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Can Satan Be Forgiven?

 
 
Reply Wed 11 May, 2005 02:19 pm
Okay, I guess Satan did some bad stuff.

Can he be forgiven one day and go to heaven?

I mean, if he truly asked for forgiveness for all his sins, repented, and accepted Jesus as his personal Saviour, could he be forgiven and be allowed to go to heaven?

I mean, its Christian to forgive and all are capable of being forgiven...right?

Is it un-Christian to hate Satan? Should we have empathy and Christian understanding for Satan?
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Equus
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 May, 2005 02:21 pm
Well, Satan used to be an Archangel. And if you believe God can do anything, then that would certainly include forgiving Satan.
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Anonymous
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 May, 2005 05:32 pm
Re: Can Satan Be Forgiven?
extra medium wrote:
Is it un-Christian to hate Satan? Should we have empathy and Christian understanding for Satan?

It is un-Christian to hate Satan. We should have empathy and Christian understanding for Satan. After all, a true Christian should hate the sin and not the sinner. I do not believe that Satan himself is sin, he is just the bringer of sin.
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extra medium
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 May, 2005 05:43 pm
Interesting.

Hey, I wonder, if you are already down in Hell, and you accept Jesus as your saviour, can you go to heaven then?

I mean, you could say "I'm sorry I didn't accept you when my physical human body was alive, but I see the Light now, and please forgive me."

Why would it be that just because your physical body died, thats the last chance, that doesn't seem very forgiving?

Can you still be forgiven and redeemed once you are in Hell?

Seems like Jesus would even have the power to redeem and pay for the sins of the inhabitants of Hell, if they asked for it and Believed?

It seems unChristian to suddenly not give them a chance anymore, just because their physical body happened to die prior to them seeing the Light?
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Anonymous
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 May, 2005 05:48 pm
extra medium wrote:
Interesting.

Hey, I wonder, if you are already down in Hell, and you accept Jesus as your saviour, can you go to heaven then?

I mean, you could say "I'm sorry I didn't accept you when my physical human body was alive, but I see the Light now, and please forgive me."

Why would it be that just because your physical body died, thats the last chance, that doesn't seem very forgiving?

Can you still be forgiven and redeemed once you are in Hell?

Seems like Jesus would even have the power to redeem and pay for the sins of the inhabitants of Hell, if they asked for it and Believed?

It seems unChristian to suddenly not give them a chance anymore, just because their physical body happened to die prior to them seeing the Light?

I say that it depends. Did they have a chance in their lifetime to accept Jesus? Did they reject Him by choice? If so, then they will suffer in Hell. The story of the rich man and Lazarus is a good example of this situation. I guarentee you that many people who suffer in Hell make that statement (like the rich man did), yet they are ignored simply because they had their chance and they did not take advantage of it. They are not truly accepting Jesus: They just want out of Hell.
Now what about people who never had the opportunity? What happens to them? This I do not know, but I do know that God has a plan for everyone.
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neologist
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 May, 2005 12:29 pm
Re: Can Satan Be Forgiven?
extra medium wrote:

Can he be forgiven one day and go to heaven?
He was in heaven when the book of Job was written. Where is he now; I wonder?
extra medium wrote:

I mean, if he truly asked for forgiveness for all his sins, repented, and accepted Jesus as his personal Saviour, could he be forgiven . . .?
Really, he's having too much fun as the ruler of the earth.
extra medium wrote:

I mean, its Christian to forgive and all are capable of being forgiven...right?
Hebrews 10:26 reads "For if we practice sin willfully after having received the accurate knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left."
extra medium wrote:

Is it un-Christian to hate Satan? Should we have empathy and Christian understanding for Satan?
Perhaps we should be afraid to buy into his spurious logic.
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extra medium
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 May, 2005 03:14 pm
00 Agent Kid wrote:
extra medium wrote:
Interesting.

Hey, I wonder, if you are already down in Hell, and you accept Jesus as your saviour, can you go to heaven then?

I mean, you could say "I'm sorry I didn't accept you when my physical human body was alive, but I see the Light now, and please forgive me."

