How do Christians know how the world works?
First of all, from the Revelation of God Himself, which is contained in the Holy Scriptures. The very first commandment that Moses received from God reads: I am the Lord thy God... thou shalt have no other gods before Me (Exodus 20: 2,3). From the prophet Isaiah we read: I am God, and there is no other God, and there is none like Me (Isaiah 46:9). The Epistle of the Apostle James says: There is one Lawgiver and Judge, able to save and destroy (James 4:12). All biblical books are permeated with the idea that the universe was created by One God and is governed by the laws established by Him. Both physical and moral.
According to the Bible, who killed more people, Satan or God?
So I wasn't going to answer this question because the answers I get to questions like this are starting to get tiresome, but after seeing some of the other answers here I couldn't help myself. So, from my collection, the answers below fall into one of two categories: 1) God has killed sooooo many more people than Satan. God is supposed to be the bad guy in this story. or 2) God is God so he can kill anyone he wants. I find neither of these positions satisfactory, and neither of them answers the question from within a proper historical context, so I'm going to propose option 3) God has killed more people than Satan, because in all but about 75 years of its history , he did not exist, or at least not in the sense in which Christians imagine him.
Pre-Christian Jewish thought ranged from a kind of tribal monotheism in its earliest incarnations to absolute monotheism after the destruction of the first temple. For most of Jewish history, absolute monotheism was the general law of the land. This means that God is responsible for *everything. *The idea of God doing good things and Satan doing bad things against God's will only really emerged in the later years of biblical thought with the rise of apocalypse in the preceding years and during the life of Jesus. The vast majority of biblical texts do not mention Satan at all or even hint at his existence. Throughout the work of the prophets, the horrors that befall the Israelites are the work of God, as all are the works of God.
God led the Assyrians and Babylonians to destroy the temple and scatter the Jews. God brought Persia to send them home again. God brought all the disasters, wars, epidemics, droughts and everything bad that happened to the people in the Bible. God also brought all the good things that happened to them. For a large part of Jewish history, Satan was not recognized at all. Even in the few places where he plays a prominent role, the only one being that the story of Job is preserved in the modern Bible, Satan is not the enemy of God, but the angel of wrath who carries out his will. Even in these cases, God is responsible for everything that happens to everyone, good or bad.
It was only with the advent of apocalyptic Judaism and its offshoot, Christianity, that the concept of Satan as “lord of the world” emerged at all. Thus, the biblical writers for 1500-2000 years did not recognize Satan at all except as the hand of God, and considered everything that happened anywhere to be the work of God (i.e. absolute monotheism). They then spent about a century writing in an era where Satan was accepted and where people believed that he was responsible for evil. So, in terms of their relative death toll, God had a major advantage. If Jeremiah and Ezekiel had any idea of Satan in the modern sense of the word, I am sure they would have blamed him for Israel's troubles, but they did not, and so attributed them to the wrath of God. Satan is a relatively new invention. He literally wasn't around most of the deaths in the Bible.
Yes, that's what it says in the Bible. But there are other books too...
What is written in the Bible is confirmed at every step by reality itself. The scale of good and evil is literally implanted in each of us. And it makes itself felt even in people who seem to have sunk to the very bottom of human society. There are many examples of this.
For example, the remarkable Christian writer and confessor Sergei Fudel (1900-1977), who spent 12 years of his life in prisons and camps, recalled how criminals who found themselves in the same cell with him and in ordinary times kept to themselves, united “when the offender was beaten in theft of bread rations." This behavior, of course, does not deserve praise, but it is very indicative. Criminals severely punished thieves in their own environment so as not to become victims of theft themselves. Many of them allowed themselves to break laws, but it never occurred to them to live as if these laws did not exist in principle.
Moreover, criminals usually do not consider even the offenses they themselves committed to be heroic deeds. Philology teacher Tatyana Shchipkova, sentenced to three years in 1980 for introducing students to the Gospel, recalled that her unfortunate friends who were serving sentences for criminal offenses generally did not challenge the fairness of the sentences. Even when the terms clearly exceeded the degree of their guilt. “When talking to such women, I always asked if they felt they had been treated unfairly. “Of course, fair. She killed a man, which means she has to serve time. Well, I'll sit it out. But she cleared the paths of life for the children.”
Even the most inveterate scoundrels, murderers and rapists realize: there is only one moral law, and although you can try to ignore it, it is impossible to doubt the very fact of its existence. There are no awards, promotions or “orders of honor” for murder, theft, or rape in the human world. Even among criminals.
But maybe such rewards are provided for in hell?
Let's first understand what hell is.
