Why did God create Satan

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M.I. Knight:
Dear sean,

I think the question your asking is : CAn God create Satan and still be good if he knows that Lucifer will go to hell
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As has been said before, God created Lucifer, through Lucifer’s sin of rebellion he became satan.
God is always good, we cannot bleme him for creating Hitler, Stalin, Michael Jackson and all horrendous sinners, as he created them in love it is by our sin that we embrace satans ways
 
I do not believe that God is evil but the question still stands. We must try to answer this question because many atheist hold it.
 
M.I. Knight:
How can he still be good if he created Lucifer Sean?
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a) God created lucifer with free will, therefore he ramained free, and had a free choice. He chose to reign in Hell rather than to serve in heaven. It was a great act of love on God’s part, Because Satan could have chose to serve, and to have kept his life. Because God wouldn’t force Lucifer to choose him. It was of his own doing (satan) that was a result of his eternal damnation.

b) all these questions are food for thought, these aren’t meant to sway any of God’s faithful. I am completely in line with The Church, i do believe that i choose my ultimate end, and that God still should have created Lucifer (now Satan)
 
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CreosMary:
As has been said before, God created Lucifer, through Lucifer’s sin of rebellion he became satan.
God is always good, we cannot bleme him for creating Hitler, Stalin, Michael Jackson and all horrendous sinners, as he created them in love it is by our sin that we embrace satans ways
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I believe everything you say, but some might say that God knew that Lucifer would have gone to hell if he created him and it would have been better that God would not have created him at all (Matthew 26:24) How do we defend are faith from this accusation? Honest, misled people are accusing God.
 
What if God knew that Satan wanted to be created and wanted to go to hell. Does God have a right to deny his existence, if existence is a sign of love. Maybe fr. Frigilo is right. What if God loved Satan so much that he allowed Satan to exist and hate him because he loved him and he knew he had a right to existence.
 
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Sean.McKenzie:
why did God create satan knowing he would go to hell? if God wanted the best thingfor satan, it would have been better that he had not been created?just like it wouild have been better that judas had not been born after betraying God
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Okay, so after reading the plethora of other opinions and getting terribly confused with everything I figured I would take my uneducated stab in the dark. For simplicities sake we will say Judas is Satan. (“Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was a number of the twelve;” [Luke 22:3])

“For the Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” (Mark 14:21)

Now Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him, but He still appointed Judas one of the twelve. Why? To fulfill the scriptures and redeem mankind. “For the Son of man goes as it is written of him…” Without Judas would the Son of man have been betrayed? Would the Son of man have been crucified, died and resurrected? Would the scriptures have been fulfilled?

Judas’ betrayal played a very positive role in all our lives. Without the betrayal nothing would have occurred. Jesus would have simply died of old age or something else.

Now place Satan in Judas’ shoes. Satan plays the exact same role, betraying God. Could there not be the same good coming from Satans betrayal as Judas’?

I think that God knows what’s really best for all and He creates all things for good reason. Remember Matthew 13:29 “But he said, 'No; least in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.”

Keep in mind that this is all hypothesis, my uneducated hypothesis at that, so don’t let it bear too much weight. I hope I helped somewhat.

God bless.

(P.S. Satan isn’t in hell, not yet. He’s among us. “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deciever of the whole world–he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” Rev. 12:9)
 
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st_felicity:
This IS the crux of the question. I heard Fr. Trigilio on Web of Faith (I think) address this question once. I believe his answer was along the lines that it is better to have been created that to have never existed.

I’ve thought about it and I figure it is better because creation is an act of love–it is a gift–and either we can cherish that gift, or we can destroy it. But ultimately, it is a gift and there are no “strings” attached. God loves all His creations, and if He decided not to create us based on the choice we would make–it would not truly be a gift. When you give something away–you give up the control of that thing. God gave us the gift of existence and that in itself is good and an act of love–therefore better than no gift at all–regardless of what WE choose to do with it.
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st_felicity:
This IS the crux of the question. I heard Fr. Trigilio on Web of Faith (I think) address this question once. I believe his answer was along the lines that it is better to have been created that to have never existed.

I’ve thought about it and I figure it is better because creation is an act of love–it is a gift–and either we can cherish that gift, or we can destroy it. But ultimately, it is a gift and there are no “strings” attached. God loves all His creations, and if He decided not to create us based on the choice we would make–it would not truly be a gift. When you give something away–you give up the control of that thing. God gave us the gift of existence and that in itself is good and an act of love–therefore better than no gift at all–regardless of what WE choose to do with it.
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I think maybe you might have found something. Existence is a gift from God. This gift is also an act of Love. He gave us life and he gave us his love. Kind of like a gift wrapped inside another gift. However, I still have few questions I haven’t figured out. Is it better to recieve God’s love or not to recieve it? Obviously, I think it is better to recieve God’s love, but is it better to recieve God’s love and then lose it or not to have recieve it at all? Would God be loving us more by not letting us experience his love? God’s love is like a burning fire. It could either embrace us, purify us, or burn us. I don’t know the answer, and these questions are frustrating me. God help me find an answer.
 
sean

*why did God create satan knowing he would go to hell? if God wanted the best thingfor satan, it would have been better that he had not been created?just like it wouild have been better that judas had not been born after betraying God *

And it would have been better for Adam and Eve if they had not been created? And it would have been better if Jesus had not been born to endure the horrible suffering he did?

These questions go nowhere because the answer is self evident. God creates from his own free will and his own plan, and is not accountable to us for why he created anything or anyone.