Why would it be that just because your physical body died, thats the last chance, that doesn't seem very forgiving?

Can you still be forgiven and redeemed once you are in Hell?

Seems like Jesus would even have the power to redeem and pay for the sins of the inhabitants of Hell, if they asked for it and Believed?

It seems unChristian to suddenly not give them a chance anymore, just because their physical body happened to die prior to them seeing the Light?

I say that it depends. Did they have a chance in their lifetime to accept Jesus? Did they reject Him by choice? If so, then they will suffer in Hell. The story of the rich man and Lazarus is a good example of this situation. I guarentee you that many people who suffer in Hell make that statement (like the rich man did), yet they are ignored simply because they had their chance and they did not take advantage of it. They are not truly accepting Jesus: They just want out of Hell.
Now what about people who never had the opportunity? What happens to them? This I do not know, but I do know that God has a plan for everyone.


Interesting. So you are saying Satan has a chance to be forgiven and to get into heaven and all that, but some people in hell won't have that chance. Satan's got a better chance to be forgiven than some of these humans, it appears.

Wow
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Marquis de Carabas
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 03:58 am
Re: Can Satan Be Forgiven?
extra medium wrote:
Okay, I guess Satan did some bad stuff.


What did he ever do that was "bad"? Please give specific events and if possible a biblical reference to it (something I never thought I would ask for). I'm curious about your thoughts on this.
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neologist
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 06:10 am
Re: Can Satan Be Forgiven?
Marquis de Carabas wrote:
extra medium wrote:
Okay, I guess Satan did some bad stuff.


What did he ever do that was "bad"? Please give specific events and if possible a biblical reference to it (something I never thought I would ask for). I'm curious about your thoughts on this.

He sure made that fellow Job miserable, though he may have just been trying to prove a point.
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Marquis de Carabas
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 08:33 am
Re: Can Satan Be Forgiven?
neologist wrote:
He sure made that fellow Job miserable, though he may have just been trying to prove a point.


Let me remind you that this is with the blessing and orders of God. So if you consider these actions to be bad (as I would personally) then you have demonstrated God himself to be bad.

Code:Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.


The reason I asked my question is that christianity and judaism are fundamentally different. The god of the judaists is an omnipotent being in complete control of all creation with Satan as simply one of his angels, albeit one responsible for testing faith. The god of the christians has changed to become a dualistic deity in struggle with his equal and opposite counterpart Satan.

Yet aside from a few early parts of the bible in which Satan acts on the orders of God (these are the parts written by judaists), he doesn't seem to ever do anything evil. A very odd situation for the supposed lord of darkness.

Honestly, if I believed the words of the bible to be literal truth I would believe that Satan was the good guy and God the evil being, comparing their actions it certainly makes more sense.
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neologist
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 09:16 am
Now you will tell me that he told Eve the truth and we are all so much better off because of his activity in Eden.

Jesus refers to him as "the father of the lie" and a murderer. (John 8:44) In Revelation 12:9 he is referred to as the one "misleading the entire inhabited earth"

His name means "Resister".
The word devil means "slanderer".

In the 3rd chapter of Genesis Satan actually challenges the rightfulness of God's sovereignty over his creation, intimating that God was withholding something good and that He lied when He told them that eating of the fruit would bring death. (The fact that they did not die within the same 24 hour period proves nothing as the bible mentions more than once that with God "a day is as a thousand years".)

It should be mentioned here that the punishment mandated by God was nothing more than death. If a hellish barbecue were to be included He certainly would have said so, don't you think?
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Anonymous
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 02:58 pm
neologist wrote:
It should be mentioned here that the punishment mandated by God was nothing more than death. If a hellish barbecue were to be included He certainly would have said so, don't you think?

