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If that were true, it means Satan can only “tempt” one person into doing evil at a time. That means that whenever two Christians in different parts of the world claim that Satan was trying to tempt them at the same time, at most one of them can be right. **
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This is the right train of thought tracer except you forget that the devil took a 1/3 of the angels with him. And in one place in the Bible I can think of it mentions their is a 100 million angels. So there is 33 & 1/3 million real Hell’s angels(so to speak) tempting people all the time. Also man has a sinful nature so he can sin even without being tempted.
Only if you leave tapes in the car for for more than two weeks.
Aw, c’mon, Gaiman’s Death is so much cooler… you can discuss Disney movies with her, she has those cute goldfish and all those nifty brothers and sisters…
Getting back to the OP: I was under the impression that everything would be the exact opposite under Satan. So since under God (in theory) the good are rewarded and the bad are punished, under Satan the good would be punished and the bad rewarded.
Also, I always hade a vague sort of impression that Hell wasn’t bad now, but only would become so after God defeated Satan. After all, why would Satan torment all those possible allies/minions?
The other possibility is that Satan isn’t God’s enemy, but
its employee, which is the most logical idea anyway.
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angles, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. Tehy encircled the throne and the living creatures and the eldeers. 12. In a loud voice they sang:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and stregnth
and honor and glory and praise!”
That’s an interesting view, I like that, but why is that the most logical possibility? (also the thing on Satan’s rise & fall/Star Wars analogy, that was pretty clever!) but who’s to say they aren’t on equal footing, equally powerful, neither “good” or “bad”–just two bored divinities betting on who can get the most souls? Kind of like a divine popularity contest or something. God just got a leg up by getting his propaganda out first, portraying himself as the guy in the white coat and pretty much screwing Satan for any credibility.
Anyhow, even if God’s good & Satan’s bad, I bet Satan’s less of a prick–I mean, come on, think about all the things God calls “sins” (everything most people like doing–or maybe that’s just me)—if Satan’s the worst sinner of all, bet he throws a hell of a party! and Satan’s the one telling you “yeah, go ahead & do what you wanna do, it’s not so bad,” allowing you to develop what’s inherent in you, while God’s the finger-wagging schoolmaster who slaps your hand with a ruler every time you have a wet dream. You’d think ol’ Diablo wouldn’t be so underrepresented–I’d feel bad for the guy, if I believed in him.
There are some flaws in your thinking. First, the reason that God got the leg up on Satan is because He created everything including him(Satan). He also created you and me. So why wouldn’t you want to align yourself with the person that gave you life in the first place.
Satan is nothing but a disgruntled terminated employee that wants to destroy the company(us and the world) that his boss created.
And the reason he(Satan) tells you it is “ok” is because he knows that it upsets God. The one that made the rules for us because He knew with his wisdom that the rules He gave would keep our lives more enjoyable and without as many problems.
Well, I find it the most logical for a variety of reasons. First off, that is the Jewish concept of Satan. Why not go with the original theology instead of a cheap knock off? Secondly, no where in the OT is this rebellion by Satan told unless you take a couple of verses in Isaiah out of context. Thirdly, if there was an angelic rebelion, this would imply that angels have free will and that there is sin in heaven (and in God’s presence), which opens up a whole other can of worms. And my fourth point, speaking of free will, is it makes more sense that God provides you with both choices, the ability to choose good or the ability to choose evil. Both choices are from the same source, it’s not a competition (how can one compete against an all-powerful God?!). It’s up to the individual to choose his own path and he is responsible for those choices made.
I like relating it to Willie Wonka hiring the guy to impersonate his competition. He shows Charlie the factory, and when Mr.Wonka tells him at the end he gets nothing because he didn’t follow the rules, it’s up to Charlie to either give back the gift Mr.Wonka gave him (the everlasting gobstopper) or turn it over to that sneaky guy who was talking to all the children, Wonka’s competition Mr.Slugworth. When Charlie decides to give it back because it’s the right thing to do, Mr.Wonka is elated. He then calls out his henchman who is the guy posing as Slugworth. Slugworth was just a test, and was just following Wonka’s orders. And Charlie then gets the factory because he proved worthy.
So, to answer the OP, Satan winning would imply that their is some kind of competition. I don’t believe there is one.
I was thinkin’ more along the lines of “there’s no good market for Christian-themed movies,” what with how those types of films never tend to do very well at the box office.
And regarding your claim that Satan can only be in one place at a time:
Ah, but these Christians aren’t claiming they’re being tempted by Satan’s angels, they’re claiming they’re being temped by Satan himself. And if two Christians claim to be tempted by Satan at the same time, and you claim that Satan can only be in one place at a time, then at least one of these claims must be wrong.
It would appear MEBuckner and Wildest Bill are on target but have fouled up their arithmetic: Quite obviously the ten thousand times ten thousand angels of the Apocalypse are being seen while Satan and his forces are raising Hell (literally!). The implication would be that, if Satan led away a third of the angels, and 100 million (10,000²) were left to sing God’s praises, there would have originally been 150 million angels. Precisely how many of these could dance on one pinhead at one time is left for the reader to calculate.
As for the OP, I believe Voltaire had the precise right idea on this:
Both Heinlein and Julian May have had interesting fictional takes on this concept.
That is a correct statement. One of us is wrong. But Satan’s influence could be tempting more than one person at once. He could use his control over the the media or to perverse people in their thinking. While he(Satan) is not tempting the Christian or the non Christian for that matter himself, he still sorta is. See what I am saying? So maybe one of us is only “partially” wrong if you consider Satan’s tools as to be a “temptation” from Satan.
Satan is nothing but a disgruntled terminated employee that wants to destroy the company(us and the world) that his boss created.
And the reason he(Satan) tells you it is “ok” is because he knows that it upsets God. The one that made the rules for us because He knew with his wisdom that the rules He gave would keep our lives more enjoyable and without as many problems.**
WB, here’s an a assignment for you: research the effect of Zorastrian mythology on the effect of Jewish theology during the Babalonian Exile. You might get some surprising answers. (sorry about the spelling :()
Man freyr that sounds kinda hard like a college research assignment or something. And to tell you the truth I am glad I am out of school. And now you want me to do more homework…yuck. But tell ya what if you tell me why I will consider looking into as long as you grade on the curve. As far as the spelling no problemo(I guess that is how the Terminator would spell it) you are talking talking to me afterall and not Ben.
there are only “flaws in my thinking” if you didn’t actually read my post. Under my hypothetical scenario, God and Satan are on equal footing, which would mean that either neither of them created anything, or they both took equal part in creating everything. Therefore, there would be no logical reason to pick one’s side over the other’s, and God just got lucky by getting his book out first. Assume God is the Creator of All, as you do, and you legitimate the Bible, therefore it would not be propaganda at all, and my hypothetical situation becomes meaningless (which it is anyway).
The whole thing about Satan telling us it’s “ok”…that’s called a joke. Just elaborating on the Devil’s Advocate scenario a bit, that’s all. Don’t take me so seriously there, tiger.
