Comments on: Why Does God Let Satan Roam Free?

By: Ebonmuse

Ebonmuse — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:26:59 +0000

Hi draven,

These are all excellent questions. You may be interested in this essay of mine:

http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/screwup.html

By: draven336

draven336 — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:12:04 +0000

this subject has been bothering me from ever since i was a child, i keep wondering how god puts up with hearing men planning to rape, murder, steal, go to war and the tons of other ruthless things that men do?? and then it occurred to me maybe we are his entertainment u know his big screen tv with pure action movies all day. but seriously their is a problem with god or the king james version, the bible said that god repented that he had made men. now surely with him being omnipotent omniscient and omnipresent he knows all things, so its safe to say he knew men would become wicked. next thing after he decided to send the flood when the waters dried up and bodies started to smell he complained how he couldnt take the scent of the bones???? didnt he know this?? or his he going through a learning process with each new thing that he does?. the other thing couldnt he find something else to do with the devil? why does he feel the need to show off? he is already the most powerful entity in the entire universe, so why does he feel the need to have beef with the devil? the devil cant be gods enemy!!! no time at all!! gods enemy would have to come from another god who created another universe somewhere out there. so why is such a big deal being made over his own puny creation? people are afraid to say it but all this fiasco is gods own fault not any of us here on earth! we were not present when he couldnt control the devil and end up having to fight with him. so with everything going on on earth the devil isnt to be blamed only, as far as i can see it was poor housekeeping and bad management that led to the devil stepping out of line and causing widespread destruction and famine and pestilence for us here on earth, this problem should have been fixed without having to drag us into it. if we were create perfect in his own image and he felt good about us then he doesnt need to test us we are perfect. and how did the devil manage to get jealous of god? where did that come from? is it that he wasnt made perfect after all? lets face it he must have been defective or god didnt do a good job. so i dont get the casting him down here and then saying woe be unto us part? what did we do to deserve this? isnt that wicked man?. god made it clear that he is a no respector of persons so that in itself tells me alot, next up when jesus walked the earth he is always stressing that we shouldnt believe everything we hear and see in that if someone came and said to me jesus is there! or god is here! we should be doubtful of that info and question it and not just take it as is, so why is it that when thomas didnt believe that he rose from the dead just because his associates said so and demanded solid proof he was treated like a non believer in christ? and u want to tell me that there isnt a book of thomas just like mathew, mark, luke etc. god had to shorten the days and we can see it and some of us know why its because according to the bible "satan would decieve the very elect themselves" so in other words satan is extremely powerful so much so that god had to do something else or else no one at all would see the light of day as far as heaven is concerned. and rightly so too the only thing lucifer cant do is blow breathe so other than that he is a mathematician he is a biologist he is a scientist he is a physicist an astronomer u name it. so tell me well thinking people what chance u think we stand against such an emmensely well educated spiritual being? and i learned also my way that its only through hard work that i would ever achieve anything so guess what, anything i want i work towards it and i get it and i prefer this to praying because i have yet to receive a single thing that i ever prayed for. something is wrong the truth is being obscured and hidden from us and i believe that we are going to have real serious problems because of this, like thomas im being doubtful regardless of the consequences i dont trust the teachings i received as a child and i dont trust the book they taught me from i got baptized in a methodist church so i still like to think that im a christian im just really confused right now.

By: Ebonmuse

Ebonmuse — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:30:53 +0000

God has not told us why He allows Satan to live... The real question is, "Why does God allow Satan to roam the earth and cause trouble?" God has not shared the answer to that question... We do not know... Why did God do that? We can only guess... So, why did God allow Satan to live? We do not know...

And thus the drive-by Christian proselytizer confirms every argument made in this post.

By: OMGF

OMGF — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:28:04 +0000

It appears that God allows every creature that He has created to live eternally.

Even snails, e-coli bacteria, mushrooms, etc? That's a new one.

In fact, scripture says that God must release Satan for a short time (Rev. 16:16; 19:11-20:3)

Oh, he must? Why is that? Let me guess, you don't know, you just know that an omni-max being must release evil upon the world for some reason.

So, why did God allow Satan to live? We do not know...