To ordinary consciousness it may seem like a place where Satan and demons rule the roost. But this idea stumbles over the very fact that we said earlier: in the world there is only one Ruler and Lawgiver - the Lord God. And it is impossible to “run the show” apart from Him. Even in hell.
There is no place in the entire universe where God is absent, where the laws He established do not apply. God does not have any adversary, at least somewhat commensurate with Him... Satan is just a creation of God, alas, a rebellious one, who chose the path of opposing his Creator (in Hebrew, “Satan” precisely means “adversary”). Without God's permission he cannot do anything. In the Old Testament part of the Bible there is a story about the righteous Job, whom a fallen spirit dooms to terrible suffering - but only after the Lord agrees to this, Who knows that Job will withstand these tests with honor and become stronger in faith, and his faith will forever remain a model for all people (Job 1 : 6-22, 2 : 1-10). Another example is from the Gospel: evil spirits, expelled from two demoniacs, ask Christ to send them at least to the pigs (Matthew 8 : 28-32); of their own free will, these spirits are not able to enter anyone, even animals.
In the entire world created by God, there is only one place in which God limited His omnipotence. This place is the heart of man. Man was originally created with free will, freedom of choice is our daily experience. And freedom presupposes that a person can choose life without God. In this case, after death, his soul is sent not to heaven - God does not force His company on anyone - but to a special place where souls stay who do not want to meet God. This place in the Bible is called differently - a place of torment (Luke 16: 28), a prison (1 Pet 3: 19), hell fire (Matt 5: 22, etc.), a lake of fire and brimstone (Rev 20: 10), outer darkness (Matthew 22: 13)… The Greek word Αΐδης - Hades, in the Russian version “hell” - means the underworld, the underground kingdom, in which the dead languish without hope of ever emerging into the light...
Hell is not punishment, much less God’s vengeance on those who reject Him. This is simply the only place that God can provide to His creatures who do not want to be with Him, and where they themselves retire.
And hell is not a concentration camp at all, and its inhabitants are not prisoners given over by God to the devil and other fallen spirits for punishment. Over the souls who have enclosed themselves in this place, God still rules, Who, according to the testimony of the Apostle John the Theologian, is love (1 John 4:16). The problem is that souls who do not love God perceive His love as a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). The Monk Isaac the Syrian said wonderfully about this: “Those tormented in Gehenna are struck by the scourge of love.” What is the effect of this scourge? Here we can only make assumptions. Perhaps the souls in hell, deprived of God’s grace that strengthened them in earthly life (no matter what), will finally be left solely to themselves - and to the passions that torment them. And that can be really scary.
This is how the English writer and theologian Clive Staples Lewis saw it: “The saved go to a place prepared for them, and the lost go to a place not prepared for people at all... When they go to hell, they drop out of humanity. What is thrown (or thrown) into the darkness is not a person, but his “remains”. In a full-fledged, whole person, passions are subordinated to the will, and the will is devoted to God. The “former” person’s will, apparently, is completely focused on himself, and passions are completely beyond its control... He is no longer a sinner, but some kind of dump of sins hostile to each other.”
Satan. Is he an enemy of God?
Quick question: Who is Satan? – And the short answer: Jesus gave two titles - “the prince of this world” (John 14:30) and “the enemy of man” (Matthew 13:28).
2. But many believe that Satan is the enemy of God.
- This is not in the Bible. This idea is not biblical.
3. Is it true that God gave the earth to Adam, and he, having sinned, gave it to Satan?
– The idea is not biblical. God handed over to Adam, first of all, the world of Paradise, and if the mechanism of transferring rights to Satan had actually been implemented, the latter would have taken possession of the heavenly abode. The Bible reports something else: after the sin, the Lord himself disposed of both Paradise and earth. And if today Satan enjoys the rights of a prince on earth, then this is God’s will.
4. Sometimes they write that Satan appropriated the title of prince of this world to himself!
– There is no such thing in the Bible, and to think so means to believe that God has no order. It should be remembered that in the world created by God, only what happens is what God allows, and if Satan really uses the enormous rights of the prince, it means that God needs it.
5. They write that there is a great struggle going on in the world.
– Yes, there is a spiritual struggle going on in the world, and the field of this battle is human hearts. The struggle is between the forces that encourage a person to do good and the forces that tempt him with sinful temptations.
6. But why does God need this struggle?
– The Bible teaches that God is not a dictator in relation to people, He gives everyone the right to choose – to fulfill His commandments, or not to fulfill them. Two opposing forces offer a person one or the other path. Only those who honorably pass through the crucible of all kinds of temptations and pass through the narrow gate will inherit eternal life.
