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Important Note so that there is no confusion:
God is light in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). God is Holy and is not capable of directly creating evil, or doing evil, or taking any kind of pleasure in evil. God is the very embodiment of all that is good and loving. God created all things in the beginning for His good pleasure. The Lord our God merely allowed for the existence of evil to come into the universe thru free willed beings so as to give Him the glory, honor, and power.
God is light in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). God is Holy and is not capable of directly creating evil, or doing evil, or taking any kind of pleasure in evil. God is the very embodiment of all that is good and loving. God created all things in the beginning for His good pleasure. The Lord our God merely allowed for the existence of evil to come into the universe thru free willed beings so as to give Him the glory, honor, and power.
For His Good Pleasure:
Justification:
(Jesus was manifested to destroy the devil's works):
Jesus is our Savior and the Love of our Life:
For evil (i.e. the devil's kingdom) only exists because God wanted true love or beings who would choose to love Him of their own free will.
- (a) Jesus is the author of our faith when we respond to the drawing of His grace; So Christ (God) saves us from our iniquity or wicked ways when we repent of our sins and accept Him; Being saved not on the basis of our righteousness but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
- (b) Jesus destroys the works of the devil in our old life by translating us from the dark kingdom of the devil into the glorious good kingdom of God.
- (c) We are no longer a slave to sin and we are born again spiritually and are given a new heart by God with new desires to please the Lord.
- (d) For where we once loved ourselves and sin, we now love Jesus and His good ways because He loved us so much to die in our place for our sins upon the cross. He had risen from the grave to give us a new love focused filled life in Him.
Sanctification:
(Jesus was manifested to destroy the devil's works):
Jesus is our Helper and Friend:
For evil (i.e. the devil's kingdom) might trip up a believer on occasion with sin; However, the Lord is merciful and good and helps a believer to get back up and to walk in His good ways. He is a friend and will listen to them and their struggle with desiring to overcoming sin.
- (a) Jesus is also the perfecter of our faith whereby we allow Him to do the good work within us. We are not saved by works in and of themselves but true faith (or a good tree) will always prove itself to be true by allowing Spirit directed works (or good fruit) to flow within our life.
- (b) We are happy to continue to live out our faith. For we know that without faith it is impossible to please Him; And whatever is not of faith is sin.
- (c) If we slip up into sin (on occasion), we have an advocate named Jesus Christ whereby we can confess our sins and be cleansed of all unrighteousness.
- (d) We are being perfected in being conformed to the image of Christ. We are glorifying God's righteousness thru our lives. For man was created in God's image and we are to conform to Christ's image, who is God.
Glorification:
(Jesus was manifested to destroy the devil's works):
Jesus is our Sovereign Lord and Conquering King:
For evil (i.e. the devil's kingdom) is put under His feet and crushed once and for all. All evil will be eradicated and destroyed. It will be conquered.
- (a) Jesus is finally the finisher of our faith and He will deliver us from this body of death in the resurrection (And by taking us to an incorruptible Kingdom of God).
- (b) Jesus will deliver us from this sinful world (By taking us to an incorruptible Kingdom of God).
- (c) Jesus will destroy all forms of darkness and sin (i.e. the devil's kingdom) whereby we will no longer be tempted. Good will win over evil in the End and God will be glorified in being the Victor. For one cannot be the Victor or a Conquerer without an enemy to be conquered. Now, does this mean that God created an adversary who would be greater than Him so as to be a true threat to Him personally? No, most certainly not. For God is sovereign over all His creation. What this means is that God allowed an adversary to exist so as to test or purify His people by faith; Whereby they would trust in Him to be their Victor and Conquerer. Only in this way did God create an enemy for Himself. An enemy that would try His people (i.e. His prized possession) so that they would trust in Him for all forms of Victory within their lives.
So what are the reason(s) for the existence of evil? (or):
How does evil glorify God?
- (a) True love exists because of it.
- (b) God's creation (Man) can truly value the Light by contrasting it with the Dark by how the Light (God) has helped them to overcome their darkness or sin.
- (c) God and His goodness is able to conquer over that which is evil once and for all (Being the Lord and Victor over all things). God created an adversary so as to test His people so that they would trust in Him for all forms of victory within their lives.
Genesis 50:20
"But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive."
Romans 8:28
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
My speculation is that God is not sweatin' him. I have learned not many will listen to me if I say that "there is something the matter with that guy," but find I don't have to say anything if I let them see for themselves, especially if they have shown any doubt in my word. So, then, when they come to me saying, "that guy is off" then maybe they will believe me when I tell the next thing.
"New age Satan"? Lol! We've been believing in mainstream teachings for 1000's of years. Where has that gotten us? Nothing but the grave! You all need to simply let go of what is killing us! That day will not come unless it be a falling away first and the man of sin revealed. This means that all will realize that they were their only enemies all along. Again I say we can end all poverty, starvation, sickness and homelessness NOW! What's stopping this from happening? Us or some spirit being in the sky that will suddenly swoop down and make sure we get with his program??
#Letskeepitsimple
#Letskeepitsimple
B
Hi Elect
An excellent question as we see so much suffering around us today. To understand why, I would like you to first imagine a classroom with a teacher and his students. The teacher solves a difficult problem on the board and but one of the students tells the teacher and class that he has a better way of doing it than the teacher, should that teacher tell him to keep quiet and just listen? Well if the teacher did do that, the whole classroom would wonder if the student could or couldn't and may lose respect for the teacher thinking that he was too scared or proud. If the teacher however knows he is right and gives the student a chance to try, it shows the classroom afterwards that the teacher did have the best way not the student.
