The Devil Repents?

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Hello all!

Was having this conversation with my little sisters this morning: Can Satan repent?

I said No: Satan was cast into Hell. Do the souls in hell seek forgivness? No. Because they have already chosen to say no to God by their earthly actions.

CAN GOD FORGIVE SATAN: Yes? But it goes against His nature?

Is Satan not given the opportuntity to repent becasue his repentance would throw of the “balance of good and evil?”

Thoughts? (If you could put your answer on a 6th-8th grade grasp level - my sisters would love you :D)
 
Perhaps this helps from Pope John Paul II’s Catechesis on Angels:
*In the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), the Church teaches that the devil (or Satan) and the other demons “were created good by God but have become evil by their own will”. In fact, we read in the Letter of St. Jude: " . . . the angels who did not keep their dignity, but left their own dwelling, are kept by the Lord in eternal chains in the darkness, for the judgement of the great day" (Jude 6). Similarly, in the second Letter of St. Peter, we hear of “angels who have sinned” and whom God “did not spare, but… cast in the gloomy abysses of hell, reserving them for the judgement” (2 Pet 2:4). It is clear that if God “does not forgive” the sin of the angels, this is because they remain in their sin, because they are eternally “in the chains” of the choice that they made at the beginning, rejecting God, against the truth of the supreme and definitive Good that is God himself. It is in this sense that St. John writes that “the devil has been a sinner from the beginning…” (Jn 3:8). And he has been a murderer “from the beginning”, and “has not persevered in the truth, because there is no truth in him” (Jn 8:44).*I don’t think the “balance” of good and evil comes into play. The fallen angels are in hell because, from a position outside of time as we know it, they rejected the eternal good––hell is the consequence of that choice.
 
All the Angels were once given the opportunity to choose eternal grace with God, or eternal damnation. The Angels were given very high intelligence, and given perfect knowledge of Heaven and Hell. Given this knowledge, most Angels chose God.

Some, however, chose evil, knowing they’d never be able to repent. These are now demons. Satan chose to be evil, and did so knowing he would be evil for all eternity.

As humans, we are given our Earthly lives as a time to choose salvation or damnation.

Those of us who choose God will someday die, but will go to heaven. Those who choose evil will go to hell. At the end of time, those who are in heaven will be raised from the dead, just as Jesus raised himself from the dead. Those humans who chose evil shall remain dead for eternity.
 
If Satan were to repent, I think God would forgive him. But the devil doesn’t want to repent. He knew when he chose to go against God that it would be permanent. Now the devil is in a place where there is no love at all. He isn’t even thinking of love or forgiveness. Only hate and vengeance. He hates the God and always will. I wish it wasn’t so, but he does due to his own free will.
 
To change one’s mind requires new information of some form. The fallen angels had all the information they would ever have when they made their choice.
 
Just to stress that Satan, and all the angels who fell, had perfect intellect. They knew exactly what was going to happen. So there is no possibly of repentance because nothing has changed, for them.

As humans our intellect and will are damaged from original sin. We think one thing one day and another thing the next. Our emotions cloud our judgment. That’s why we change our minds.

Not so for Satan and the others. They made their decision in full knowledge of its consequence.
 
runningdude said:
All the Angels were once given the opportunity to choose eternal grace with God, or eternal damnation. The Angels were given very high intelligence, and given perfect knowledge of Heaven and Hell. Given this knowledge, most Angels chose God.

Some, however, chose evil, knowing they’d never be able to repent. These are now demons. Satan chose to be evil, and did so knowing he would be evil for all eternity.

As humans, we are given our Earthly lives as a time to choose salvation or damnation.

Those of us who choose God will someday die, but will go to heaven. Those who choose evil will go to hell. At the end of time, those who are in heaven will be raised from the dead, just as Jesus raised himself from the dead. Those humans who chose evil shall remain dead for eternity.
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Those humans who chose evil will also rise, and then be in hell with their bodies as well as their spirits.
 
Angels are actually pure spirits. The word “angel” means messenger.

There was once a beautiful angel, in fact a chief angel, called Lucifer, the light-bearer.

He became very proud, despite the fact that he was only a creature. He wanted to be like God. Because of this, he rebelled against God, who is infinitely good. Many other angels were deceived by him and rebelled against God. In fact, they chose to hate God.

There was a war, described in the last book of the Bible, in which the chief angel Michael lead the angels who served God in battle against the rebellious angels led by Lucifer - who became known as Satan, which means “adversary”. Satan and the fallen angels were defeated. The Lord Jesus said: “I saw Satan fall like a lightning.”

There is no such thing as a “balance of good and evil”. God is infinite and omnipresent, and God is infinitely good: there is no evil in Him. So, while evil may seem to be more visible (like a loud noise is more “visible” than a soft tune), it is actually very, very small in comparison to the good.

The choice made by the angels who rebelled against God was a definitive one, because they weren’t like us: they were created to be perfect.

The rebellion of man did not arise from a free choice, but because the fallen angels tempted man to sin. Because of this injustice, Jesus (who before was purely spiritual) became man and came to save us. After He was born, every man feels inside his heart the desire to repent and to be with God. Some feel this desire more, others less. So all humans can repent, while alive.

After death, however, the last choice made by the person becomes like that of the fallen angels: a definite choice. He cannot change his mind. God will open His arms, but the person who chose to reject Him in life will reject Him and join the fallen angels. This is not what God wants, but because of our freedom we can do this, which greatly displeases Him.

This is the synthesis of the judgment: Christ came not to condemn sinners, but to save them. Those who are condemned, have condemned themselves. The apostle John wrote that this is the verdict: they chose to walk in the darkness.

Why does God, who is omnipotent, allow this? Because he made us free, “in His image and likeness”, not slaves, like robots. When someone is not your slave, but your friend, you do not force him to do or not to do something. If a friend argues with you and no longer wants to speak with you, you cannot force him to be your friend. All you can do is: remain his friend, invite him to return whenever he wants, and if he wants to be your friend again, accept his friendship.

I hope some of this sounds helpful :rolleyes:
 
Interesting-----this topic has always intrigued me. I just read a book on this topic and its actually called The Devil Repents,a great read. After reading this book I googled it and there is also a documentary coming out on the author of this book and the subject of the devil repenting. The authors name is Philip Garbarino…let me know what you think.
 
InternetWoman said:
Just to stress that Satan, and all the angels who fell, had perfect intellect. They knew exactly what was going to happen. So there is no possibly of repentance because nothing has changed, for them.

As humans our intellect and will are damaged from original sin. We think one thing one day and another thing the next. Our emotions cloud our judgment. That’s why we change our minds.

Not so for Satan and the others. They made their decision in full knowledge of its consequence.
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Well Adam and Eve made the wrong decision before the fall, so our intellect and will were obviously not perfect to start out with. They must have been less than angels but greater than us now.
 
poker10 said:
Well Adam and Eve made the wrong decision before the fall, so our intellect and will were obviously not perfect to start out with. They must have been less than angels but greater than us now.
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Adam and Eve knew that God loved them, and would provide everything they needed. Satan offered them something more, which they knew they didn’t need, but ate anyways. They were moved by greed and jealousy that God was with withholding knowledge of right and wrong.

Now that Human’s have knowledge of right and wrong, many choose wrong, just as Satan and the fallen angels did.
 
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