gnostic
The Lost One
Although I have brought up the subject of dualism of good vs evil up before, I am still intrigue and perplexed by the bible that "God is good and Satan is evil" business.
If you take out Satan being a fallen angel or demon, then he would be considered the god of evil. But since monotheistic religions would only consider there to be only one god, then it throw the whole equation of good/evil out the window.
According to the Old Testament, or what the Jews would called Tanakh, their Hebrew Scriptures, God don't seem to be good and evil, he seemed to be both. The Book of Job, Satan seemed to be working for God. Satan doesn't seemed to be evil here. He does bring the opposite argument to God, but they both seemed to be working together.
With Zorostrian influence in later texts, we see the good vs evil become more pronounced, such as in the 2 books of Enoch, and even later with the gospels. It is only after 550 BC that we see God to be good and Satan (and company) as evil. And it is only then we see that the evil spirits or fallen angels were working for Satan instead of God. In the gospels, it is clear that Satan was only working for himself, but it is not so clear cut in the Old Testament.
In Job, Satan, seemed to be working for God, and sent to torment Job. But this is not the only example. We see other examples, where it is God is sending evil spirits.
So you have to wonder whether all evil spirits come from God or not.
If you take out Satan being a fallen angel or demon, then he would be considered the god of evil. But since monotheistic religions would only consider there to be only one god, then it throw the whole equation of good/evil out the window.
According to the Old Testament, or what the Jews would called Tanakh, their Hebrew Scriptures, God don't seem to be good and evil, he seemed to be both. The Book of Job, Satan seemed to be working for God. Satan doesn't seemed to be evil here. He does bring the opposite argument to God, but they both seemed to be working together.
With Zorostrian influence in later texts, we see the good vs evil become more pronounced, such as in the 2 books of Enoch, and even later with the gospels. It is only after 550 BC that we see God to be good and Satan (and company) as evil. And it is only then we see that the evil spirits or fallen angels were working for Satan instead of God. In the gospels, it is clear that Satan was only working for himself, but it is not so clear cut in the Old Testament.
In Job, Satan, seemed to be working for God, and sent to torment Job. But this is not the only example. We see other examples, where it is God is sending evil spirits.
This "evil" spirit possessed Saul didn't come from Satan. The evil spirit was sent again, by God, in 1 Samuel 19:9.1 Samuel 18:10 said:The next day an evil spirit of God gripped Saul and he began to rave in the house....
So you have to wonder whether all evil spirits come from God or not.