So, you can't assume that it's a good reason, can you? Perhaps god is a right bastard that wants more people to go to hell and Satan is his pawn in that game.

We are evil creatures at heart without the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. ...but we can rejoice that by trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of or sins, we can live in holiness someday with Him - away from the evil of this world and eternal punishment.

Provided that god (the holy spirit) comes down and graces us, which seems to be his perogative, doesn't it? So, he unleashes Satan to make as many people stray as possible, then only give absolution to his select few, and this is seen as good?

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:51:04 +0000

God has not told us why He allows Satan to live. It appears that God allows every creature that He has created to live eternally. The real question is, "Why does God allow Satan to roam the earth and cause trouble?" God has not shared the answer to that question either. We do not need Satan to sin. He is not the cause of sin. He tempts us to sin, but God tells us that we do a great job of sinning all on our own. In the book of James, the Holy Spirit says,
But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. (NASB) James 1:14-15

We are responsible for our own sin. We sin after we think about it and then decide it is a good idea. Satan is never blamed for our sin. Does that mean that Adam and Eve would have sinned without Satan? We do not know.

At the end of the age, God will defeat Satan at Armageddon. He will be thrown into the abyss which will be shut and sealed. He will be locked up. God will set up His 1,000 year kingdom and after that He will release Satan again. In fact, scripture says that God must release Satan for a short time (Rev. 16:16; 19:11-20:3),

. . .and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. (NASB) Revelation 20:3

Satan will be released in Revelation 20:7-10 and then defeated once more before his final and eternal sentence to the Lake of Fire. Why did God do that? We can only guess. It is possible that God wants to show the fallen angels (demons) and the human race, that even after they have experienced the holiness of God, they will choose sin and rebel when given the opportunity. God will be justified in sentencing them to eternal punishment. It will show the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God. This is the nature of man. We are evil creatures at heart without the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

So, why did God allow Satan to live? We do not know, but we can rejoice that by trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of or sins, we can live in holiness someday with Him - away from the evil of this world and eternal punishment.

By: Juanita

Juanita — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 02:31:23 +0000

Let's see now, if God created angels first and threw them that followed Satan, down to earth, then earth must be some kind of punishment for those born HERE on earth. We are indeed NOT born equal, some are born deformed mentally or physically and suffer years of un-necessary pain for what reason? If the angels had "free will" and chose to follow Satan then they must have had different personalities with which to entertain one another. So why put humans on earth to suffer atrocities in order to influence us to "want" Him? Why not put us up there with the angels and banish us ONLY if we fell to evil? The suffering on earth is simply unacceptable. God can part the sea to save certain people (he chose) then he can knock the fool in the head that is raping an innocent baby and the parent who abuses HIS innocent baby. He can stop the train that is about to run over an unsuspecting soul, which would save that persons suffering. If he can create miracles (like sea parting) then He DOES have control here on Earth as to what happens to us. Let me tease an innocent with torture until it cannot endure anymore than promise peace and comfort if it endure it to my liking. We do not GET a choice as to the parents we are assigned to, we are at a disadvantage from the beginning if we have drug-heads, drunks or abusers as parents. We have no chance to go toward the "right way" if we were born in hell to begin with. If I have to torture someone just to see if they love me when I quit and give them candy instead, I must be truly WARPED!! You want my devotion, then you prove you deserve it, not hide out and watch me suffer from the sidelines and make me watch horrible things happen to others that you can obviously stop if you wanted to.

By: Alex Weaver

Alex Weaver — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:50:56 +0000

Victor:

Evidence plz.

By: Victor

Victor — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:44:04 +0000

Could it be that we have just been indoctrinated by some half brained nit wits who have little understanding of scripture. They go pushing the assumptions as though they facts. The secret is that God and his angels can never be seperated and the devil and his angels are really only evil human being that have been using the bible to justify their evil inclinations and for the looting of the ignorant. The devil is only the the devil's excuse. HThe problem is that assumptions have been taught as facts.

