Wayne Delia

And God does not come out in a particularly good light as a result. The entire book of Job is a testament to the main character's despondency and lamentations from the "pawn's" point of view. God ends up as the bad guy in the Book of Job, not even offering an explanation of why Job had to play the pawn role.

WMD

Rowantree

Quote:

Originally Posted by Book of Moses Chapter 4 5 And now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which I, the Lord God, had made. 6 And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world. 7 And he said unto the woman: Yea, hath God said—Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (And he spake by the mouth of the serpent.)

This debate was amusing so I was curious on the Mormon stance here. It seems Jo Smith was also a fan of the ventriloquist Satan. I wonder if he threw God off by drinking a glass of water while he was causing mankind to fall from grace. ^_^

Wayne Delia

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a very bad story to use as an example. God allowed Lot, his wife, and his two daughters to escape the shitstorming of the two cities, even though Lot offered his two daughters to be raped by a group of strangers in order to protect his houseguests, and following the firestorm, Lot's daughters got him drunk and had sex with their father, each producing male offspring, a kind of hybrid son/brother. Lot's unnamed wife was killed for simply looking back at her hometown being destroyed by a conflagration literally of Biblical proportions. And Lot was described in Genesis 6:9 as being righteous and blameless.

Bottom line, that story is all fucked up.

WMD

Rowantree

Quote:

Originally Posted by post tenebras lux But why does god allow the 'god of this world' to do this? I've asked this of you before, but I don't think you've given an answer (maybe there was a 'I dunno' somewhere).

How come everyone assumes God and Satan are either at odds or some other conspiracy? We know the Biblical Hebrew "hasatan" translates to "the adversary." This does suggest a contest or some kind; but could it not be that God, omnicient and omnipotent, created the hasatan to test his creations man and woman to see if they were worthy of him?

And though there is no definative correlation between Lucifer and the hasatan, would that not make even more sence since most traditions (other than LDS) say Lucifer was one of God's most trusted angel before the fall. And then would not that make even more sence why a third of heaven's angels, creatures supposedly created without free will, would "rebel" and leave heaven when God didn't give them the will to make that choice?

John A. Broussard

So you are saying that what the bible reports may simply be lies.

Am I reading you correctly?

John A. Broussard

But the descendants of Adam include the unborn and babies. How can you say that they are tempted by Satan, and then do and enjoy evil?

Please explain.

John A. Broussard

I've occasionally wondered how the soldiers determined which of the girls were virgins.

Though the bible is silent regarding that matter, rhutchin may be able to explain how it was done.

rhutchin

The problem we have is that little information is given to us concerning this event and that leaves many questions unanswered. Extrapolations beyond the text are always flawed given their nature as extrapolations.

However, people can still speculate and do so consistent with the information that is available.

John A. Broussard

That's a good point.

So one interpretation is just as good, or as bad, as any other.

How about deciding that the story is a myth with Adam and Eve just symbols about how god doesn't like anyone who disobeys his orders---whatever they may be?

Isn't that just as acceptable as believing there's a Satan who's a ventriloquist?

rhutchin

I do not see the contradiction (and you did not go into great detail about an alleged contradiction).

People do have the ability to distinguish between good and evil, but like many things, that ability can be corrupted by one’s desires. Hitler and Stalin do not seem to have seen their actions as evil while others would see only evil in their actions.