IFeelFree wrote:neologist wrote:IFeelFree wrote:neologist wrote:
The misery humans have endured for thousands of years is the consequence of the rebellion of Satan. God has set his time to set things straight...
Not only is it impossible to determine if those statements are true, I'm not sure what it would mean if they were, or were not, true. How is it in any way useful to believe those statements? How does it help us to understand human suffering?
Judge the veracity of the bible for yourself. That is, however, what the bible relates.
Its not even the veracity of the statements I'm questioning. I'm questioning whether the statements mean anything to you. Is it just an interesting historical fact that human suffering was caused by the rebellion of Satan, or does it actually affect your life in some way to know that?
Satan raised several issues in the Garden of Eden.
By telling Eve she would not die but would be ". . .like God, knowing good and bad" (Genesis 3:4,5):
He accused God of being a liar
He insinuated that humans would be better off deciding moral issues for themselves.
Later, in the book of Job, he stated that humans would serve God only out of selfishness and would turn away from God under duress.
Notice that God's power was never in question, and he could have zapped everyone on the spot. But what would that accomplish?
It would leave unanswered the allegation that humans would be better off setting their own moral course.
It would leave standing the allegations that God was a liar and that his creatures would serve him only out of hope for reward.
It would also end God's purpose to have Adam's descendants living and populating the earth.
Perhaps Satan thought God would be forced to forgive Adam and Eve in order to fulfill his purpose, thus proving God lied when he warned them they would die.
Or, perhaps Satan thought he would thwart God's purpose by God having to destroy Adam and Eve and start again. Would that call into question his ability to create intelligent beings with the desire to obey out of love? Perhaps.
So God set into motion a plan to allow Adam and Eve to bear imperfect children and, after a period of time, redeem mankind from the punishment Adam brought upon his descendants. This is the entire story of the bible, God's selection of a group to represent his name (albeit imperfectly), his allowing his firstborn spiritual son to act as a sacrifice and also his turning over to Satan the entire world system to give him ample opportunity to prove his point.
You and I may believe the time is long past for Satan to have failed to demonstrate his allegations, but you and I do not calculate time as God does, for whom a thousand 'years is like a day.'
