My view of Satan has been challenged. I have always believed Satan began as a beautiful angel, perhaps even the worship leader in heaven. But I never really bothered to look at the passages responsible for that view in a critical manner until recently. And now, it seems, I don't think those passages have anything to do with Satan.
And to be honest, I find little concrete evidence that Satan was ever a good angel to begin with. It's possible, but not as clear-cut as you might think. I find nothing unscriptural about a second theory of his origin. What if God made Satan as Satan? Maybe God created Satan to be an accuser, a tempter, a seducer...to challenge men to a point of decision. Maybe Satan was designed to accuse, but the cross rendered his job meaningless for those who have been covered by the blood.
Fire away with the verse/verse rebuttals. I'm ready.
10 comments:
this is my in-coming bias: i don't think a holy, good, pure God would intentionally create a being knowing that he(satan) would wreck so much havoc, chaos, heartache, pain, confusion, and destruction upon the loved ones God just created.
that being said:
i like that you are looking into this. i'd like to hear more details of your arguements.
and, how can the source of Evil come directly from the "hand" of (for we were created out of the overflow of inter-trinitarian love, no?) the Source of all that is Righteous?
In regards to your first post...even with the traditional view of satan, don't you think God knew what satan would become and created him anyways? For an all knowing God in eternity, does the timing of satan's evilness really matter?
In regards to your second post...All things come from God ultimately anyways. So the question of direct/indirect isn't really too important in my mind.
I don't have a big problem with the traditional view that satan is a fallen angel, I just don't see it as concretely scriptural. It seems the Word leaves room for other possibilities that may have some explanatory power for other questions that, perhaps, I'll blog about tomorrow.
I believe the Bible says somewhere in Isaiah that God created evil. I'm not sure how that fits in with God being holy, but I'm not questioning either statement.
I would like to point out Revelation 12:7, where the dragon (Satan) has angel followers. This seems to point toward Satan being an angel himself.
Also, what is the passage where the Bible discusses Lucifer? I can't seem to find it tonight... too tired.
Hey Regan
I would agree that Revelation 12 is evidence that satan may be a fallen angel, like I said...I think the theory may be true, but the passages are not conclusive.
I don't think Lucifer is synonymous with satan. That idea is based on either Isaiah 14 or Ezekiel 28 (I forget which one). But the context is clearly a human king and the language a common poetic genre. I see no merit for reading satan into either passage.
It is from those 2 passages that we get this idea of satan being a beautiful angel/worship leading angel etc. It gives satan an awful lot of credit that, perhaps, should never have been granted.
Thanks for mentioning the 'God created evil' passage. I think that's one of the things I've been thinking about. What doctrine is ruined by the possibility that He created Satan as Satan? I don't, personally, think God's holiness, goodness, or love are ruined by such a possibility.
If you believe that Satan is separate from the creation of G-d, are you not also diminishing G-d's omnipotence? To view Satan as anything other than an agent of G-d would, in my view, lead down a path to polytheism. One can pray to G-d or false gods. A Satan worshiper is praying to a false god, not an evil entity that somehow is on par with or at war with G-d. Such a misguided soul is falling into sin not from their allegiance to an evil spirit, but from denying the fact that there is one G-d.
I agree.
I don't think anyone here is saying satan is seperate from God's creation. The debate is whether satan was created as an accuser OR as a good angel. Did he fall before Adam or was he created to bring Adam to a point of decision?
Thanks for the comment :)
I can see how you could interpret the passages in Isaiah and Ezekiel as not being about Satan, because the context is clearly about human kings. Still, it is possible for God to be talking about two things at once here. What I mean to say, is, I see your point, but I'm not going to throw away the traditional interpretation without a lot of thought.
I'm not sure where I read this, but someone said that Satan can't be totally bad like God is totally good, because total evil would be unable to function, make plans, carry them out, etc. I definitely believe that Satan is a creation of God. For what purpose he was created, I don't claim to know for sure. After all, what is the purpose of the angels? God doesn't need them to take care of him. Don't know. Speaking of God knowing how bad Satan would be and still creating him, God also knew how bad WE would be, and still created us. And you might say, yes, but we are redeemed, and Satan is not, but still, that doesn't erase all the bad we have done, it just gets covered by the blood of Christ.
I think I am rambling now.
Yes, I do believe it is possible Ezekiel and Isaiah have secondary meanings about Satan. The traditional view may very well be true. I'm not willing to throw it away either. I'm just not as sure as most that it is correct.
I agree with everything else you said. In fact, I'd take it one step further like CS Lewis does...Satan can't be absolute badness in contrast to God's absolute goodness b/c badness is not a thing in and of itself. It's simply an absence of goodness like darkness is the absence of light. If that makes sense :)
Good rambling Regan :)
UPDATE..still thinking :)
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