6. Is it true that behind the first forces is God, and behind the second is Satan?
– Neither Jehovah nor Jesus spoke about any “great controversy” between God and Satan. Such a belief actually calls into question the omnipotence of the Creator. In the Bible, the following phrases appear many times: “God spoke, and it became so.” But with Satan, according to some beliefs, everything is not so. God seems to be at war with a supposedly fallen angel, but Satan’s position really does not change at all. Judging by the number of human sins, Satan is in active form. Let's look around: the overwhelming number of people do not even rush to God! If you believe that it is God himself who fights with Satan, then this means that it is as if God is losing this fight, and losing to his angel?!?
7. But who stands on both sides of the “barricades”?
– Let us repeat: everything in the world is determined by God Himself, which means that He determined both the fighting sides. Indeed, Satan represents one side, and who represents the other, the Bible does not cover this issue. Some believe that these are guardian angels. And the fact that today the majority of people follow Satan does not mean that God is ineffective, but that He allows only the most suitable ones into His gates, who were able to melt down during this spiritual struggle. He does not need spiritual “idlers” or “bullies”.
9. In the books they write that Jesus was tempted by Satan according to his own evil will!
– But the Bible tells a different story. Evangelist Matthew (4:1) writes unequivocally: “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” So who led Jesus into the wilderness? By God's Spirit. For what? For temptation from Satan. That is, God decided to carry out this test - before the Son entered into ministry. The word temptation, as you know, means test, test, test.
10. But the evil will of Satan is spoken of in 1 Chronicles 21:1: “And Satan rose up against Israel, and stirred up David to number the Israelites.”
– Let’s compare this text with the parallel one – 2 Samuel 24:1. “The wrath of the Lord was kindled again against the Israelites, and it stirred up David in them to say: Go, number Israel and Judah.” It turns out that Satan rose up against Israel because the wrath of the Lord again kindled against the Israelites. God got angry, made a decision and... Satan carried it out. By the way, the Bible repeatedly tells us that God made “tough” decisions, and entrusted their execution to his angels, for example, the destroyer (Ex. 12:23), the lying spirit (1 Kings 22:22). Another example: “The troublemaker seeks only evil; therefore a cruel angel will be sent against him” (Prov. 17:11). There are, God has angels specialized for temptation and reward!
11. All the major churches agree that the prophecies about the kings of Tire and Babylon simultaneously refer to Satan, and there he is shown as an arrogant rebel against God.
– Yes, the churches attribute these prophecies to Satan, but there is no such thought in the Bible itself. The prophecies about the kings of Tire and Babylon were first forwarded to Satan by the church fathers only in the 3rd century after Christ. Bl. Augustine denied the connection of these prophecies with Satan, but they did not listen to him. In fact, an ordinary angel, who is not “more powerful” than the angel of the Destroyer or the Lie, has been elevated to the level of a powerful adversary of God. And in the Bible there is not a single episode in which Satan did anything against the will of God. Let's read Luke 10:17: “The disciples said to Jesus with joy: “The demons are subject to us because of Your name.” Even to the disciples, at the mere mention of the name of Jesus, the demons obeyed! Moreover, demons could not even incarnate into pigs without God's consent. And Job says that Satan sought permission for every step and punctually carried out everything that God said.
12. And some believe that God knew that Job was faithful to Him, and agreed in order to humiliate Satan.
- God! Forgive our wingless thinking! After all, you are credited with the “technologies” of a communal apartment - how can I humiliate this nasty neighbor? It’s better to pay attention to the beginning of the conversation! God was keenly interested in the affairs of Satan - where he was, what he saw... Answering Job’s questions about the causes of the misadventures, the Lord did not refer to the fact that all the troubles were organized by Satan. No, Almighty God has shown this time that He alone resolves issues of both blessings and suffering.
13. But the Apostle Paul in the First Epistle to Timothy (3:6) wrote about ministers: “He [must not] be one of the new converts, lest he become proud and fall into condemnation with the devil.” That is, he wrote that Satan fell into condemnation, didn’t he?
– This is an example of how sometimes people make translations “for themselves.” Bishop Cassian translated this passage differently: “so that, having become proud, he would not fall under the judgment of the devil.” This text more accurately expresses the views held by the apostle (compare 1 Timothy 3:7). After all, he used this spirit so that backslidden people could later turn to God (1 Cor. 5:3-5; 1 Tim. 1:20).
14. Some argue that after the fall of Adam, people live under the curse of Satan.
- They approve. The Bible says that God cursed people for their first sin, and this – God’s – curse is still in effect today. But Satan did NOT curse anyone at all.
