Hmmmm… do we need Satan to explain evolution?
In the physical sense?
No. Evolutionary theory says nothing about a “Satan Effect.”
*In the Biblical sense? *
Sure. Look hard enough.
The chronology is slightly off, God created Satan (not really) so if you need Satan then you need God also. Or vice versa.
One original Satan was closer to “God’s prosecuting attorney” i.e. he worked for God as a quite litteral adversary: in an adversarial system God intended.
One gnostic Satan actually was the one who created the world, but he did a piss-poor job of it.
Amen to that.
If there is a literal Adversary (and I’m not convinced that Satan isn’t just a metaphor for the evil in the world), then he has only the power that we let him have.
I’m sure you know this, but for the benefit of lurkers who might not, “the heavens” (the sky and all the stuff in it) is a different word from “heaven” (God’s abode). 
then what does it mean where (I forget the verse) someone refers to the “third Heaven”.
Anyone?
How can he work for both of those, and yet still be my bosses boss? 
(My boss by the way is cool)
Maybe God’s domain is eternal, but the heavens-meant for man-hasn’t been around forever. Would that mean it isn’t eternal? Can something last forever if it was created at a specific time?
Birds. Fifth Day. Angels count as birds. So I was right the first time.
heh.
say, can I take this Special Creationist hat off yet? It pinches my brain…
Right, when you figure out how many angels on the head of a pin let me know.
No, no, no! It’s all a test of faith straight from Jah to you.
Who else could keep changing Hubble’s Constant?
According to a radio preacher I heard recently:
- Satan inspired Darwin to write his evolutionary theories.
- Thus, Evolution is a form of Satanism.
- Therefore, teaching Evolution in the schools is teaching Satanism, hence a violation of the separation of church and state.
So, did Satan inspire Alfred R. Wallace, as well?
That cite has the potential to make things very ugly 
Well, the first heaven is sex, the second is heaven, and the third is sex in heaven. Come on, the sex HAS to be good in heaven. Is there any way I can get the 72 virgins to timeshare as Christians?
Satan? Geez, wasn’t he banned a long time ago?
Actually we think of them in different terms now, but then it wasn’t so. Even from passages in the bible it becomes clear that they did not see a difference in “sky-heavens”, and “other dimension-heavens”.
Want me to list the verses? Or am I missing a debate on this in the past that you won and I am not aware of?
Actually, just to be clear…
Satan the Devil did not exist before the events of Genesis 3:4,5.
Satan and Devil are descriptive terms, Biblically given to the (possibly) Cherub known as…? Bible doesn’t give a name prior to the events of Genesis ch 3.
(Lucifer, “Shining One,” is not referring to Satan, but describing the King(s) of Babylon in poetic terms)
Satan = The Resister
Devil = Slanderer
Those are the definitions of the old Hebrew words.
The above post should’ve been prefaced: Biblically speaking…
Okay, I’m going to go against my better judgement and attempt to open a can of worms. The lid’s on tight, so bear with me.
Yes. In a world where the ultimate possibilities of the Universe are not known, it is entirely possible that Evolution, the Big Bang, and heck all of science is made-up by the devil. Or God, as a way to weed out unbelievers, or whatever, God’s omnipotent so we couldn’t possibly understand…
Is it probable? No, for two reasons: 1. It’s a huge leap to say we don’t know anything about the universe (if we say evolution is false, this is what we are left with).
and the more important reason IMHO:
2. It’s not necessary. How is it the slightest bit important how the universe came to be, in regards to faith? If their is a God, then it is trivial, not important. It only becomes important if you literally believe Genesis. Which I don’t understand personally; I mean, do literalists really expect us to believe that when Genesis was written, God would have detailed it, step by step? If God had, the language would have been indecipherable to ancient man. God would have said, 16 billion years ago, I unleashed the universe from it’s starting point, their was an explosion that sent all the building blocks everywhere, into the furthest of infinity…
Ancient man, by this time his eyes having been glazed over, wrote "God created the world in 16 billion, is that right? What’s a billion? We’ve only counted up to 100? I think he ment 6 days. That seems reasonable…
Think about it, God would have had to sit down and teach Ancient man about all the scientists-and if he did do that, and we knew everything, what would we do during the day? We’d have nothing to do, except eat and sleep and screw-which don’t get me wrong, has it’s appeals. What I’m driving at is, we would seek no purpose in our lives, if God explained everything . If God were to explain how the universe worked, why would he stop there? Wouldn’t he then go on to tell us about the animals, accounting, macro-economics?
I think you see where I’m going.