Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@garage.att.com (Joseph H Buehler) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Question? Message-ID: Date: 9 Jun 91 19:23:06 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 31 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article ogorman@unix1.tcd.ie writes: if god is the first cause, and if our conception with regard to his character is correct (i.e. that he is omnipotent, omniscient, and good) and if we believe that god is love, then since satan (the devil, whatever you like) was brought into existence by god he must have been good. totally good since god could not create evil. if so then how could he be corrupted? indeed how could evil exist if god did not create it? Angels, like men, have two primary faculties, intellect and will. The proper object of the intellect is the truth, of the will, good. With our intellects we know what is true, with our wills, we do what is good. Creatures are only a sort of limited reflection of the perfections of God. Whatever good there is in us, or an angel, is there because God put it there. God can only put so much goodness into a creature, because otherwise He would be able to make another God: clearly impossible. This is where the answer to your question lies. Satan's fall was possible because he didn't have a perfect will. He was only a creature. It is the nature of a created will that it is inherently possible for it to fail to choose to do what is good. And that's what Satan did. A being that can only choose good is inherently superior to one that can choose good or evil. Because choosing evil is inherently irrational, a misuse and corruption of one's highest faculties. God is a being that can only choose good. Creatures are beings that can choose good or evil, because they are inherently inferior to God.