It could easily be argued that the biggest villain in history
is Satan. After all, according to Christian doctrine it was Satan
who tricked Eve into eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil which set in motion an incredibly unfortunate chain
of events known as the "fall of man". Here's the
story:
Gen 3:1-4,13
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which
the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God
said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of
the trees of the garden:
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,
lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast
done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Notice that the text says nothing about Satan. It states that a
talking serpent confronted Eve and deceived her into eating the
forbidden fruit.
Also according to Christianity, all of mankind is under the curse
of "original sin" which postulates that all are born
into sin and deserve to spend eternity in hell unless they are
saved by the Christian man/god savior named Jesus. The curse of
original sin via Adam and Eve is established in the following New
Testament verses:
Rom 5:12
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Rom 5:17
For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they
which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
Rom 5:19
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
In other words, all of mankind which has existed in the past,
exists at this time, and that will exist in the future are cursed
as a result of Satan tricking Eve in the Garden of Eden. Eve then
persuaded Adam to also eat the fruit and thus both of them and
all their descendants were doomed to be "sinners".
Let's take a closer look at this character called Satan, who
Christians proclaim is the source of all these problems in the
world. To begin, as already noted, Satan never appears in the
story of Adam and Eve which is described in the book of
Genesis. Satan's name never even appears in the book of
Genesis at all. Eve was tricked by a "talking serpent"
which is never identified as a being called Satan.
Where do Christians get this idea that the talking serpent in the
Garden of Eden was Satan? They establish their claim on a few
verses, none of which are found in the Old Testament(OT). Two New
Testament(NT) verses are:
Rev 12:9
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the
Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast
out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Rev 20:2
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the
Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
But these verses are built on thin air. We have NO reference from
the OT which confirms that Satan is a serpent, or a talking
serpent, or that Satan was even in the Garden of Eden. The
Christian claim that it was Satan who tricked Eve is entirely
concocted from a few verses in the NT which cannot be confirmed
by any OT scripture.
Jesus was recorded as saying he saw Satan fall from heaven:
Luke 10:18
And he(Jesus) said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall
from heaven.
This also cannot be confirmed by the OT as there is no scripture
which establishes this. Also lost in all the Christian
advertising about Satan is that God cursed the serpent who
tricked Eve.
Gen 3:14
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done
this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of
the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat
all the days of thy life:
The serpent will be doomed to crawling on it's belly and it will
eat dust all the days of it's life. God didn't mention if the
serpents ability to talk would be taken away so we don't know if
the serpent would be able to talk after the curse was invoked.
Now if this serpent was really Satan as Christians proclaim to
the world, then we have a few problems here:
Satan was doomed to crawl on his belly and eat dust all
the days of his life. However the NT states that Satan tempted
Jesus long after the incident in the Garden of Eden.
Matt 4:8-10
Again, the devil(Satan) taketh him up into an exceeding high
mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the
glory of them;
And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou
wilt fall down and worship me.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt
thou serve.
If Satan took Jesus to the top of a very high mountain, it would
have taken a rather long time since Satan was doomed to crawl on
his belly the whole trip. And how could Jesus bow down and
worship Satan if Satan was already on his belly? Could Jesus have
bowed down lower than the ground itself?
And if Satan was the talking serpent who was doomed by God to
crawl on his belly, how then could we have the following verses
from the book of Job?:
Job 1:6-7
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present
themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan
answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth,
and from walking up and down in it.
(Satan in the Old Testament is man's accuser, and not an
adversary of God)
Satan is one of the angels or sons of God. The text does not say
that a talking serpent also presented himself before God. Satan
says he has been roaming the earth, going back and forth in it.
This would have taken a great deal of time if Satan was crawling
on his belly, occasionally stopping from time to time to eat some
dust. In other words, there is no reason to believe that God EVER
cursed Satan with the same curse that he used on the talking
serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Contrary to what mainstream Christianity proclaims to the world,
the talking serpent and Satan are not the same entity and have
nothing to do with each other.
The OT does not support the assertions by Christians that Satan
is responsible for the deception of Eve and Adam. Nor does the OT
support the often made Christian claim that Satan is the source
of "evil" and the enemy of God.
There is not one instance in the OT where Satan disobeys a
command from God. The book of Job also reveals that Satan and God
wanted to wager against each other regarding the character of
mankind who Satan would like to find fault with. God then
suggests to Satan that he consider Job for a test of endurance.
Job 1:8
And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant
Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an
upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
God then gives permission for Satan to begin the torment of Job:
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.
This sets in motion a series of deaths and calamities upon the
livestock, servants, and family of the righteous Job so that God
and Satan can see which of them is right about the character of
Job.
All of these events were allowed by God. Satan was given
permission to use whatever means he deemed appropriate to
"test" Job. However God instructs Satan not to harm Job
himself.
Satan obeys the guidelines which God gave to him. As Job doesn't
curse God, the torture is continued as God again suggests that
Job would be an ideal candidate for this type of cosmic wager
between two "higher" beings. The angels once
again present themselves before God in Job 2 and Satan
again asserts he is roaming the earth. God then, for the second
time, suggests the unfortunate (yet righteous) Job as a good
candidate for a torture test..
Job 2:3
And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant
Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an
upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still
he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against
him, to destroy him without cause.
The cosmic wager continues with new guidelines issued by God:
Job 2:5-7(Satan states)
But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh,
and he will curse thee to thy face.
And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but
save his life.
So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job
with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
Job is then subjected to a number of revolting physical ailments
and torments. As an aside, the fact that the blameless, righteous
Job was afflicted with physical torments of any type exposes a
major Bible contradiction in that Prov 12:21 declares:
Prov 12:21
There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be
filled with mischief.
