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Thursday, June 26, 2014

Devil in the details

Don't worry, the Doctor tossed him into a black hole.
The Devil? Tell the truth? That's the silly question posed by one of Billy Graham's readers...
DEAR BILLY GRAHAM: Does the devil ever tell the truth? I guess that’s a strange question, but I got into something I was convinced would make me happy, and I was wrong. The only thing I can figure out is that the devil must have told me I’d be happy, and I believed him. — S.F.
I agree, that is a strange question. But mostly because the devil doesn't exist.
DEAR S.F.: If the devil were responsible for convincing you that you’d be happy doing these things, was he telling the truth? No, certainly not. Jesus warned, “When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

Even when the devil appears to be telling the truth, he isn’t, because his only goal is to turn us against God and trap us into doing his will instead of God’s will. Do you remember the temptations that came to Jesus? (Matthew 4:1-11) Every one of them sounded reasonable and very tempting, but their sole purpose was to turn Jesus away from God’s plan for his life.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/billy-graham/article568157/Billy-Graham-The-devil%E2%80%99s-promises-are-never-true.html#storylink=cpy
 The Devil can't lie? How do you figure? He allegedly ruined God's creation by telling Eve the truth about God's apparent lie...
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
-Genesis 2:16-17
Okay, so God says that eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil will cause you to die that very day. Then the Devil comes along...
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
-Genesis 3:4-5
And anyone who has ever read the Bible is already aware that Adam and Eve didn't die that day, and their eyes were opened to good and evil. So the Devil did tell the truth. In fact, it looks more like God was the one lying. Two further notes on this story... 1) Eve wasn't created (Genesis 2:22) until after God's command not to eat from the tree. But she knew about it when the Devil tempted her. So did Adam tell her? Did he convey the command accurately? 2) Is anyone else slightly disturbed by how concerned God was about finding out Adam and Eve were no longer naked? The first thing he does after finding Adam and Eve (post tree) is to question why they aren't naked and how they knew they were naked. He comes across as a sexual deviant that just sits around staring at Adam & Eve's genitalia all day...
 Does this mean Satan’s advice (however it comes to us) is always obviously bad or clearly evil? No, not necessarily. Sometimes he uses half-truths to deceive us; he may even promise us wonderful things. But such promises are never true. The Bible warns that at times “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
Except for the fact that in Genesis, he told the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth. In fact, I can't recall an example of the Devil telling a lie in the Bible... But it's ironic that Billy says that the Devil can't tell the truth. While in Christianity Satan = enemy/adversary/deceiver, that's not all it has meant. In one of the oldest languages (Sanskrit) older variations of 'Satan' actually meant 'truth'.
That's what I call irony!

Furthermore, 'Lucifer' means 'light bearer'. Again, this sounds the very opposite of sinister. If Satan is God's enemy, does that mean his enemy is actually the light of knowledge? If God's against knowledge, I'm against god. Simple as that.
Make it your goal to listen to God and seek his will in everything. Satan hates you, but God loves you, and his Son died on the cross to save you. Make the Bible, which is God’s Word, part of your life every day, asking God to use it to teach you his truth and help you do what’s right. And when you face decisions, always ask God to guide you.
God = total pervert
How is it Satan that hates us if God is the one that plans to send everyone to eternal torment in Hell? And if Lucifer was real, how would we know he is the bad guy? The only one who is saying he is bad if his supposed enemy. Not exactly an unbiased source. And even in the text that says that Satan is evil, Satan only kills around 10 while God kills millions. God sets an impossible standard that he knows no one will be able to meet and rejects you for failing to meet it, yet Satan takes you as you are. Sorry, but God sounds like to bad guy.

All that said, I don't believe in or follow the Devil. But it really makes me wonder how Christians that actually read the Bible don't strain themselves trying to perform the mental gymnastics necessary to consider the god of the Bible to be the 100% just and perfect hero of the book.


-Brain Hulk

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Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/billy-graham/article568157/Billy-Graham-The-devil%E2%80%99s-promises-are-never-true.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/billy-graham/article568157/Billy-Graham-The-devil%E2%80%99s-promises-are-never-true.html#storylink=cpy

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