This really. Not that I’m vain enough to think I’d have done any better if I’d lived in Palestine at the turn of the millennium.
Then that’s God’s fault, not theirs.
I don’t think Satan is as concerned with bring people closer to him as he is with taking people further away from God. He would probably be just as happy if no one believed in God OR Satan.
Atheists unknowingly work for Satan?
The best answer to this question (from the context of Christianity) in my view is to pick up a copy of "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S Lewis and read through it.
I'm not sure the answer can really be known, but the text alluded to above does a fair job of fleshing out possible reasons (again, within the Christian context)
Frequent fryer miles.
To hell with you, sir!
Devil’s food cake is better than angel food cake. I am not sure if this is relevant or not to the discussion.
Anyone who says they don’t find enjoyment in corrupting other humans is a liar.
To make it worse, make him fly there in coach.
On Spirit.
Oh, Satan the wuss?? His claim to fame was debating a malevolent supernatural being to the point of being right, being outcast and then only kills ten people in the whole shoddy storybook at only God’s command? (I omitting Revelation for obvious reasons here, Job is the only place I know where Satan actually killed anyone firsthand.)
He didn’t corrupt anyone there, only proved his opponent was blindsided by helping god (his creator) by proving god’s worshippers were in fact nothing but mindless. For me, Satan won that bet hands down. If not, why did Job get a different wife and family from the god he worships so well and not the real ones resurrected?
When I was a believer, I often thought about the OP’s question. If Satan corrupts humans, this god doesn’t seem to care. It’s like that Job bet is still an ongoing thing between them.
[QUOTE=Qur’an 7-11]
And We have certainly created you, [O Mankind], and given you [human] form. Then We said to the angels, “Prostrate to Adam”; so they prostrated, except for Iblees (Satan). He was not of those who prostrated.
[/QUOTE]
And onward to 7:16 see Surah Al-A'raf - 1-206 - Quran.com
Goes to show a reason why. Basically Satan does not to bow down to Adam as Allah commands - Satan says he is better then them, Allah says that Satan in under judgement for this and to leave paradise. Satan asks and is granted a reprieve till the day of Adam’s resurrection (technically ‘They’ not ‘Adam’ is used which could mean Adam and Eve, or all of humanity - later verses Allah is talking to the children of Adam and Eve - all of us)). Satan said to Allah “Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path. Then I will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and on their left, and You will not find most of them grateful [to You].” Ending in 7:16 with [ Allah ] said, “Get out of Paradise, reproached and expelled. Whoever follows you among them - I will surely fill Hell with you, all together.”
To the modern interpretation of hell claimed to be only from ‘modern’ literature, there is a book that speaks to various states of Hell predating it:
[QUOTE=Qur’an 15:44]
"It (Hell) has seven gates, for each of those gates is a (special) class (of sinners) assigned.
[/QUOTE]
It won’t work. The closest Sprint gets is Florida.
That’s what the Bible says.
Matthew 13:38
…and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;
Not necessarily, but they could, it depends on their intent of their heart, this is also true of Christians, other religious and non religious folk (actually religion is not of God, so of flesh and/or Satan). By extent they could unknowingly work for God. The different is that theists could knowingly work for God, atheists could not.
For the directly above biblical cite, it would depend on if they are working for things in this world (money, power, things, etc.) or are doing the work of the Kingdom (spreading love for each other). And which takes priority.
Same place.
What exactly does it take to convince these religious cosplayers that we’re not part of their game?
It’s not like it’s their fault though…they just see a little further than others.
2 Corinthians 4:4
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
The “god of this world,” sometimes called the “god of this age,” is none other than that swamp donkey himself, satan.
Oh nononono. It’s all part of His divine plan, you see. He already told us, but we haven’t listened.
Just like before the Vogons destroyed Earth in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, they told everyone on their PA: “There’s no point in acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now.”