Danceswithwordswhy did god create the devil?
December 1st 2006 11:46
Most know that according to the book of genesis, god created everything with an opposite. He/she gave birth to darkness in order to define the nature of light, he/she created the various seasons, the radiant suns and the reflective moons, god shaped being and nothingness and fashioned good and evil etc. surprisingly enough though, many Christian denominations refute the theory that god was responsible for the creation of darkness and evil. They say that it is the betrayal of yhwhs gift of free will which incurs evil, it is the choices and the actions of humanity that breed sin and immorality. Whilst it is irrefutable that man is responsible for his own sin, this absolute ideal does not exactly fit with the book of law and almost all theocratic mythology.
According to legend, the archangel Lucifer resented the love god had for Adam and abhorred the decision of god to place his son (or extension/division of self) as second in command. He did not want any more barriers between himself and the divine throne and he believed that gods decision was a repudiation of all his service and many years of faithful obedience. Thus he decided to gather the renegade angels and stage the very first revolution in the history of existence. The morning star as we all know, failed to overthrow god and was consequentially cast down with the rest of the fallen (Beezlebub, Leviathan etc). Lucifer was supposedly content with this and has reigned ever since, asserting that it is far better to rule in hell than serve in paradise.
This theory has gained quite widespread acceptance amongst the respective churches and branches of faith (though certain myths place samael in place of Lucifer and separate the cherubim from satan himself). What has eluded many subscribers to the notion of gods complete benevolence however, is the knowledge that the angels were never imbued with free will like humans (though this is sometimes disputed in doctrine). They are essentially a medium of God's power and exist to execute the will of yhwh and shekinah. If this is true, logically it must follow then, that the choice made by the fallen angels was not a decision made freely. It was imposed upon them by a deity who wished to create a realm of existence ruled over by a malevolent (or according to some legends, objective) entity.
The real question is why. Why is all suffering necessary when so much anguish serves no purpose? Was the creation of evil worth the consequences, merely to provide us with a choice? But then again, can one ever truly be virtuous without the choice to be otherwise? Should we have been given the ability to commit acts of evil so that we might choose to be altruistic? and could we ever find a fulfilling happiness if we werent aware of an alternative?
According to legend, the archangel Lucifer resented the love god had for Adam and abhorred the decision of god to place his son (or extension/division of self) as second in command. He did not want any more barriers between himself and the divine throne and he believed that gods decision was a repudiation of all his service and many years of faithful obedience. Thus he decided to gather the renegade angels and stage the very first revolution in the history of existence. The morning star as we all know, failed to overthrow god and was consequentially cast down with the rest of the fallen (Beezlebub, Leviathan etc). Lucifer was supposedly content with this and has reigned ever since, asserting that it is far better to rule in hell than serve in paradise.
This theory has gained quite widespread acceptance amongst the respective churches and branches of faith (though certain myths place samael in place of Lucifer and separate the cherubim from satan himself). What has eluded many subscribers to the notion of gods complete benevolence however, is the knowledge that the angels were never imbued with free will like humans (though this is sometimes disputed in doctrine). They are essentially a medium of God's power and exist to execute the will of yhwh and shekinah. If this is true, logically it must follow then, that the choice made by the fallen angels was not a decision made freely. It was imposed upon them by a deity who wished to create a realm of existence ruled over by a malevolent (or according to some legends, objective) entity.
The real question is why. Why is all suffering necessary when so much anguish serves no purpose? Was the creation of evil worth the consequences, merely to provide us with a choice? But then again, can one ever truly be virtuous without the choice to be otherwise? Should we have been given the ability to commit acts of evil so that we might choose to be altruistic? and could we ever find a fulfilling happiness if we werent aware of an alternative?
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Comment by Helen's House
Truth Wisdom Freedom
It's interesting that today man is forever on about his rights. Rights are really only privileges extended by kindly leaders of nations, and don't exist in other nations at all!
Satan has mainly two implements to operate with - fear and lies. They are both shadows and don't stand up to the light of day! He has only the power that men give to him by believing his lies and accepting fear. (eg one might believe that one is not lovable and fear social relationships on that basis, or believe onself undeserving of prosperity and be unable to function prosperously, or believe any sort of lie that is perpetrated on one by poor language experience in childhood or later. Jesus is able to reveal such lies and release people from their power to control by substituting the Truth of Love. This is powerful ministry.
Language is a vital key in the lives of men as it is with God It creates, with men as withGod.
It is amazing how God is able to turn bad things around to good for His people. Satan has no power that God cannot over-ride, overturn, in an instant if He is asked. Unfortunately He is not often asked! He doesn't interfere i n the affiars of men unless He is asked because He gave man dominion and isn't about to take it away from him. Unless asked for help!
Man, by believing satan (or not believing God) lives in the world of unreality and lies. The only remedy for this is to believe God!
There is so much more to say, but I'll leave it there.
