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I dont think anyone can say God created evil.. however he did create those with the ability..hence Satan. Free will is a bit of problem.. in its technical term. And of course this was before the Fall. Where everything changed.
However, we cannot say that God is only in control of some things and not others, he will control the actions of this or that. but not this or that?
I'l give you an easy example. Luke ch1.
Notice some of the people and their actions in the scene. Mary, Zechariah, Elizabeth and Simeon. Now read ch 1.. ask yourself are these people all acting with their own will.. and of course the anser is yes.... but wait a minute is it just a coincedence that this all happened and these key people where here? or did God ordain it would happen? that all these people would do as they did.. did God direct Simeon to be awaiting and praying for the arrival of the Messiah.
Anyhow, the bible is full of God sovereignly guiding History and events in history and yet people using their own wills to do these action in time and history. God controls even the breath of air you take He allows you to breath therefore ordaining that you do?
It could be said that Adam and Eve had Free will... whatever that means? but not so after the Fall your 'will' is tied to who you are.. this is important your will is who you are..you think of an action and you excercise that action..yet it will never be an action contrary to who you are.
So after the Fall, Humans are by nature enemies of God... so what is their will... remember we are moral agents..what are your morals when you dont love Christ? as a fallen moral agent can you choose what pleases God even though against your 'will'.
And this is also why God needs to change your heart because your 'will' is set against him..
So this comes back to the original point 1still is wrestling with here. No God did not create evil, however because God is in control of all things..he allows it to happen therefore he ordains it.. because if he did not it would not happen..
I know what you are saying 1still about the painting..but would not God have already known that they would paint the cat??? I find it very hard to believe if you said he didnt. Yet He Knew, he allowed it to happen and the painter thought he was acting from his own 'free-will'! Its a mind numbing topic.
I don't know if we should be saying anything about the ability of Satan not being able to create. Certainly not from the standpoint of having all power, all knowledge and omni-present, but from the standpoint of it being limited to the ability given to him when he was created by God. I am not saying this to be weird or strange but think of all what he did in heaven with a third of the angelic host in peddling his merchandise having corrupted his own wisdom. Think of the kingdoms he has established upon the earth to be able to offer them to the Son if He would bow down and worship him. The ability of being able to possess and transform himself into an angel of light, the possibility of angels having relations with the daughters of men, the possibility of being responsible for life on earth before the six days of creation in Gen 1, the ability he possesses to effect the weather, create and manufacture storms and use electronic impulse with all of its projections of supernatural stimuli as the prince and power of the air to effect people who have various weaknesses through the flesh. There must be some truth to this if we are instructed to resist the devil and warned not to be ignorant of or give place to his devices, who has the ability to shot arrows and fiery darts at the righteous and blind people's mind from the truth as the god of this present evil world.
When Peter was rebuked by the Lord no one but Christ discerned what was going on with Peter and He addressed and rebuked Satan. What I have been able to gather from this is that Satan did not possess Peter but was able to strain and utilize Peter's vocal cords to express his strategy through words in an attempt to keep Christ from going to the cross and fulfilling His mission as the Lamb of God. If another has an explanation for how this went down, let's hear it. Satan was also able to fill the heart of Ananias and Sapphira to lie to and tempt the Holy Spirit. Did not Satan also have the ability to appear as a serpent to the woman in the garden and speak to her in a very convincing and supernatural manner creating a powerful influence that deceived and persuaded a sinless women with no iniquity, no leaven, no deceit and no transgression on her account, to eat fruit that was off limits and to give to her husband putting him also in the transgression which ultimately brought sin into the human race through conception.
Think of the time and calculated energy and the supernatural gathering of facts and human wisdom that has gone into devising and implementing strategies in prevailing against the church and in creating an atmosphere and environment that not only rejected the Messiah the first time He came but also for the second coming with the rise of the ant-christ, the beast and the false prophet. There is not doubt in my mind that Satan is a master and creator of manipulation, of appearance and of counterfeit belief systems that oppose the living God. Remember that in the last days that some shall depart from the faith giving heed and place to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. All this comes of evil and our free volition in how we respond to the truth that is in Christ and will directly effect the measure that the church is able resist the devil and do the work it has been called by God through grace to do. To preach that a believer can lose salvation from God who purchased it with His own blood is an evil that has become a great leaven in the church and has been designed to occupy the mind of the believer with thoughts and things that are not from God. These must be purged out lest we forget that we have been purged from our sin by that blood.
When Peter was rebuked by the Lord no one but Christ discerned what was going on with Peter and He addressed and rebuked Satan. What I have been able to gather from this is that Satan did not possess Peter but was able to strain and utilize Peter's vocal cords to express his strategy through words in an attempt to keep Christ from going to the cross and fulfilling His mission as the Lamb of God. If another has an explanation for how this went down, let's hear it. Satan was also able to fill the heart of Ananias and Sapphira to lie to and tempt the Holy Spirit. Did not Satan also have the ability to appear as a serpent to the woman in the garden and speak to her in a very convincing and supernatural manner creating a powerful influence that deceived and persuaded a sinless women with no iniquity, no leaven, no deceit and no transgression on her account, to eat fruit that was off limits and to give to her husband putting him also in the transgression which ultimately brought sin into the human race through conception.
Think of the time and calculated energy and the supernatural gathering of facts and human wisdom that has gone into devising and implementing strategies in prevailing against the church and in creating an atmosphere and environment that not only rejected the Messiah the first time He came but also for the second coming with the rise of the ant-christ, the beast and the false prophet. There is not doubt in my mind that Satan is a master and creator of manipulation, of appearance and of counterfeit belief systems that oppose the living God. Remember that in the last days that some shall depart from the faith giving heed and place to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. All this comes of evil and our free volition in how we respond to the truth that is in Christ and will directly effect the measure that the church is able resist the devil and do the work it has been called by God through grace to do. To preach that a believer can lose salvation from God who purchased it with His own blood is an evil that has become a great leaven in the church and has been designed to occupy the mind of the believer with thoughts and things that are not from God. These must be purged out lest we forget that we have been purged from our sin by that blood.
Of course it originates in God, but not as a characteristic of His 'personality' (for want of a better word), more as 'part of the plan'.
you see, it takes us to sin to realise the true benefit of the way that my God wishes for mankind to be.
If there is no light bearer, there is no sin, there is no VISION of good and evil, there is no distinction. There is no 'I will follow of my free will'.
you see, it takes us to sin to realise the true benefit of the way that my God wishes for mankind to be.
If there is no light bearer, there is no sin, there is no VISION of good and evil, there is no distinction. There is no 'I will follow of my free will'.