During the entire scenario in which this cosmic wager between God
and Satan plays out, Satan never once disobeys God. Satan never
"rebels" and shows no signs of ever having fallen from
heaven as Jesus declared in Luke 10:18.
It is God who recommends (twice) that the righteous Job would be
a good candidate for torture. Job's servants, his cattle and his
children are all killed as part of this cosmic wager and God
never lifts so much as a holy finger to restore those who were
exterminated in the process of this wager being played out.
Nor does God express any concern over the fact that innocent
bystanders were killed.
Satan is simply one of God's court of angels, whose function is
to find fault in man and to be his accuser. Satan was created by
God and serves Gods purpose. Who is the villain in this
story? There isn't one verse in the entire OT where a character
named Satan ever disobeys God or is identified as a fallen
rebellious angel. Another insightful example into the nature of
the Bible God and Satan is found in the following:
1 Chron 21:1
And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number
Israel.
This verse would appear to indicate that Satan stirred up trouble
against Israel. However from another book in the Bible, the same
incident is described much differently.
2 Sam 24:1
And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and
he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
What we have here is one event with two different protagonists.
In one case it was God who incited David to take a census of
Israel, while in another case it was Satan who incited David.
Bible apologists will often attempt to explain this contradiction
away by claiming that God simply used Satan to accomplish his
work of inciting David in an attempt to smooth over this glaring
problem.
The problem doesn't go away however. It manifests into an even
bigger problem if the NT claims about Satan are to be
believed. If Satan is a rebellious angel who was cast down
from heaven, there is no reason to believe that he would wish to
cooperate with God in any way.
If Satan was the tool which God used to incite David then that
means Satan is easily used and controlled by God. God can harness
Satan anytime he wishes. This leads to the embarrassing
conclusion that all the hype and hoopla from Christians about
Satan being a clever, deceitful enemy who sneaks up on people and
leads them into sin, overlooks the fact that all the time, God is
controlling and using Satan to accomplish whatever whims he
wishes to indulge in. Satan is but a puppet on the
manipulative hand of God. The incredibly "evil" Satan
is in actuality, one of God's tools which God uses to do his
will.
The most disturbing conclusion awaits just ahead. If it was God
who incited David to take a census of Israel, either by himself
or using Satan to do it, we are left with a revolting display of
Godly behavior. After the census was taken, the story continues:
2 Sam 24:10-15
And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the
people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in
that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the
iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came
unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three
things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall
seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou
flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee?
or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise,
and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.
And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now
into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me
not fall into the hand of man.
So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even
to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even
to Beersheba seventy thousand men.
God first incites or moves David to take a census:
2 Sam 24:1
And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and
he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
David does exactly as he is moved to do by God. David then
realizes he sinned. How David realizes this is unknown.
How was doing what God moved him to do a sin? The "sin"
was in numbering the Levites, which is a violation according to Num
1:49 and Num 26:62. This explanation is only found in
the 1 Chron 21 version of this story and is not found in
the 2 Sam 24 version.
1 Chron 21:5-8
And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And
all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred
thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred
threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.
But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king's
word was abominable to Joab.
And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote
Israel.
And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have
done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of
thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
Note: The census count totals also differ. The 1 Chron 21
version records a total of 1,570,000 men and the 2 Sam 24
version records 1,300,000 men.
The manipulation of David by God in which God "moves",
compels, or silently instructs David to order an improper
census is based on God being angry at Israel.
The "sin" David committed was inspired by God, not by
David. God was using David as a tool to take vengence on Israel
for some unspecified transgression. If David had ordered a proper
census, God would have had no valid reason to punish Israel.
An improper census was needed to generate a sin, which is
then used as a reason for God to vent his wrath.
This whole census episode reeks of Godly manipulation.
Of course, Christian apologists will claim that it was David who
committed the sin, so God's hands are clean.
However, the Bible elsewhere states that David had always done
what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of his life,
except in one matter(adultery) which is unrelated to this census
issue:
1 Kings 15:5
Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD,
and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the
days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
If, as this verse proclaims, David obeyed God and did that which
was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any
thing that God commanded him, except in one matter unrelated
to the census, then he did not sin in the matter of the census.
David was manipulated by God to "sin" when David
ordered an improper census.
And if he sinned by carrying out God's will, what do you suppose
would have happened if he had disobeyed and decided not to take a
census?
As 2 Sam 24:10-15 shows, the Bible God then sinks deeper
into psychosis by offering David three "options" of
punishment for his "sin". David turns the decision over
to God after declaring that he doesn't want to fall into the
hands of men and God proceeds to kill 70,000 people by using a
plague on them.
The Bible God has incited a man to do his bidding, then
establishes that by following his instructions, the man has
sinned. God then exterminates 70,000 innocent people for the
"sin" of a man who was following God's instructions in
the first place. This is the same God Christians claim is all
holy, all righteous, all loving, who cannot tolerate sin,
deserving of all praise and worship, and who holds the moral high
ground of the universe. These same Christians chirp about how
loving their God is, while decrying Satan as the epitome of
"evil" who is responsible for all the ills of mankind
and the world.
In light of the behavior demonstrated by God and not by Satan, it
would be hard to find a verse more absurd than the following
often quoted verse used by Christians to inspire their faith in
God:
Eph 6:11
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil(Satan).
In reality, the evidence from the Bible indicates that it's God
who is the schemer and not Satan.
This is the type of theological swamp in which Christianity has
laid it's foundations . The next time you hear a Christian
attempt to tap dance around these types of disturbing issues
relating to their God and their arch enemy Satan, the response
should be: If you really believe the Bible is the word of a
God worthy of your worship, then you're stuck with exactly the
type God you deserve.
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