15. But believers believe that even at the dawn of mankind, God cursed Satan, who took the form of a serpent!
– Let’s be precise: the one God cursed was the snake, and the curse is still in effect: snakes move on the ground on their bellies and sting a person in the leg; Most people are terribly afraid of them and, when they see them, try to kill them by crushing their heads. But the Bible does not say that God cursed Satan. Do you believe that after being cursed, Satan moves on his belly?!
16. But in Revelation the “ancient serpent” and Satan are presented as one entity.
– Apparently, this is not entirely true. Much later than the first sin, in Job, it is shown that God calmly listened to Satan, gave him permission, and set restrictions. That is, by this time God clearly did not curse Satan. It can be assumed that before the first sin, Satan tempted the serpent and managed to instill in him daring thoughts, and he was already tempting with the words of Satan, and therefore John united Satan and the serpent. One way or another, we will believe the Bible: Eve was tempted by a serpent, and it was him who God cursed.
17. Did Jesus defeat Satan at Calvary?
- In a sense, yes. But not in the sense that they usually want to put into these words. Jesus said, “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He “was tempted as we are, but sinned not” (Heb. 4:15, modern translation), and the prince of this world had nothing in Him. In this sense, Jesus won: he resisted temptations, did not succumb to them, and walked His path to the end. But Satan is not destroyed. Now every disciple of Christ must repeat the victory and feat of Jesus: submit to God and resist the devil so that he runs away.
18. What then does 1 John 3:8 say: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, to destroy the works of the devil”? And: “And since the children share in flesh and blood, He also took part in it, so that by death He might destroy the one who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14)?
– It is clear here that we are talking about victory over the works of the devil, and not over Satan himself. What are the works of the devil? Lead astray, make you sin. But Christ gave us the Spirit so that we could resist the devil. Jesus walked His Path, showing that this is possible for us too. “For just as He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted” (Heb. 2:18). Thus, He reduced the “effect” of the tempter’s work. Jesus also showed the goal - the Kingdom of Heaven and the life of the next century through His resurrection. Therefore, the fear of death has now disappeared, and those who were enslaved by the fear of death have gained a future and new strength.
19. But Jesus, when the 70 He sent returned, said (Luke 10:18): “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning.”
– The Bible does not report that there were any collisions in the sky at that time. It is more logical to assume that Satan was once again in heaven, and then descended to his usual “workplace” of the “prince of this world.” We cannot see such “flights,” but Jesus saw them. Perhaps the “prince of this world” turned out to be seriously concerned about the relentless activity of the 70 disciples, so he hastened to put more effort into his “earthly affairs.”
20. Why did Jehovah communicate with Satan calmly, but Jesus denounced him? One example (John 8:44): “When he speaks a lie, he speaks his own, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
– The Almighty and Jesus talked about one thing – the need to resist sinful hobbies, but they talked about different aspects of this problem. If Jehovah, in denouncing people for following sin, did not touch upon the “technology” of creating tempting situations, then Jesus, living among people, paid attention to who organizes these situations. Yes, Jesus noted that the essence of Satan is a liar. And as such, in order to tempt, Satan lies, and people listen, when there is no need to listen, and they do his works, but there is no need to do them; Satan must be resisted with firm faith. Let us add: Jesus did not curse Satan.
21. They say that God does not stop the activities of Satan because he does not want to scare people: He does not want to be feared because of His power and authority, but is waiting for simple love.
– Yes, some believe that God creates with an eye on what people think of Him. The Bible presents God to us differently. When humanity became corrupted, He brought a great Flood upon them and was not afraid of anyone’s opinion. If His angel began to mock His children with his evil will, God would only think of it, and Satan would end up somewhere on Venus, or even in some other galaxy.
And secondly, people actually imagine God to be indifferently cruel. Satan supposedly mocks people, and God is worried about his “image”?! Do you think about God this way too?
22. So is Satan an enemy of God?
– This is a human thought, it is not in the Bible. They refer to Matthew 13:36-39 – about the enemy the devil, who sowed tares, and also to Acts 13:8 about “the son of the devil, the enemy of all righteousness.” Let's say briefly: here we are talking about an enemy not to God, but to people. Jehovah did not say a single word that Satan was His enemy. Let us remember what streams of angry words the Lord poured out against people when they betrayed their God, but in relation to Satan - not a word of reproach. Jesus said about Satan: “the enemy of man” (Matt. 13:28).