Let’s just call it the Mystery of Creation.
 
Gilbert Keith:
sean

*why did God create satan knowing he would go to hell? if God wanted the best thingfor satan, it would have been better that he had not been created?just like it wouild have been better that judas had not been born after betraying God *

And it would have been better for Adam and Eve if they had not been created? And it would have been better if Jesus had not been born to endure the horrible suffering he did?

These questions go nowhere because the answer is self evident. God creates from his own free will and his own plan, and is not accountable to us for why he created anything or anyone.

Let’s just call it the Mystery of Creation.
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The trinity is a mystery. Does that mean that it is not worth studying, reflecting, and questioning this mystery. The early church fathers did this with the Trinity. Look at all the treasure they uncovered. The answer to their (The early Church Fathers) questions was self-evident (God is 3 distinct persons in one God(being), but not to Arius( and a huge population at that time). So, the fathers refected, studied, and questioned Arius’ non-trinitarian belief. They, also, did this with the Trinity. Eventually, they refuted Arius. The same is true for the mystery of Creation in our time. We have to mimic the Christians before us and defend our faith(Against atheists). Sometimes that includes self-critique of our own beliefs in order to strengthen it and refute the atheist.

God Bless you Gilbert Keith
 
“O happy fault, O necessary sin, that gained for us so great a redeemer!”
 
Catilieth said:
“O happy fault, O necessary sin, that gained for us so great a redeemer!”
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Amen!!!

What do you mean by happy fault and neccesary sin?
 
From the Easter Vigil…had not Adam and Eve sinned, God would not have “needed” to become man and shown us the great depth of his love for us. Christ would not have become our brother, our Redeemer.

What unfathomable goodness God wrought from Adam’s sin. That we should not just be his creatures (which is what angels are, what Adam and Eve were), but that we have become his CHILDREN.

To show us in a physical concrete way the depth of his love, to become one of us…perhaps that is why God created Satan.
 
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Catilieth:
From the Easter Vigil…had not Adam and Eve sinned, God would not have “needed” to become man and shown us the great depth of his love for us. Christ would not have become our brother, our Redeemer.

What unfathomable goodness God wrought from Adam’s sin. That we should not just be his creatures (which is what angels are, what Adam and Eve were), but that we have become his CHILDREN.

To show us in a physical concrete way the depth of his love, to become one of us…perhaps that is why God created Satan.
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So, basically you are saying: If Adam and Eve chose not to sin, we would not need a redeemer. We would not experience God’s love on the cross, if Satan did not tempt us.So, that is why God created Satan; in order to tempt us. Am I right? Or did I misrepresent you?

God Bless you, Catilieth.
 
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Sean.McKenzie:
why did God create satan knowing he would go to hell? if God wanted the best thingfor satan, it would have been better that he had not been created?just like it wouild have been better that judas had not been born after betraying God
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Mark 14: 21

In my oppinion, in order to answer this question, we must first interpret what Mark 14:21 really means? Does it mean that Judas is codemned to hell or something else?

If someone already interpreted Mark 14:21 in this thread, I am sorry for not skimming around enough. Also, I would like to apologize if my replys offended anyone in this thread.
 
M.I. Knight:
So, basically you are saying: If Adam and Eve chose not to sin, we would not need a redeemer. We would not experience God’s love on the cross,
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Yes, and many theologians throughout the ages have expounded on that very idea, and it is part of the Liturgy of the Easter Vigil Mass.

"So, that is why God created Satan; in order to tempt us. Am I right? "
More like knowing that he would tempt us,giving God the “opportunity” to pour out his love, even to his last drop of blood.
This part is speculation on my part…maybe one day I’ll be able to ask God the question face to face. 🙂
 
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ChiroCatholic:
Frank Sheed’s “Thelogy for Beginners” does a good job of helping explain this.

If my memory serves correctly, it has everything to do with us being “in time” and angels being outside of it. In order for a human being to fully possess him/herself, a lifetime must be lived out. Since angels are living outside of time, they “possess” their full self from the moment of existence. Thus, when an angel says “no” to God, it is with full consent of their full self. When man does so, we still have time to correct our mistake before reaching the end our life (at which time we will possess ourselves fully, and thus be judged).

As a side note, I think this theory plays well in refuting “once saved, always saved.” The fundamentalist says “I gave my life to God once, and now it’s a done deal.” The Catholic says, “I said yes to God w/everything I have so far, but it is not yet my whole self. Now I will say yes to God for the rest of my days, so that when I am fully myself, I can be judged w/fairness and mercy.”

Dianne

(Did I steer too far off track? lol)
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Is this anything but opinion?

An alternative opinion could be that the future doesn’t actually exist, that time is a human concept used to describe changing moments in existence, that the past exists only in our memory and the in the way past events effect the present. Our choices are truly spontaneous - giving them meaning.

If God knows our fate then we are predestined, at least indirectly, because he would have known our fate as he made us. Any choice we make then becomes meaningless, we are simply acting out a pre-programmed nature. What meaning does judgement have then?
 
cynic

Ask any child. As a parent, I may know that my child is going to disobey, be absolutely certain of it. Do I punish them before they disobey? Or is it meaningless to punish them after they disobeyed?.
It may even be that for minor infractions, especially when very young, that I would leave them in a position where disobedience was inevitable, so to be able to teach them. (for example, don’t touch that…knowing full well that they will, so that i can then correct and teach). Should I just correct them from the first before anything happens? or does the correction lose value or become unjust because I knew the outcome?
 
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