1 Lucifer is not Satan
2 The king of Tyre is not Satan
3 The sons of God of Genesis 6 are not fallen angels
4 God's angels cannot be separated from God
5 The devil and his angel's are evil human beings called kenites
6 There are 2 different kinds of satans in the bible. One is God's prosecuting angel and the other are accusers of Israel.
7 The letter of Jude and the Letter of 2nd Peter do not confirm that the are fallen angels but are speaking to people who were already discussing the book of enoch which is a ignorant interpretation of Genesis 6.
8 The Sons of God can refer to an angel or us but is never used in a negative way. Son of God means one with God.

By: Yoyo

Yoyo — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:04:17 +0000

An interesting theory, along the lines that suffering refines our souls and teaches us "important" lessons. Unfortunately it really doesnt mesh with the whole omnipotent bit. oh well!

By: G Riggs

G Riggs — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:05:18 +0000

I've been reading about some of the discoveries made in the wake of the Hubble telescope findings, and it's occurred to me that perhaps we might have to revisit our conclusions (some of them) with respect to the workings of a hypothetical dimension wherein access to time past/time present/time future would be simultaneous. Now, a fundamental assumption behind much of the thinking found in Hawking and elsewhere involves a Big Bang that is complemented by a Big Crunch, the idea being that both time and space partake of this expansion pattern that reaches a peak in size and history and then retracts back on itself (the Big Crunch). Hawking cites the analogy of a South Pole and a North Pole to all of space, and suggests that it might be useful to conceive of the full expanse of time in a similar way (let's say the North Pole of time might be the Big Bang and its South Pole the Big Crunch). Most of this presupposes the inevitability of the rate of expansion of the cosmos eventually slowing down to a stop, followed by contraction. Thus, in a multidimensional time dimension, one might access both the beginning of time, its "North Pole", and its end, its "South Pole". Naturally, within such a construct, as the magnitude of the expansion would come closer to its peak, the actual rate of expansion would slow down. Similarly, the closer the contraction came to a singularity, the more rushed would be the rate of contraction. Well ............... the findings of the Hubble telescope strongly suggest -- for now -- that as the magnitude of the cosmos's expansion grows ever greater, the rate of expansion is actually getting quicker instead! This contradicts all known models generated in the "lab" so far! Could the Hubble telescope findings be wrong or possibly misunderstood? Right now, it makes no sense for the cosmos to be undergoing accelerated expansion at this advanced point in its odyssey. But if that's really what's happenining, what might that do the Big Crunch? There are some who are now speculating that the Big Crunch might be a chimera, that it will never happen, expansion being infinite and infinitely accelerating. If that is the case, what happens to time's "South Pole"? It's one thing to posit the viewing of all time, from its infant "North Pole" to its concluding "South Pole", as accessible in a multidimensional "outlook". But how can one even orient a multideminensional access to all time at all, in the absense of an end, a "South Pole"? Could it be that, in the absence of a Big Crunch -- i.e., a South Pole to time -- a multidimensional access to all time(s) is thus as much a chimera as the Big Crunch itself. Hence, maybe any number of extra dimensions may be fully as trapped inside linear time as any humble mortal is. And if that is the case, no matter an omniscient (or almost omniscient) being's access to extra dimensions we can't reach, any hope at viewing all of the future in a time-curved dimension may be dashed completely -- for any entity of whatever awesome powers. Surprisingly, no one has yet asked Hawking (SFAIK) what the time implications may be for the possible debunking of the Big Crunch -- and hence, time's "South Pole" -- thanks to the Hubble telescope findings. Cheers, G Riggs

By: G Riggs

G Riggs — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 00:49:30 +0000

O.K. [shrug]

Cheers,

G. Riggs

By: OMGF

OMGF — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 16:32:50 +0000

I agree that the ones that were "forward-thinking" constitute a true cultural evolution. You say it might have been one man or a group. Candidly, I don't so much care if that one man's name was Jesus or John Doe. I'd still say that whoever that one individual was, he broke a critical logjam in humanity's treatment of the socially despised (despised for whatever reason, national ("enemies"), ethnic ("Samaritan"), economic ("poor")).

I don't think you caught my meaning. I didn't mean that there was some sort of breakthrough. I meant that this man or group of men were merely expressing the changing cultural mores of the time as their culture evolved. Don't think punk eek in this case, think gradualism.

Which aspects of the package do you find more forward-thinking for that time?

Honestly, I don't know. I was speaking generally, without anything specific in mind.