Subject: Why does Satan believe he can win? |
Bible Note: Again, I do not find in the Bible that God created Satan and neither do the verses you cite affirm it. They may read that God created Lucifer. That he became evil and, changed in name and character, turned into Satan is not by virtue of his being created. If the scholars are correct that Ezek 28:11ff (along with Isa 11) refers to Satan, then notice what is written: "You ["Lucifer"] were once an example of perfection...your conduct was perfect from the day you were created" (cf.1-15a TEV). This is the description of the angel who is "Bright Morning Star" (i.e. Lucifer; cf. Isa 14:12) as created. God created him for good and not for evil; he was endowed with free will to choose what is good. At this point there is no evil. This angel maintained right conduct before God but only for an unknown amount of time; he maintained the very purpose for which he was created "until [he] began to do evil" (Ezk 28:15b). Satan created evil. There was no evil until "Lucifer" acted in rebellion against God (Isa 14:13-14 TEV). It seems to me that evil is not so much a thing that is created; it is an act that a free will being commits. Without the existence of evil beings there is no evil. As such, evil began with this rebellious angel; if one wants to say evil was created, then it was "created," not by God, but by "Lucifer". Therefore, to say, "God created Satan," is to say God created an evil being. God does not create evil beings; he may have allowed them to exist but he has not created them. Therefore, one may say, God created "Lucifer" but "Lucifer" created evil. |