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In Christianity, is Satan Evil, or Does Satan Merely Do Evil?

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
In Christianity, is Satan evil? Or does Satan merely do evil without himself actually being evil?

Please Note: If Satan is evil, rather than merely an entity that does evil, then God -- who has created Satan -- has created evil (and hence it cannot be said of God that everything he does is good).

On the other hand, if Satan is merely an entity that does evil, then God -- who presumably has the power to prevent Satan from doing evil -- condones evil when he does not prevent Satan from doing it (and hence, it cannot be said that God never condones evil).

HOWEVER, it at least seems possible to escape the 'dilemma' if one is prepared to argue for a Platonic notion of evil such that evil is not a thing-in-itself, but rather a lack of -- or absence of -- good.

YET, whatever we might or might not conclude, we MUST concede that Satan admires @SalixIncendium's fashion sense. Of that, we may be certain.





______________________________
And now, for some music....

 

McBell

Resident Sourpuss
I do not subscribe to the notion that there is a specific being named Satan (or Lucifer) in the Bible.
Both "names" are not used as names in the Bible.
They are used as titles.
 

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
Don't know about evil, i see evil as a religious concept i am not qualified to judge

But on murder count (i class murder as being pretty bad, perhaps even evil) god wins by 1000s of percent.

Score

God. 2,000,000 +
Satan. 10
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Don't know about evil, i see evil as a religious concept i am not qualified to judge

But on murder count (i class murder as being pretty bad, perhaps even evil) god wins by 1000s of percent.

Score

God. 2,000,000 +
Satan. 10

Relevance?
 

Harel13

Am Yisrael Chai
Staff member
Premium Member
has created evil (and hence it cannot be said of God that everything he does is good).
I partially disagree - if you mean evil that is evil just for evil's sake - then yes, I don't believe God would create that. But if the evil was created to further the good - then yes, God has created evil, too.
In Christianity, is Satan evil?
Most Christians that I've spoken to appear to hold that Satan is a fallen angel - yeah, inherently evil.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
To answer the question raises questions....
Is God all knowing?
All powerful?
Able to see the future in all detail.
If yes, then Satan was created to be exactly who he is.
If no to any of the questions.....far above my pay grade.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
If it is not the direction you wish the thread to go in, that is fine.
But to pretend it is not relevant is shortsightedness.

But why is it relevant? I genuinely do not understand your thinking here. Can you elaborate, please?
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
In Christianity, is Satan evil? Or does Satan merely do evil without himself actually being evil?

Please Note: If Satan is evil, rather than merely an entity that does evil, then God -- who has created Satan -- has created evil (and hence it cannot be said of God that everything he does is good).

On the other hand, if Satan is merely an entity that does evil, then God -- who presumably has the power to prevent Satan from doing evil -- condones evil when he does not prevent Satan from doing it (and hence, it cannot be said that God never condones evil).

And what if one replaces "Satan" with "John Doe"?
 

McBell

Resident Sourpuss
But why is it relevant? I genuinely do not understand your thinking here. Can you elaborate, please?
If you remove the notion that Satan is a specific being then you no longer have a scapegoat for evil.
One would have to accept that The Satan is something inside of us that we have to constantly be vigilant against.
OR
Give God the credit for evil.
Which I have noticed is something that the vast majority of Christians are not able to do.

So if Satan is really nothing more than a part of us, and God created us in his own image, then it stands to reason that evil comes from God.

To apply this to your two scenarios:
Scenario A
If Satan is evil, rather than merely an entity that does evil, then God -- who has created Satan -- has created evil (and hence it cannot be said of God that everything he does is good).
Scenario B
... if Satan is merely an entity that does evil, then God -- who presumably has the power to prevent Satan from doing evil -- condones evil when he does not prevent Satan from doing it (and hence, it cannot be said that God never condones evil).
Scenario B would be the closer of the two.
Provided you replaced the word "Satan" in it with "people"
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
In Christianity, is Satan evil? Or does Satan merely do evil without himself actually being evil?

Please Note: If Satan is evil, rather than merely an entity that does evil, then God -- who has created Satan -- has created evil (and hence it cannot be said of God that everything he does is good).

On the other hand, if Satan is merely an entity that does evil, then God -- who presumably has the power to prevent Satan from doing evil -- condones evil when he does not prevent Satan from doing it (and hence, it cannot be said that God never condones evil).

HOWEVER, it at least seems possible to escape the 'dilemma' if one is prepared to argue for a Platonic notion of evil such that evil is not a thing-in-itself, but rather a lack of -- or absence of -- good.

YET, whatever we might or might not conclude, we MUST concede that Satan admires @SalixIncendium's fashion sense. Of that, we may be certain.

I'd say if I went off scripture, satan was god's holy creator, in this an angel. He chose to disobey god out of jealousy, and ruin the lives of god's creation because of it. Like believers lie and get jealous, the same is seen for satan. They put it under freedom of choice. It gives one the freedom t disobey god and also is a loop hole to where one can separate him or herself from god rather than god being there regardless the circumstances. One's salvation is dependent on the person and not by god. That's basically the gist.

