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
Msgr Pope ping
Genesis 1:27. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
That’s why Satan hates us. Even his followers he will throw away when their usefulness is done.
Add to this the truth that God, who created everything, including the pure spirit nature of even the fallen angels, became MAN. THEN, that same God DIED so that Man might occupy a higher place in heaven than Satan or any of the angels.
In Satan's view, that's utterly contemptible.
(I recall in Malachy Martin's Hostage to the Devil his account of an exorcism where the fallen angel, speaking through the possessed, in its disgust for its human foes, calls them "shit canisters." That provides a pretty good idea what we look like to Satan.)
Satan,or HaSatan,actually works for God. It says so in Job. He can’t do anything without God’s permission.
HaSatan means ‘the adversary’. There is no reason to fear him because God is in control.
PRIDE or self-love.
Please post the scripture passage please! Thank-you!
Tombstone,,
Live It,,
No, Satan loves me. He loves me so much he will offer to give me whatever I think I want. He will work to fulfill my darkest desires and lusts. He wants me to become part of his dark domain and to lure others into it and AWAY from the eternal life salvation the Jesus offers my soul.
Satan’s is an evil love and I reject it for the true love of Jesus and His Father. Remembering, God, our Father breathed life into us, Satan did NOT.
Satan hates anything that glorifies or represents God.
The Family is one of those things.
And anyone that helps to disrupt or destroy the Family as God intended it is working for Satan.
Hear that lefties? Abortion, homosexuality, promiscuity, divorce.
Any of those things ring a bell, lefties?
Question I have is, are the lefties “tone deaf” though?
As another poster put it, though they don’t recognize from whence it comes, Satan is promising them all their carnal selfish desires, and fooling them into thinking they are serving themselves instead of him.
I believe that the reason Satan hates man is directly related to the same reason he and a third of the angelic host rebelled against God.
So I think the better question to ask is “Why did Satan rebel against God, AND... HOW did he convince a third of the angels to join him???
The bible says that iniquity was found in him... clearly, pride was the core issue... but we don’t really hear much about the details of that pride, or the objectives of his rebellion.
Consider for a moment the fact that angels were NOT created in the image of God... and yet they are far more powerful than man. I think that God revealed His plans to create man, and detailed out to the angelic host what THEIR role would be in serving mankind... guarding mankind... and that eventually, their position or status in heaven would be in a way LESS than that of man. (primarily because man is made in God’s image)
Therefore, I think that the reason Satan hates man is not just pride, but more specifically JEALOUSY... and this is how he was able to convince a third of the angels to join him.
Christ, Son of God, Son of Mary! Save us from these bodiless entities who hate us.
I agree with that. We’re all “dirt people” to him and beneath his type of being.
Genesis 2:7
“Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
Somebody, I can’t remember who, had a theory that the real war in Heaven was waged after Adam & Eve were created and God told his Angels that they were to serve us and help us.
“Somebody, I can’t remember who, had a theory that the real war in Heaven was waged after Adam & Eve were created and God told his Angels that they were to serve us and help us.”
I do think though it was before God created humans, that the war in the Heavens got started when the enemy said he would not serve God and this included those angels who sided with the enemy as well.
The clearest indicator of Satan’s handiwork is pride and vanity. When men proclaim that they are powerful and rule the world, or parts of it far greater than themselves, like the atmosphere, that is a reflection of Satan.
When Nimrod ordered the construction of the Tower of Babel, an edifice so tall that it would reach unto heaven, so that Nimrod could be “like God”, it was pride and vanity talking.
So, is Al Gore Satan? probably not, but he seeks to be infused with pride and vanity, so he has clearly bowed down to Satan.
Who made Satan? God.
God made a creature that hates us. Is jealous of us. And will fight Him, a futile effort, for control over us.
So, JHVH is having a galactic sized belly laugh over our struggle...
That’s always bothered me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.