God sending 'evil spirits'

[Charlotte408]

Hi everyone! I did several searches on CAF for something on these verses, but to no avail - so thank you very much for your time I understand the answer will probably be somewhat obvious to a person more well educated in their faith.

I’m troubled by these passages, because I have the understanding that God is love, pure, good…only good things can come from Him. I understand that sometimes this LOVE comes in a form of discipline…like any good Father who would set boundaries and reprimands His children for crossing them.

So here they are:

1 Samuel 16
14 Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him. 15 Saul’s servants then said to him, “Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you.

and

Judges 9:23
Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech…

Am I nitpicking on the ‘an evil spirit from the Lord’ or ‘God sent an evil spirit’? Just looking for some insight on how God could send an evil spirit if the evil spirits are with and working for the evil one. Thank you all as always, Pax

 

[Iotaunum]

When the Scriptures say “from God” or “from the Lord” in this context we understand this to mean “by divine permission”. That is, it is not God Himself who acts in an evil way to people, but rather He withdraws his protection and mercy to an extent as a punishment for evil done against Him. Thus, the demons and evil spirits are free to attack the evildoer to a greater extent. God never fully withrdaws His protection, or else the demons would kill a person - so even in this punishment God still exercises His divine mercy.

In the context of Judges, the evil spirit is one of discord, which God allows as a punishment for sin.

It is very easy to misunderstand and think that God has done us wrong somehow, or even acted in an evil way when permitting such as this - especially in this day and age when the rights of man are proclaimed. Some of the rights of man are, however, forgotten by people today: one being the right to eternal damnation. It is only the mercy and gift of God that we recieve forgivness, mercy, protection etc. If He withdraws this from us, He certainly does not do us wrong. He does not owe us anything. The evil spirits would attack us all more strongly, but for the mercy and protection of God.

 

[Charlotte408]

When the Scriptures say “from God” or “from the Lord” in this context we understand this to mean “by divine permission”. That is, it is not God Himself who acts in an evil way to people, but rather He withdraws his protection and mercy to an extent as a punishment for evil done against Him. Thus, the demons and evil spirits are free to attack the evildoer to a greater extent. God never fully withrdaws His protection, or else the demons would kill a person - so even in this punishment God still exercises His divine mercy.

In the context of Judges, the evil spirit is one of discord, which God allows as a punishment for sin.

It is very easy to misunderstand and think that God has done us wrong somehow, or even acted in an evil way when permitting such as this - especially in this day and age when the rights of man are proclaimed. Some of the rights of man are, however, forgotten by people today: one being the right to eternal damnation. It is only the mercy and gift of God that we recieve forgivness, mercy, protection etc. If He withdraws this from us, He certainly does not do us wrong. He does not owe us anything. The evil spirits would attack us all more strongly, but for the mercy and protection of God.

LOVE the perspective and thank you! My cousin and I are discussing it over coffee as I type…

 

[qOLOp]

LOVE the perspective and thank you! My cousin and I are discussing it over coffee as I type…

The Book of Job is a really good one for your discussion. When reading it you can see that the devil needs divine permission before he is allowed to tempt Job. You will also see that the devil doesn’t do anything to Job except try and make him despair in his faith. A lot of Christians today think there is this duality in powers between God and Satan like it’s some sort of football game between the two. Satan has no power except what God permits him to have, which is very little. The devil is nothing but a sore loser.

 

[Charlotte408]

The Book of Job is a really good one for your discussion. When reading it you can see that the devil needs divine permission before he is allowed to tempt Job. You will also see that the devil doesn’t do anything to Job except try and make him despair in his faith. A lot of Christians today think there is this duality in powers between God and Satan like it’s some sort of football game between the two. Satan has no power except what God permits him to have, which is very little. The devil is nothing but a sore loser.

We are reading C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters right now. We’ll go to the park, lay down, read letters to eachother - and discuss them. It’s really nice to read scripture or even a good, philosophical book with a friend and discuss/reflect how these things work in our own lives, how they come into play. Thanks for your recommendation, soon as we wrap up these last few letters we’ll make a point to read the book of Job one time over for you, friend. Pax

 

[pablope]

The Book of Job is a really good one for your discussion. When reading it you can see that the devil needs divine permission before he is allowed to tempt Job. You will also see that the devil doesn’t do anything to Job except try and make him despair in his faith. A lot of Christians today think there is this duality in powers between God and Satan like it’s some sort of football game between the two. Satan has no power except what God permits him to have, which is very little. The devil is nothing but a sore loser.

The Book of Job is indeed a good example of when God permits something to bring good out of it.

In the lives of some of the saints, the devil was permitted by God to attack them, but it was for a greater purpose. It was to bring them closer to Himself, test their faith in Him, and to give them sanctifying grace. Some saints, who you might want to read or research further, who were attacked are Padre Pio, St. Gemma Galgani, St. John Vianney.

 

[Paul_theApostle]

The evil spirits also needed permission to enter the pigs when they came out of the possessed man in the Gospels.

They asked Jesus to send them into the pigs ,and Jesus said “go!” and the pigs ran off the cliff and drowned.