I Never Capitalize satan

The Bible is very clear that God made both good and that which is evil. God Himself is not evil, but he made the scenario - on purpose - that would let 'evil' manifest.

"Thus G‑d created a world in which goodness and evil are equal options, and He created humanity with the freedom to choose." Chabad org

"I am the Lord, there is none else; I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil" Isaiah 45:6-7

“See, I [God] have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.” Deuteronomy 30:15

Rabbi Singer says it this way, "In essence, Satan is an agent of God, and has no free will or independent existence." He then discusses the book of Job and how satan had to ask God for permission.
Then he adds his thought about Christians : "They clearly grasped that a Bible which asserts that God creates evil, calls into question Christendom’s rigid teachings on salvation." OutreachJudaism org

The best interpretation, from the original ancient Hebrew, for good and evil is 'Functional' and 'Disfunctional'. Or it might be said that some things function for God's long term plan, and some things do not - and will not exist when it is all completed. mechanical-translation org

So what we all are stuck with is the creature called satan, or lucifer, or the serpent, or loser. 

? Why would God have such a 'being' that seems to cause so much trouble? Can't God just kill him? Most likely every human has asked this at some point in their life. 

Some thoughts :
1. God has light and darkness.
2. People love sports competitions also, two competing teams.
3. God seems to like the idea of twins.
4. Jesus had something to conquer : death hell and the grave and satan.
5. God likes to compare good and evil.
6. God has a plan that cannot be stopped.
7. God likes the concept of freewill for His Kingdom He is making. 

8. God tells some people things, and others He does not.

Those are just a small array of angles to ponder of why God would "create evil" as Isaiah wrote. Also, why a 'being' such as satan - is useful.

? But who, why, what, when, where, is this creature or being called satan?

Here is the simplest form of understanding my brain can handle :

1. God is Himself Perfect and Complete. He has no competitor. Humans cannot grasp who God is except for the teeny speck that God has shared with us during humankind's journey.

2. We know that God reveals Himself step by step to each person that desires it. He told Peter that "..upon this rock (of personal revelation) I'll build my church (called out ones) and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18

In my simple way of thinking, the 'gates of hell' are basically anything that is not by revelation from God. Those things that are dysfunctional to the future Kingdom.

Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

There are two methods that happen :
1. God reveals something to a person.
2. A person has their own idea.
Case and point : God revealed to Abel to sacrifice a lamb at the altar. However, God did not reveal anything to Cain who did the best his brain could do. Seems mean, but God knows what He is doing.

The tree of (knowledge) good and evil is a perfect symbol of how we humans think. It is always a mixture. It might be right, it might be wrong, it might be creative, it might be insane.
But the Tree of Life is consistent, it is always personal revelation from God.
God can say "I love you." God may write "I love you." But it is just words, and He knows that, until He Personally quickens it, makes it come alive, reveals it as real, to a person.
It is very personal. And to help us 'good and evil' thinking humans, God had it written down in the Bible so that we would not drift off the Template into our own fanciful revelations, blaming God for them.
The Bible is our Template, our balance, our Absolute.

So my simple brain sees it this way :
1. God put everything beautiful and wise and brilliant about Himself into a creature called lucifer/satan.
However, God would not give Him personal revelation.
2. Then God put what we call his simplicity side into .. let's say, Michael, just to have an actor in the scenario. However, Michael would get revelation direct from God.
So simpleton Michael gets revelation, and lucifer/satan only has his brilliance to draw upon. Naturally, satan eventually decided his ideas were better and more productive.

Case and point : Abel and Cain. Also Adam, who had revelation, and Eve who had to just believe what Adam told her. The serpent couldn't get to Adam. But he could get to the one that only had head knowledge - who satan immediately confused. Isaac and Ishmael. Jacob and Esau. Peter and Judas.

So it might be said that 'Good' is that which is revealed from God, harmonizes with the written Word, and is functional for the the main plan of the future Kingdom.
'Evil' is anything that is not revelation, regardless of its variety of being a 'tree of knowledge of good and evil'. It is dysfunctional for the main plan of the future Kingdom.

If God reveals to a person that ".. the just shall live by faith ..", nothing can move that. It is GOOD, it is functional, which makes it a solid rock and on the path and Plan of the future Kingdom

If someone says, ".. the just shall live by faith .. so just say amen and you know you are a Christian!" That is from the mixed tree. Dead letter with a lot a mardi gras tagged to it. EVIL, or simply not functional, or dysfunctional, which makes it waver with the wind.

So, in my understanding, satan is the fancy part of God represented in a 'being', and this 'being' is then deprived of revelation. It is quite easy for him and his hordes to play with humanity who are basically born from the womb the same way.

Remember, God only had Himself to work with. So He made a beautiful part, and a simple part. One gets no Life giving Revelation. However, the simple one does get the Life giving Revelation.
This pattern will never change until the Kingdom in the New Heavens and New Earth. 

Until then, God displays Himself in an unglamorous simple way. Abel/Seth's lineage sheep herders, Jesus in a manger, Jesus with no where to lay his head, uneducated disciples, ...
Matthew 5: [3] Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [4] Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. [5] Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. [6] Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

God deals with our heart by revelation.. and satan with our mixed tree brain. God made them both.

The three temptations of Eve, and of Jesus in the wilderness, show what the brain is drawn to :
1. lust of the eyes
2. the lust of the flesh
3. the pride of life.
That's as good as a human can do. That's as good as satan can do. That's as good as nature does. All animals take care of self, themselves. Humans are mammals, homo sapiens. We are the kings of selfies.  It is all quite normal and not always bad. It just won't guide a person to the 'functional' Plan of God and His future Kingdom.

It takes God to tell you personally in your heart what will be 'functional'.

How?
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6
or..
"God I need your help, I need you to guide me." And God will. How? By revealing Himself by revelation line upon line. This is Good. That was God in Jesus(Joshua) of Nazareth. This is Who entered the people of the day of Pentecost. This is the Tree of Life.

This is what I believe... comma,

T.H.Tatman
GodComma.com

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