But going to Hell is experiencing death, spiritually. The whole fire and brimstone idea comes from Revelations (the lake of sulfur). Hell doesn't necessarily have to be "hot" in order to torture. Reliving one's worst memories endlessly, countless other methods of blinding torture, etc. Not being able to be with God after our physical death is indeed "death."
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neologist
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 03:25 pm
OK, so roasting is out. (WHEW!) But God breathed the breath of life into Adam and "he came to be a living soul." Ezekiel reminds us that the soul is mortal (Ezekiel 18:4) and Solomon reminds us there is no consciousness after death (Ecclesiastes 9:4-6), so how would one know he/she was in hell?
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Anonymous
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 04:20 pm
neologist wrote:
[...] how would one know he/she was in hell?

To quote Voldemort:
"I would not know, I have never died."
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neologist
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 04:26 pm
Nor I. And I wish it on no one. Well, that guy who killed the 2 little girls last week is probably an exception.
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extra medium
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 06:25 pm
Re: Can Satan Be Forgiven?
Marquis de Carabas wrote:
neologist wrote:
He sure made that fellow Job miserable, though he may have just been trying to prove a point.


Let me remind you that this is with the blessing and orders of God. So if you consider these actions to be bad (as I would personally) then you have demonstrated God himself to be bad.

Code:Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.


The reason I asked my question is that christianity and judaism are fundamentally different. The god of the judaists is an omnipotent being in complete control of all creation with Satan as simply one of his angels, albeit one responsible for testing faith. The god of the christians has changed to become a dualistic deity in struggle with his equal and opposite counterpart Satan.

Yet aside from a few early parts of the bible in which Satan acts on the orders of God (these are the parts written by judaists), he doesn't seem to ever do anything evil. A very odd situation for the supposed lord of darkness.

Honestly, if I believed the words of the bible to be literal truth I would believe that Satan was the good guy and God the evil being, comparing their actions it certainly makes more sense.


MDC,

Actually you do have a point. If we just study the Bible literally, Satan doesn't appear THAT many times doing "bad" stuff.

In my question I was assuming he did do some evil stuff...My main question is whether folks thought he could potentially be forgiven.

I found it interesting to note that some here thought Satan could be forgiven, but people in Hell couldn't be forgiven! Wow. A special entity. He's King of Hell, but he might be able to be forgiven? However, if you're just a human soul in Hell, forget it...?

Hey, does anyone here know for an absolute certainty that the Bible actually states human souls in Hell have no chance for forgiveness?

Believe it or not, I did read the Bible, and I don't recall it actually explicitly stating "Once you are in Hell, you no longer have any chance for forgiveness, for Redemption."

That doesn't seem too Christian. Lets assume for a moment there's a Hell. Some people are down there praying to Jesus, begging for forgiveness, begging to be forgiven for not believing in the twisted corrupt Churches while they were on earth. And Jesus just ignores them?

The Jesus I imagine wouldn't ignore them, not even if they were in Hell. The Jesus I know wouldn't be that petty. He doesn't care if they screwed up & they're in Hell....He'd forgive them and go get them.



Thoughts?
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Intrepid
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 06:37 pm
The most powerful proof that souls in eternity can be helped is that Jesus Christ entered eternity, immediately after His victory on the cross, to preach the gospel to those who were in captivity there. "For this reason the gospel was preached also to those that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." (See 1 Peter 3:19,20 and 4: 6) That Jesus Christ would preach the gospel to these souls is demonstration of His longing to minister to them and proof that they can be helped. This was the first time that service was rendered to the departed.

Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ is "Lord of both the dead and the living." (See Romans 14:9) He would that all would be saved (See 1Timothy 2:4). The souls in eternity are part of that "all". He told His disciples, "Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live." (John 5:25) Ministering to these souls in spiritual misery and captivity is perfectly consistent with the nature and intention of Jesus Christ. He wants to minister to all souls. He has proven that He can.
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extra medium
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 06:41 pm
Intrepid,

Interesting. Thanks.
0 Replies
 
neologist
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 08:41 pm
OK folks, keep chopping. I'm savin' firewood fer winter
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extra medium
 
  1  
Reply Sun 15 May, 2005 08:57 pm
neologist wrote:
OK folks, keep chopping. I'm savin' firewood fer winter


Why, you fixin' to burn us with fire & brimstone or something? Twisted Evil
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