amiss.