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NASB | Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty (subtle, skilled in deceit) than any living creature of the field which the LORD God had made. And the serpent (Satan) said to the woman, "Can it really be that God has said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" [Rev 12:9-11] |
Subject: Who created evil? |
Bible Note: Do I have any ideas?? Do a river have water?? A friendly discussion on spiritual matters where we can agree to disagree and share one another’s perspective on a matter is alright by me. But if it’s answers that you’re looking for, you could find a better resource than the CurtMan. Here’s my belief on the issue: Over in Matt. 19:3-9, the Pharisees were questioning Jesus on marriage. They wanted to know why Moses allowed them to divorce their wives if divorce was not origingally in God’s plans. In verse 8 Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been this way.” For a lack of a better way to say what I want to say, I’ll put it this way. I believe that God has two wills. An Original Will, like how things were suppose to go from the beginning, and a Permissive Will, things He allow because of circumstances, like the hardness of our heart. Originally speaking, I do not believe that divorce was part of God plans. But because of our Freedom of Choice, because of our ability to make bad decisions, God allow certain things to happen for whatever the reason, and has already planned for them. I personally do not believe that God’s original plan was for Lucifer to do the things that he did. I believe that God had to have a plan in place for when Lucifer did do what he did. Careful planning is one of the many lessons that can be found in scripture. Take Pharaoh for example. That was planned, but was it part of God’s Origingal Will, or Permissive Will?? I personally believe that Pharaoh was part of God’s Permissive Will simply based on the fact that if you read that story carefully, you’ll see that Pharaoh played a part in hardening his own heart. God also played a part in hardening Pharaoh’s heart because His plan was to make a cold example out of the man, and He did just that. Neither do I believe that God hardening Pharaoh’s heart was a voilation of Pharaoh’s Freedom of Choice. He could’ve repented at anytime, God just knew that he wouldn’t. So while regaining His children from Egypt, God showed His children a very important lesson, ‘THERE IS NO OTHER GOD BESIDE ME’. All Pharaoh had to do was open his ears and listen to his counselors who tried to tell him that his arms was too short to box with the God of Moses. Figurtively speaking that is. Let me ask you something, if God, ‘raised up Pharaoh’ to be the way that he was and violated his freedom of choice, then according with all that scripture has to say or salvation; obedience; and rebellion, it would seem that Pharaoh’s punishment was unjust. “He couldn’t help it, God made him do it.” Also, if all this is true, then how do you fit James 1:13-16 into this idea?? |