If Satan tempts us, God allows it and is thus partially responsible

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hellopeople

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Here is my logic:

God is far more powerful than Satan.

Satan can tempt us.

God has the power to stop Satan from tempting us.

There is no way for Satan to tempt us behind God’s back, because God is all knowing.

So, if Satan exists, and he tempts us, God is letting it happen. God knows that Satan is tempting us and says “OK Satan, you can do that.” In my opinion, it is pretty much the same thing as God tempting us Himself, because he could stop it, but chooses not to do so.

Can anyone refute this logic?
 
God allows us free will.

We are tempted by many things, sometimes by Satan, sometimes by our own arrogance.
 
hellopeople said:
But God lets him tempt us, right? He does have the power to stop it, but does not.
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People have already given you the simple answer: Free Will.
Temptation is what tests people’s usage of free will.

It’s the thing that lets you choose which path in life you’ll take.
 
Lost_Wanderer said:
People have already given you the simple answer: Free Will.
Temptation is what tests people’s usage of free will.

It’s the thing that lets you choose which path in life you’ll take.
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So God permits Satan to tempt us to test our free will. Satan seems to have a decent relationship with God then to be honest.
 
Satan has a fixed will. Satan has been defeated by Christ, his head has been crushed by our Mother and satan will be cast into hell for all eternity.

Satan’s goal is to drag as many as he can into hell with him.

God is ever good and just.
 
hellopeople said:
So God permits Satan to tempt us to test our free will. Satan seems to have a decent relationship with God then to be honest.
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No. He uses Satan as a Free Will Test Dummy.

Let’s put it this way, Free Will is like a weapon and God is your instructor.
Satan is the dummy you use the weapon on.

If you use it right, Satan loses, if you use it wrong you lose. End of story.

It’s that simple.
 
Lost_Wanderer said:
No. He uses Satan as a Free Will Test Dummy.

Let’s put it this way, Free Will is like a weapon and God is your instructor.
Satan is the dummy you use the weapon on.

If you use it right, Satan loses, if you use it wrong you lose. End of story.

It’s that simple.
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So God is in cahoots with satan.
 
Without Satan there would be no way to tempt men to choose between good and evil. Since Free Will is God’s gift to us, we must have evil as well as good always before us as an option. In that sense God created Satan, knowing that Satan would be useful to us in the exercise of our Free Will.

But God is certainly not in cahoots with Satan in the sense that, like Satan, God wants us to choose evil.
 
kage_ar said:
Free

Will
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Yup. God could have made us robots who do everything He wants whenever He wants but He didn’t. He wants us to love Him of our own accord. WE made the choice to sin back in Eden. God didn’t stop us and God didn’t push us. God left us alone to make our own choice.
 
Satan wasn’t created as a tempter. Like all of us, he was created out of God’s love. Like all of us, he was given free will. He chose to reject God.

Also, Christianity isn’t dualism. God and Satan aren’t ‘opposites’, like Ahriman and Ahura mazdu. Satan is a creature.

Also, the battle is long over. God won. It’s not a question of satan trying to ‘win’; he can’t and he knows he can’t. All he can do is try, when each individual faces a moral question with his/her free will, to make ‘evil’ look good enough to ‘tempt’ the person.

Satan doesn’t really have power. Not in the way that God has power.
 
Tantum_ergo said:
Satan wasn’t created as a tempter. Like all of us, he was created out of God’s love. Like all of us, he was given free will. He chose to reject God.

Also, Christianity isn’t dualism. God and Satan aren’t ‘opposites’, like Ahriman and Ahura mazdu. Satan is a creature.

Also, the battle is long over. God won. It’s not a question of satan trying to ‘win’; he can’t and he knows he can’t. All he can do is try, when each individual faces a moral question with his/her free will, to make ‘evil’ look good enough to ‘tempt’ the person.

Satan doesn’t really have power. Not in the way that God has power.
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Personally I don’t think that Satan exists and any temptation that we have comes from within. Our temptations are a product of our own free will.
 
hellopeople

*Personally I don’t think that Satan exists and any temptation that we have comes from within. Our temptations are a product of our own free will. *

The Scriptures leave no doubt that Satan exists if you are a Christian, but especially if you are a Catholic who reads the Bible and knows about Christ’s encounters with demons.

Are you a Christian?
 
hellopeople said:
Here is my logic:

God is far more powerful than Satan.

Satan can tempt us.

God has the power to stop Satan from tempting us.

There is no way for Satan to tempt us behind God’s back, because God is all knowing.

So, if Satan exists, and he tempts us, God is letting it happen. God knows that Satan is tempting us and says “OK Satan, you can do that.” In my opinion, it is pretty much the same thing as God tempting us Himself, because he could stop it, but chooses not to do so.

Can anyone refute this logic?
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If this is what passes for ‘logic,’ God help us.

I hope you gain more understanding of theology in the process of hearing the many answers on this forum.
 
kage_ar said:
Satan has a fixed will. Satan has been defeated by Christ, his head has been crushed by our Mother and satan will be cast into hell for all eternity.

Satan’s goal is to drag as many as he can into hell with him.

God is ever good and just.
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I wouldn’t go as far as to say his will is fixed, but her certainly wouldn’t “profit” by doing good. It doesn’t matter what he does now, because he is doomed. He chooses to do it out of hate. He still can choose freely what and when and how he wants to accomplish things.
 
I wouldn’t go as far as to say his will is fixed…

Do you mean that he might repent and stop tempting us?
 
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