Mythra Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 This is an interesting idea and one I've thought about before as well. Christians typically talk about temptation coming from three sources: Satan, the World, or your own sinful flesh. The Bible talks about Satan roaming around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. The story of Job may be an example. He is a Liar, the Deceiver, the Tempter. How does this idea of Satan controlling the world system, attacking believers, possessing some, and tempting others fit into the construct of Satan as a created being? Surely if he can do all that he would be omnipotent and omniscient, right? But only God has those characteristics. Theologians call them incommunicable attributes of God, that is, only God possesses them. How can one finite, created being (Satan) be all over the planet getting into people's minds and tempting them to evil? Mr. Satan received a promotion. It occurred very near the time that the hebrews were exposed to the ideas of Persian Zoroastrianism at the end of the Babylonian Captivity. (586-539 bce.) Purely a coincidence, I'm sure. But by the Hellenistic era, Zoroastrianism had already developed its doctrine of "cosmic dualism" - the idea that the entire Universe is a battlefield between the One Good God, Ahura Mazda, and the separate Spirit of Evil, Ahriman. This view of dualism is a symbolic transformation, and an expansion, of the more psychologically based teaching of Zarathushtra that good and evil are ethical choices and states of mind. http://www.pyracantha.com/Z/zjc3.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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