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YosefYosep
Guest
In Judaism Satan is seen as not an adversary but as an associate of God that is assigned certain tasks to test the will of men. How and when did Satan go from associate of God to adversary of God?
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littlestsouls2
Guest
‘Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.’ (1 Peter 5:8)
Satan is an enemy of souls, seeking to draw them to perdition. He cannot possibly have any love for God or the things of God. Even though God permits him to tempt us, Satan has his own selfish motives. For example: God might allow Satan to tempt or even physically attack a soul, such as St. Padre Pio. On God’s part, He is allowing the soul to grow in self-knowledge, faith and pure love, while amassing a rich store of graces for souls and merits for Heaven. Conversely, Satan seeks to hinder any good that God wishes to bestow on souls, for he burns with hatred and jealousy.
Satan is an enemy of souls, seeking to draw them to perdition. He cannot possibly have any love for God or the things of God. Even though God permits him to tempt us, Satan has his own selfish motives. For example: God might allow Satan to tempt or even physically attack a soul, such as St. Padre Pio. On God’s part, He is allowing the soul to grow in self-knowledge, faith and pure love, while amassing a rich store of graces for souls and merits for Heaven. Conversely, Satan seeks to hinder any good that God wishes to bestow on souls, for he burns with hatred and jealousy.
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MtnDwellar
Guest
Satan is man’s adversary.
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dmar198
Guest
My understanding is that the change was in Judaism, not in Christianity, and I think it went in the opposite direction: the adversary changed into an associate, while Christians kept him as an adversary.
As evidence, I think three Old Testament passages indicate that Satan is an adversary: Zechariah 3:1-2, Job 1:6-12, and Job 2:1-7.
In the first passage, St. Michael the Archangel apparently rebukes Satan. It seems to me that he would not do that if Satan was simply an associate of God who only does God’s will. The rebuke seems to imply, at least to me, that Satan did something contrary to God’s will, in this case by trying to keep a holy man out of heaven.
In the passages from Job, Satan apparently tells God that He is wrong, and that Job is not really righteous at heart, but self-seeking. Therefore, it seems that Satan disagrees with God, which seems adversarial to me, not associative.
Anyway, that’s what I think. Let me know if it helps.
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truetofaith
Guest
Revelation 12 : 7 & 8 “and there was war in heaven. Michael & his angels…fought against the great dragon, called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.” -edited
Sounds like it was since the beginning.
Sounds like it was since the beginning.
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mikekle
Guest
Ive racked my brain over these types of questions regarding satan over the years and still think the whole story of satan, his fall, taking 1/3 of the angels with him, etc, many aspects of this dont make logical sense, but Ive decided to move on…I think most of this is just something us humans are not intended to understand right now, so no matter how hard we think about it, study scriptures, etc.we still arent going to come close to getting our questions answered.
However I do think its very odd that satan is viewed as the ‘enemy’ of God, and yet, in modern times, it appears like he has ’ won over’ the majority of people, and/or majority of people have chosen to follow him versus God,or they choose to live lives with no religion at all in it, in which, they are still siding with the enemy…if satan has in fact lured more people to his side, wouldnt this mean, he is winning this ‘war for souls’…?? seems logical to me.
However I do think its very odd that satan is viewed as the ‘enemy’ of God, and yet, in modern times, it appears like he has ’ won over’ the majority of people, and/or majority of people have chosen to follow him versus God,or they choose to live lives with no religion at all in it, in which, they are still siding with the enemy…if satan has in fact lured more people to his side, wouldnt this mean, he is winning this ‘war for souls’…?? seems logical to me.
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truetofaith
Guest
What is so hard to understand?
Lucifer, because of pride, refused to serve God and was banished from heaven to the earth, along with 1/3 of the angels who thought his way was better than God’s.
In the dictionary, satan ( Hebrew ) means ‘adversary’ so that explains he is not a co-worker with God but the enemy of God!
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Timothysis
Guest
It is a good use of one’s time to go to wikipedia.com and read the articles about Satan and Lucifer and the understanding of them by different religions. Much of what we think we know about Satan comes from Islam and much of the rest is simply myth or folklore. The article on Lucifer is particularly enlightening, as lucifer was simply a latin translation that ended up becoming a proper name much like “Christ” in Jesus Christ. I have always found it interesting how the mention of “lucifer” in the book of Isaiah, which is so obviously referencing the king of Babylon, has somehow been twisted into an account of the fall of Satan. Jesus said that he saw Satan fall from heaven but declines to give any specifics about the matter. The fact is, there is very little that can be said with any degree of certainty on the subject.
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MtnDwellar
Guest
It is hard to understand. We try to apply human constructs, such as time, while contemplating spiritual events. My meager understanding is that Satan is our adversary, not God’s adversary. The war against Satan is over. Christ won. We fight the war every day,
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