Comment by ChrisM
theoretically speaking, god created man with both curiosity and free will. he imbued his creatures with a desire to know, a desire to learn and a desire to explore. following logically from that, the tree of knowledge was an object of temptation placed by god to test them. to see if their faith in him, their desire to serve him was stronger than their natural instincts to know (even when in this case, the knowledge gleaned from the tree might have been an instrument for adam and eve to act more appropriately according to divine moral law). the old testament is full of these kinds of tests, god even suboordinated the importance of his children acting in a virtuous manner to test their faith (ie- the story or abraham). this is something i have a real problem with, for i do not believe that subservience and faith is more important than virtue, i dont believe it is more important than many other traits that jesus promoted and glorified (ie- compassion, mercy, forgiveness, consideration). this opinion though, is predicated on my personal belief that there is morality outside god. whether it be consequentialist or deontological, conventional or natural...i believe that even though it might be an arbitrarily contructed concept, human beings have rights which should be considered inalienable. i also think its interesting that despite the ideal that we as his servants should try to emulate him and his son (extension of self) as much as possible, whenever we try to actually attain or infuse ourselves with some form of divinity, we are exiled, damned or (as in the story of babel)... made to feel seperate and isolated. i dont think their grasp for the apple was about becoming equal with god, i dont think they sought to stand on an equal platform with yhwh...i believe that they just sought to understand what created them, the desired to know about the world that surrounded them. i dont think they wished to become gods, i believe they wished to touch his face, and for an instant, see with his eyes. so i must say i disagree with you, i dont believe adam should have been nailed to it. if god did not wish to grant us the ability to choose what is more important, virtue or faith, knowledge or subservience. he shouldnt have given us free will.
lastly i will quickly say (because i know this is a very long response)...that although man gives satan his strength, god gave satan his power. there is a reason god created the one who would attempt to overthrow him, so if the actions of god are the embodiment of truth and foresight...there is a reason that satan exists and at least some form of truth within his heart.
Comment by Helen's House
Truth Wisdom Freedom
I can go to the local Botanical Gardens and walk there all day and enjoy it. But the minute I start re-arranging it I'm in big trouble, because I am not its owner and architect, and don't have that privilege. There is a plaque in the grounds stating
who designed it and I can't claim rights over that person. Adam and Eve were in that position in their garden also. For all their delight in exploring, they couldn't claim the privilege of the architect owner. Someone said they should, and they believed him, but that didn't actually change anything. It just got them thrown out as I would be if I tried a makeover of the Botanical Gardens.
God is the authority on earth, whether we like it or not. Some do, some don't. Those who "know better" will get thrown out, but there is plenty of opportunity for people to honour God and enjoy His handiwork to the max. There are also plenty of guidlines as to how to get the most out of it - written in scripture. As with guidlines everywhere, scripture makes everything easier to comprehend and to operate. Use it or don't use it but don't blame God. It's His garden anyway.
Now I might have differences with the architect about what he should have done, but the fact is, it's his garden, and he calls the tune. Now the great architect of the earth doesn't just want traffic through His garden. He wants personal relationship with each person who wanders through. That's why He buillt the garden, so people could come there and meet Him. Some come and steal things. Some try to re-write the history of the garden. Some plunch up the other visitors. Some try to develop their own little territories within the garden and manipulate and bully the others to sit themselves. Gos sends his gardeners in to help people understand how to behave in His garden. He even sent HIs Son but the visitors killed Him! So eventually there comes a time of reckoning, when the architect gets things back into proper order again., and those who misuse the facilities of His garden get dealt with, while those who learned how to enjoy it sensitively and took the trouble to get to know and become a good friend of the architect retain their visiting privileges and learn of heaps of other privileges He has planned for them also. The great architect is not really interested in the debates of those who want to dominate in His garden. Relationship is His criteron. That is what matters to Him. But you can't have relationship with people who want to change you and reconstruct you, so those people are out. You have to take the architect exactly as He is. He can't, and won't, change to suit everybody. It would be ridiculous. They have to learn about Him and He loves that.. He has so much to share with those who will learn. He is rather magnificent! He is God!
Comment by ChrisM
firstly: "you seem to waver between believing and wanting to re-write" . Ill make one thing perfectly clear from the offset, the reason i started off the previous paragraph with the qualifier of theoretically speaking...is because although i think certain events and people from the old and new testament may have existed/occoured. i believe that scripture is a culmination of interpretation and sociological foresight. but im not going to lean on the crutch of personal belief, so in response to the notion of truth being black and white, ill try to respond more impartially. even if all of the events in the bible (especially genesis) occoured. they would not have transpired precisely as written. why? because they were written soley by us. we are not divine, we are not objective (and i dont count canonized saints as being as deities). we do not have the perfect sight that god has. even if god sent down the words via messengers, prophets, or angels...we as imperfect creatures cannot write down the same truth that god speaks. to presume we could would be to presume that we are as flawless as god himself. thus it was the job of the authors to interpret god, just it is our job as readers to interpret gods words in the context of imperfect human bias.
in response to wanting to re-write scripture...all eve asserted was that she wanted to eat the fruit because it would make her "so wise". the promise of wisdom was what convinced her, not some promise of deification and not the serpents allegation that god was lying about the consequence of eating the fruit (which in a way he was, but in another he wasnt- it lead to the death of their life in eden and supposedly lead to the populating of earth- and i think we should consider here whether or not that was the plan of god all along).
i am not disputing here that god created the garden, nor the notion that he is the architect. i am disputing the notion that scripture is the direct word of god. man wrote the rules on how the garden works and how we should maintain it and operate within it (quite selectively too if you consider things like the council of nicea). not god himself.
in response to him sending his son down to earth only for him to be killed...god sent him down there so he could be killed. jesus knew this from an early age, he knew that his matyrdom would elevate christendom...so he encouraged judas to betray him. (this is not personal interpretation btw- this is out of both the liscensed gospels and the gospel of judas). you cannot take god how he is, i accept that you cannot change him, but neither can we know or even understand him. the flawed cannot understand the perfect.
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
one ghost, female in floor length period dress, was captured on security film some years ago, in London Tower I think, exiting through one door and into another on the other side of the tiny lane, completely closed to any pedestrian traffic, and the doors had been locked and unused for 100 odd years I think....and yet you clearly see her cross the lane way...odd eh what?
fog