I don't use the evil term. Has no place in how I see life. It does make sense, if satan was evil, god created evil. I'd say god created an angel and his actions put him in eternal jeopardy. Only people can repent, though. So, maybe that set up-the person who needs the most sacrifice-is immoral and evil of itself going by christian theology, I don't know.
 

bobhikes

Nondetermined
Premium Member
In Christianity, is Satan evil? Or does Satan merely do evil without himself actually being evil?

Please Note: If Satan is evil, rather than merely an entity that does evil, then God -- who has created Satan -- has created evil (and hence it cannot be said of God that everything he does is good).

On the other hand, if Satan is merely an entity that does evil, then God -- who presumably has the power to prevent Satan from doing evil -- condones evil when he does not prevent Satan from doing it (and hence, it cannot be said that God never condones evil).

HOWEVER, it at least seems possible to escape the 'dilemma' if one is prepared to argue for a Platonic notion of evil such that evil is not a thing-in-itself, but rather a lack of -- or absence of -- good.

IMO Satan is neither it is Satan's job is to test people so that the people can pass the test and be worthy of heaven such as he did to Jesus in the desert. At no point in the bible does it show the Devil doing evil. In fact in The book of Job it shows that the devil must have Gods approval to do anything to a person.
 

MonkeyFire

Well-Known Member
God created everything, but that doesnt naturally include evil, a literal negative thing doesnt exist. Aswell, evil doesnt have a reason, but doesnt need a reason.
 

74x12

Well-Known Member
In Christianity, is Satan evil? Or does Satan merely do evil without himself actually being evil?
He is evil. His desire is to be a god. But, if God made everything "good" then what is left for him to be "god" over? So, satan can only be "god" when he does the exact opposite of what God does. Then he is a "god" or you could say he is a creator of his own creation. Which is a twisted version of God's own creation; because satan can make nothing truly new.
Please Note: If Satan is evil, rather than merely an entity that does evil, then God -- who has created Satan -- has created evil (and hence it cannot be said of God that everything he does is good).
God didn't make satan evil. I believe God tested satan by withholding key knowledge and wisdom. To see how he would respond when he didn't have the full picture. Satan failed the test; he chose pride and that led to all sin. The angels who passed the test are the "elect" (chosen) angels. They've been given higher wisdom and so they are not so easily tempted. And satan is damned but because God has to finish testing humans; God keeps satan around to test people until his judgment day.
 

rational experiences

Veteran Member
Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

Revelation 17:8 8The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.

Luke 8:31 31And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

Revelation 9:11 11They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

Revelation 11:7 7Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.
Satan rebelled against God because he loved himself more than he loved God. His sin was that of pride and idolatry. The five “I Will” statements of Satan were sinful and brought death. The seven “I Am” statements of Jesus are true and give life and hope.

A male says to self....all questions. A male as a human and the scientist reasoner...applies all concepts of thinking to self, he and a male.

Therefore my spiritual Holy Mother as a female taught me to bring to the male humans realization that males, in their God imposed concepts imposed He to those concepts....as the thinker.

Yet rationally do you male science brother inventor of the state sciences own God?

No....only by thinking, as a thought does he claim his THOUGHT owned the stories about God, for a human being male is the thinker as that male about the concepts.

Hence if you believe your thoughts own the concepts about God...then you also prove that you believed your thoughts about the concepts of Satan were also male owned.

Which brings your realization to the fact that you cannot own claim to being anything accept a natural human male thinking about concepts for the STATE of science.

You said in male history that Satan was in Hell...meaning a body of spirit that is burning and self consuming. You also know that in natural O Earth history, the stone, Satan attacked it.....and yet the form of Satan....metal radiation mass burning, gets sucked out of the Earth atmosphere and falls into oblivion.

Therefore you would also quote...so in 1000 years of Earth O stone travel....due to our scientific converting meddling with cold radiation, we get to meet the return of changing natural cold space support...what we learnt...and wish we never did it in that moment.

So you document your own male human witness and then totally ignore all of your owned experiences.....ever wonder why everyone wondered at the Satanic science mentality? Claiming you never learn your own lesson hence got termed referenced as being the Destroyer male mind in science......as a truth.

Therefore if you claim that a Sun is the beginning, which you did...then a black hole is the end of a Sun...what a Sun looks like when it is in its last stages.

Earth relativity said it owned no beginning and it owned no end....for stone did not begin in space as stone...yet it ended as stone in space, yet stone creating beyond itself had not ended.....for it owned the heavenly gases.
The relativity of old scientific male reasoning...as humans. The storyteller.
Why Did Satan Rebel Against God? » Reasons for Hope* Jesus

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reasonsforhopejesus.com/satan-rebel-god/
 
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