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toldailytopic: Satan: literal or figurative? -
February 23rd, 2012, 09:20 AM
The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for February 23rd, 2012 10:16 AM
toldailytopic: Satan: literal or figurative?
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Satan is literal. He was placed in the garden with Adam and Eve as a protector. Satan (having freewill) turned from God and fell into rebellion.
And while Satan maybe the symbol for evil he is not the "king of evil" nor does he have any special standing or power in hell. Satan does not torture or manage the people who end up in hell.
Location: A bubble of my own self-satisfaction. Which is in the New Forest somewhere in Hampshire.
Rep Power: 85379
Agnostic
Left Winger
Slogan/motto:
Some that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Do not be so eager to deal out justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.
Slogan/motto:
Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Reputation:
February 23rd, 2012, 09:43 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Knight
Satan is literal.
Does he have a body, or is he disembodied?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Knight
He was placed in the garden with Adam and Eve as a protector.
The Bible doesn't say that anywhere.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Knight
Satan (having freewill) turned from God and fell into rebellion.
The Bible doesn't say that either. In fact, Jesus stated explicitly that the devil was a murderer from the beginning.
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
This is one of those questions the answer to which just becomes more and more complicated the further into it you try to go. And I'm not interested in chasing it down into that hole at the moment. All I can say is that "satan" is a cultural character. He is literal in the sense that he is a common literary device. He is cultural in that he is a universally understood symbol for the concept and experience of temptation. And since I don't feel like fighting with anyone, or having the label "heathen!" burned into my forehead by the super-Christians, today, I won't actually say that satan and superman hang side-by-side in the same locker in the storage room of our imaginations.
Literal. He is an angel that rebelled against God and nothing more. He would like to think he is something special, but he isn't. People get the idea that Satan is a king from the Lament for the King of Tyre in Ezekiel 28:11-19. Satan would like to be a king. That was probably his aim when he rebelled.
Satan is like a liberal, he rebelled against the authority of God and all that He represents and wanted to put his own self desires first. Satan was the first individual that cried Me, Me, Mine, Mine. It doesn't make him special. It makes him foolish. I think of Satan as being like a mouse that made an obscene gesture at an eagle. It wasn't the smart thing to do.
Slogan/motto:
Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."
Reputation:
February 23rd, 2012, 10:38 AM
Literal, evil has more substance than merely a figurative idea.
"If a sheerly linguistic version of the gospel could be concocted, it would merely so be no longer the gospel. In the Lutheran Reformation’s understanding, which we believe in this matter to be correct, the sacraments make the inalienable externality of the gospel message and therefore are necessary to the authenticity of that message." (Christian Dogmatics [1984], II:302-303 as cited in Pontifications)
Slogan/motto:
The author of all things watches over me, and I have a fine horse.
Reputation:
February 23rd, 2012, 10:46 AM
I believe in a literal Satan.
I do not believe, however, that Satan is responsible for the bad things that happen to us in our lives.
He does not make people die of cancer.
He does not cause car crashes.
He is not the author of our trials and misfortunes.
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Slogan/motto:
Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Reputation:
February 23rd, 2012, 10:55 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by vegascowboy
I believe in a literal Satan.
Is Satan literally the father of some people then?
Quote:
Originally Posted by vegascowboy
I do not believe, however, that Satan is responsible for the bad things that happen to us in our lives.
Then what is the purpose of satan?
Quote:
Originally Posted by vegascowboy
He does not make people die of cancer.
He does not cause car crashes.
He is not the author of our trials and misfortunes.
You don't believe it's a bet between God and Satan, like in the book of Job?
Slogan/motto:
The author of all things watches over me, and I have a fine horse.
Reputation:
February 23rd, 2012, 11:08 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by elohiym
Is Satan literally the father of some people then?
Then what is the purpose of satan?
You don't believe it's a bet between God and Satan, like in the book of Job?
Satan has a "purpose" against those in the Body of Christ...
That purpose is to confuse honest Christians about where in the Holy Scriptures to find the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He wants to prevent honest men and women from rightly dividing the truth.
He wants souls to reject the Gospel message and the Grace of God. He wants people to feel hopeless and that they must do great works in order to earn their salvation instead of accepting God's free gift.
He does not give people lung disease.
He does not give people flat tires.
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
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