Similar to this, Satan challenged God's sovereignty by calling him a liar and trying to withhold good from his subjects and said that mankind would be better off ruling itself. This is shown in Genesis 3:2-5 [SUP]2[/SUP]At this the woman said to the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. [SUP]3 [/SUP] But God has said about the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden:+ ‘You must not eat from it, no, you must not touch it; otherwise you will die.’” [SUP]4 [/SUP] At this the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die.+ [SUP]5 [/SUP] For God knows that in the very day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and bad.”
Why, though, has God allowed suffering to go on for so long? And why does he not prevent bad things from happening? Well, consider two things that the teacher in our illustration would not do. First, he would not stop the rebel student from presenting his case. Second, the teacher would not help the rebel to make his case. Similarly, consider two things that God has determined not to do. First, he has not stopped Satan and those who side with him from trying to prove that they are right. Allowing time to pass has thus been necessary. In the thousands of years of human history, mankind has been able to try every form of self-rule, or human government. Mankind has made some advances in science and other fields, but injustice, poverty, crime, and war have grown ever worse. Human rule has now been shown to be a failure.Second, God has not helped Satan to rule this world. If God were to prevent horrible crimes, for instance, would he not, in effect, be supporting the case of the rebels? Would God not be making people think that perhaps humans can govern themselves without disastrous results? If Jehovah were to act in that way, he would become party to a lie. However, “it is impossible for God to lie.”—Hebrews 6:18.
What, though, about all the harm that has been done during the long rebellion against God? We do well to remember that God is almighty. Therefore, he can and will undo the effects of mankind’s suffering. In Revelation 21:4, it speaks about God removing all the suffering and pain we see around us, which will happen extremely soon.
Remember that God also gave us a beautiful gift of having free will and not creating us like robots that must obey him. Just like a loving parent, he wants us to love him not be afraid of him. God created Adam and Eve to live forever and fill the earth. Although they disobeyed him, Gods purpose never changes and so the earth has been filled and the bible speaks about a time that certain ones will go to Heaven but a great crowd will also live forever but on earth.
I hope this answered your questions. If you have any more please feel free to inbox me
An excellent question as we see so much suffering around us today. To understand why, I would like you to first imagine a classroom with a teacher and his students. The teacher solves a difficult problem on the board and but one of the students tells the teacher and class that he has a better way of doing it than the teacher, should that teacher tell him to keep quiet and just listen? Well if the teacher did do that, the whole classroom would wonder if the student could or couldn't and may lose respect for the teacher thinking that he was too scared or proud. If the teacher however knows he is right and gives the student a chance to try, it shows the classroom afterwards that the teacher did have the best way not the student.
Similar to this, Satan challenged God's sovereignty by calling him a liar and trying to withhold good from his subjects and said that mankind would be better off ruling itself. This is shown in Genesis 3:2-5 [SUP]2[/SUP]At this the woman said to the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. [SUP]3 [/SUP] But God has said about the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden:+ ‘You must not eat from it, no, you must not touch it; otherwise you will die.’” [SUP]4 [/SUP] At this the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die.+ [SUP]5 [/SUP] For God knows that in the very day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and bad.”
Why, though, has God allowed suffering to go on for so long? And why does he not prevent bad things from happening? Well, consider two things that the teacher in our illustration would not do. First, he would not stop the rebel student from presenting his case. Second, the teacher would not help the rebel to make his case. Similarly, consider two things that God has determined not to do. First, he has not stopped Satan and those who side with him from trying to prove that they are right. Allowing time to pass has thus been necessary. In the thousands of years of human history, mankind has been able to try every form of self-rule, or human government. Mankind has made some advances in science and other fields, but injustice, poverty, crime, and war have grown ever worse. Human rule has now been shown to be a failure.Second, God has not helped Satan to rule this world. If God were to prevent horrible crimes, for instance, would he not, in effect, be supporting the case of the rebels? Would God not be making people think that perhaps humans can govern themselves without disastrous results? If Jehovah were to act in that way, he would become party to a lie. However, “it is impossible for God to lie.”—Hebrews 6:18.
What, though, about all the harm that has been done during the long rebellion against God? We do well to remember that God is almighty. Therefore, he can and will undo the effects of mankind’s suffering. In Revelation 21:4, it speaks about God removing all the suffering and pain we see around us, which will happen extremely soon.
Remember that God also gave us a beautiful gift of having free will and not creating us like robots that must obey him. Just like a loving parent, he wants us to love him not be afraid of him. God created Adam and Eve to live forever and fill the earth. Although they disobeyed him, Gods purpose never changes and so the earth has been filled and the bible speaks about a time that certain ones will go to Heaven but a great crowd will also live forever but on earth.
I hope this answered your questions. If you have any more please feel free to inbox me
P
So now I am curious, and must ask: If you don't believe the bible why are you on this site?
Job 1:6,7 "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
Mark 1:13 "And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him."
You think satan was in Christ's very mind? Really????
Job 1:6,7 "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
Mark 1:13 "And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him."
You think satan was in Christ's very mind? Really????
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