Posted on 05/07/2014 2:27:46 AM PDT by markomalley
Most of us take it for granted that Satan hates us. But why does he hate us? That question recently came up in my Our Sunday Visitor column. It is a very different kind of writing than I do here, in that it requires me to provide very brief answers. But I’m sure you sometimes appreciate brevity on the blog! Thus consider a brief post today on a mysterious question:
Q: In the sermon the other day, the priest said Satan hates us. It occurred to me to ask, why does Satan hate me, what did I ever do to him? – John Smoot, Bayonne NJ.
A: To be sure, there are very deep mysteries involved in the motives for Satan’s hatred. We struggle to understand our own human psyches, let alone trying to understand the psyche of a fallen angelic person.
However, an important clue to Satan’s hatred is contained in the third temptation he makes to Jesus in the desert. Showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world he says, “All these I will give you, if you will but fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:10).
Here we see the curtain pulled back, and we glimpse for a moment the kind of inner torment that dominates Satan. He seems desperate to be adored. He cannot bear that he is a creature and that there is another, other than himself (God), who is ever to be adored.
Thus in his colossal pride Satan hates, first of all, God. And by extension, he hates everyone and everything that manifests the glory of God. Even more, he hates those who seek to adore God rather than him. In his venomous pride, Satan seeks to destroy the Church, which declares the glory of God and reminds us that God alone is to be adored. Surely he hates and seeks to destroy those who even try to adore God, and who do not accord him, Satan, the worship and pride of place for which he ravenously hungers.
Hence, as the text from the temptation in the desert suggests, Satan is tormented by pride, and his torment is filled with deep hatred for all who worship God and all who draw others to the worship of the one, true God.
For blog readers I might also suggest several sources on demonology that I have found helpful:
An Interview with an Exorcist by Fr. Jose Antonio Fortea
The Devil you Don’t Know By Fr. Louis Cameli
The Deceiver – Our Daily Struggle with Satan by Fr. Livio Fanzaga
Nope. It is what it is.
I just don’t ascribe silly human notions to JHVH.
He/It created EVERYTHING. Including all the bad stuff.
Yes. 4 different versions. Awfully presumptuous of you to think I hadn't.
Tell me, why the apparent bitterness towards your creator?
I have no problems with JHVH. It's his adherents that give me headaches...
Either God created everything, including evil and sin, or he didn't.
I'm ok with the idea he created everything, including the icky parts.
Question is, why aren't you? Don't you have faith?
Thanks for verifying that you have no idea of what the difference between Redemption and Salvation.
Because we took his job away from him.
My theory is that he hates mankind now because of all of the leftists we keep sending him. Imagine the amount of times he has to explain why they’re in hell over and over to them.
I would add that the jealousy is in part due to the fact taht humans can reproduce our selves in the image of God as well.
Peter Kereeft did and updated version called the Snakebite letters. Both are very good.
"The degradation of it! – that this thing of earth and slime could stand upright and converse with spirits before whom you, a spirit, could only cower…He saw not only Them; he saw Him. This animal, this thing begotten in a bed, could look on Him!"
You are not the first person to have these questions. In his autobiography, Lewis discusses confronting this very issue. He answered it to his own satisfaction (and mine).
I'm inclined to consider very seriously the reasoning of a man who pulled off the "hat trick" of Firsts in Honor Mods, Greats, and English.
He did create all the bad things. He created both good and evil and told us which one to follow.
Why?
He’s a GOD. If you believe He is the one true God, do not question His motives.
JHVH isn’t all cute and cuddly. To pretend otherwise diminishes Him.
Who created a need for a Redeemer? Who created the need for salvation?
Some of these questions are a thousand years old.
I have found my own answers, but it’s like climbing a secluded mountain to find others at the top to greet you...
Well, that is finally something I can understand. God is a force of nature, while good and evil are constructs invented by us. Still, obedience to God coincides with His definition of good, I think. I happen to believe that all the good works of man are nothing in God’s eyes. And God’s goodness is as far above our ways as the sky is above our heads.
Yes, there are many insights in “The Screwtape Letters.”
Bayonne, NJ, same town where Rep. Barney Frank grew up and the home town of a future saint.
Q: In the sermon the other day, the priest said Satan hates us. It occurred to me to ask, why does Satan hate me, what did I ever do to him? – John Smoot, Bayonne NJ.
Ok, let’s try this again.
1)Have you ever read scripture, beginning with the creation of man?
Yes. 4 different versions. Awfully presumptuous of you to think I hadn’t.
**I presumed nothing. I asked if you had because the content of your words did not reveal any or much knowledge of scripture. One would think that if one had read 4 different versions and actually learned something, one would not be shaking verbal fists at God and besmirching His character.
2)Tell me, why the apparent bitterness towards your creator?
I have no problems with JHVH. It’s his adherents that give me headaches...
**Now your current words run counter to your past words. After calling into question the character of God, His goodness and His power, you say that your only real problem is with those that follow Him. Your earlier words give lie to that statement.
To whit:
a)**You said**So, JHVH is having a galactic sized belly laugh over our struggle...
That’s always bothered me.
**So, you are bothered by your view of Gods character, which you proclaim to be less than good.**
b)**You said**JHVH made the pain and suffering.
If you are saying that because he gave us a Will He cannot control, we suffer... Then you are either admitting that He’s less than Omnipotent, or has a sadistic streak...
**Now, the Lord is a sadistic pain maker. Really?**
c)**You said**God either made everything, or he didn’t.
This includes all the Evil in the world.
**Now JHVH is a maker of evil. You avoided my invitation to show me scripture, ANY scripture which shows God to be the author of evil. Any one verse would do.**
d)**You said**So, God made me to be as flawed as he is...
**I’ll merely say what scripture says. God created man in His image. Then, we decided we wanted to be something else, something even better, we wanted to be Just Like God. And we ate of that fruit. and now you want to point the finger of blame at God. Good luck with that.**
Reading some of your other posts in this thread, I would remind you that JHVH, the Lord that you are writing of is Holy. Not to mention Righteous. And even Good. No where in His word, which is ALL truth, does it even begin to perhaps put forth even a small beginning of an inkling that maybe, perchance, on a bad day, maybe when He was grumpy, that he decided to inject just a little icky sin just to have a bit of a belly laugh.
Your position is wrong, because it is not scriptural. Nor is it supported by scripture.
In fact, if we want to continue with things scriptural, I would say that what you are saying would only serve to cause confusion in the body of Christ. And, if you have read as much as you say, I think you know where confusion is authored.
Good day FRiend.
Verbal fists and besmirching?
Really?
Is Jehovah Omnipotent and Omniscient? Yes? Or No?
If yes, then he KNEW what He was doing when he created everything, including the capacity for and concept of evil.
If no, then He’s not a very good deity is he...
The rest of your disjointed post leads me to believe the latter answer from you. Your God’s a mighty God, but he is neither Omniscient nor infallible. He’s fluffy, and cuddly, and would never hurt a fly... He’d never create something icky like sin, we did that ourselves... Even though he created us... To be like him... But we’re not... ‘Cause of the sin thing...
Does that sum up your position pretty accurately?
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