23. But we are children of God! Isn't the enemy of people also the enemy of God?
– What about us people? When a crime is committed, the police are to some extent the enemies of the criminals. But these “enemies” receive salaries from the state treasury. So we are all sinners, and until God’s Judgment is completed, God allows Satan to act in our lives. Yes, today Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. But with whom does he succeed? With those who easily succumb to the influence of others, they either put carnal pleasures above all else, or grow self-love to gigantic proportions, as well as with those who do not want to think about the future. In a word, through various temptations, Satan identifies those who are capable of exchanging God for something sweet, serene, and enticing. One can feel sorry for such people, but it is doubtful that God needs them in eternity. Will He be able to rely on them?
24. But in “Revelation” the epic picture of “War in Heaven” is presented - Satan is leading an innumerable army against God’s forces.
– The real power of the so-called “enemy of God Himself” is well shown in Rev. 20:2. One single angel will bind Satan without any war. And after that, for a thousand years he will be inactive, “shackled,” but then he will suddenly be released. For what? Obviously, it is by the will of God that he must once again perform his usual work - to encourage those who oppose God to take active action. Apparently, the Almighty will give sinners one last chance - to repent and not follow the tempter.
25. How to explain Rev. 12:7-9? “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought [against them], but they did not stand, and there was no longer room for them in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, he was cast out to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
– This question must be examined in context with others of a similar nature. In one of the following articles we will look at it in detail. For now, briefly. Yes, there was a war in heaven. But let's remember the episode of the temptation of the first people. Satan, as John claims, was present in this case, but God, having punished the people and the serpent, did not show in any way that He had any claims against Satan. So in this case, Satan and his angels were thrown out of heaven, but Satan, as it is written in Job, remained allowed into heaven by God.
26. How can we explain that “Revelation” promises to eliminate Satan at the end of time?
“Those who believe that God waged a spiritual battle with Satan for many thousands of years actually imply that He lost it. And after that he physically destroyed the enemy. Of course, this is not so, which means that the initial premise that God fights with Satan is not true. It can be assumed that God created this spirit only to work as a tempter; After selecting the required number of human souls, Satan will no longer be needed.
27. What is it - it became no longer needed, and it was thrown into the lake of fire? The Moor has done his job - can the Moor leave?
– The very formulation of the question suggests that many exaggerate the importance of Satan. Angels are merely ministering spirits. Some things can serve us faithfully, but when they become unnecessary, they throw them away. Things that have become unnecessary should not clutter up the apartment, and unnecessary perfumes should not clutter up the Cosmos.
28. So who is Satan?
– First, let me ask you two questions. Do you believe that if Almighty God wanted, Satan would not tempt anyone? And one more thing: do you perceive as an edification for us the Bible’s mention that even the Archangel Michael did not dare to pronounce an offensive judgment against Satan? (Jude 1:9-10, Sir.21:30).
And now the answer to your question. As Jesus said, Satan is our enemy; he is a tempter, or in other words, a provocateur. Few people pronounce the word “provocateur” with respect. But they benefit not only the leadership of the state, but also the common people. For example, thanks to their tempting work, the very roots of criminal gangs are often discovered, from which it is mainly the common people who suffer.
This is the same work - only for God - that the tempting spirit does. And with sweet lies, and pleasant temptations, and screaming pain, Satan provokes us to betray Jehovah. As said earlier, God in eternity does not need those who are able to renounce Him. So let us humbly accept the will of the Creator, who tests our devotion to Him at the “hands” of the prince of this world.
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But, if sinners are together with the devil in hell, why don’t they support each other there?
It is no coincidence that the Apostle Paul calls Satan and the angels seduced by him spirits of wickedness in high places (Eph 6:12 ). Malice is the defining characteristic of these creatures. Christ calls the devil a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44 ). Over the thousands or millions of years that have passed since the moment he fell away from God, Satan has completely destroyed in himself all the grains of good that were in him before, and since then he has been all hatred and malice in their pure, unclouded form. He, of course, is not able to harm God Himself, and therefore he is gnawing at a passionate desire - to destroy God's creation and his crown - man.
It is very difficult to destroy what God has created, especially man created in the image of God. But Satan is inhumanly smart and cunning, so he does not act directly, but by deception. No wonder Christ calls him a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44 ). The devil slanderes God to a person (this is precisely what the Greek word διάβολος means) and offers various tempting thoughts that at first glance may seem reasonable, kind, and fair. But the devil has only one goal - to bring a person to death, to force him to finally renounce God, to push him to the edge, beyond which there is an abyss, where there is no longer any way to escape.
To expect any support from the murderer Satan means to be cruelly and fatally deceived.
