What is Satan and how does he influence my life?

[mee]

Serving God and others because we hope to gain something from it is just capitalism turned into religion. We invest now in hopes we get more later. To be bluntly honest, I think it cheapens faith and God.

GODS will for our day includes having the good news of the Kingdom declared in all the earth so that ‘all sorts of men may come to an accurate knowledge of truth.’ (1 Timothy 2:4; Matthew 24:14; 28:19, 20)


and those who are involved in that great work love God with all their hearts .

and they want to do things inline with Gods purpose, and the making known about the KINGDOM, and its reigning king JESUS CHRIST is being made known matthew 24;14



And the great crowd that are working inline with Gods purpose all have their symbolic palm branches waving around revelation 7;9-10



And it is these ones that will survive the future GREAT TRIBULATION revelation 7;14



Yes God has a purpose, and it is to gather this GREAT CROWD togeather in unity and they are all doing the will of God .



and for mee i do not think it cheapens God , it shows that HE CAUSES TO BECOME

 

[Marsh]

having the correct understanding of just what the bible really teaches, aids to our correct understanding

people who think that litral people are going into a litral abyss
are influenced by false religious teachings, which in turn are influenced by the original great deciever satan the devil.

while Satan is in the abyss, all the earth will become a paradise

Speaking of false religious teachings, here's one. The Earth is certainly not going to become a paradise during that thousand years; the Bible says no such thing.

7When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves.

Does that sound like the whole Earth becomes a paradise, Mee?

 

[Faithfulservant]

yes! theres going to be a lot of work rebuilding this earth. But we wont get tired or hungry or sad or sick or old. There wont be thorns and thistles to impede and no more birthing pangs. It will just be satisfying.

I feel like a little kid yearning for Christmas morning to come..

 

[mee]

Speaking of false religious teachings, here's one. The Earth is certainly not going to become a paradise during that thousand years; the Bible says no such thing.



Does that sound like the whole Earth becomes a paradise, Mee?

After the 1000 years mankind will be perfect just like Adam was ,and it will be at that time that satan is let loose again, and he will try to get perfect mankind into doing his will in some way, but we can rest asured that eventually that old deciever satan the devil will go into that symbolic lake of fire in the end , and that lake of fire is not going to let him out again he will be gone for good .


then all those left on the earth will be living just the way JEHOVAH wants us too.


notice that at the end of revelation 20;3 it says

After these things he must be let loose for a little while.

so after the 1000 years when mankind has been brought back to perfection he will be let loose FOR A LITTLE WHILE

 

[mee]

yes! theres going to be a lot of work rebuilding this earth. quote]



Very true ,and the gathering of a great crowd that will survive the soon GREAT TRIBULATION are already being gathered,
revelation 7; 9-10,14.
And they are all being taught JEHOVAHS ways , even right NOW they have already beaten their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears, and they do not learn war anymore and they are from all nations , they are all willing to be instructed by JEHOVAH .


And it must occur in the final part of the days [that] the mountain of the house of Jehovah will become firmly established above the top of the mountains, and it will certainly be lifted up above the hills; and to it peoples must stream. 2 And many nations will certainly go and say: “Come, YOU people, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will instruct us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Zion law will go forth, and the word of Jehovah out of Jerusalem. 3 And he will certainly render judgment among many peoples, and set matters straight respecting mighty nations far away. And they will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. They will not lift up sword, nation against nation, neither will they learn war anymore. 4 And they will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making [them] tremble; for the very mouth of Jehovah of armies has spoken [it]. micah 4;1-4





And that good instruction will go on into the paradise earth . and they are all willing to be instructed, and they are all going up that symbolic mountain
because it is elavated worship going on up there and they are all saying COME let us go up

 

[DoubtingThomas]

I do not believe “satan” has any control over our lives nor do I believe “god” has any control. We as humans have always used a supernatural being to explain unexplainable things. At one point in history earthquakes were attributed to god’s anger yet now we know earth quakes are a result of tectonic plate movements. The Black Plague was attributed to the supernatural and thousands of people went to the catholic church to communicate with god to save them; now we know that the plague was a result of living conditions. I have a friend who claimed that the hurricane that wiped out New Orleans was an act of god because of Bourbon Street. I think New Orleans was wiped out due to poor planning, poor construction, and sitting below sea level in an area known for getting hit with hurricanes. Which we all know are a result of weather patterns not an act of god. Someone dies unexpectedly and religious people claim it is the will of god. My question is if god cares so much why does he let the garbage go one that does?

 

[Saltmeister]

My question is if god cares so much why does he let the garbage go one that does?

Why should that be his responsibility if we have the power to solve the world's problems?

If God always intervenes, isn't that a way of spoiling a child?

I think humans have to accept responsibility for some of the bad things that happen in this world.

In the case of natural disasters and diseases, perhaps I should say, C'est la vie! That's life!

 

[citizenzen]

I'm with DT here.

God does exist as an unknowable force.

Man's forgivable mistake was to weave the myths that turned this unknowable force into what is worshipped today.

A less forgivable mistake is our continued clinging to these myths.

We should be smarter than that.

Or is that Satan's fault again?

 

[mee]

I'm with DT here.

God does exist as an unknowable force.

Man's forgivable mistake was to weave the myths that turned this unknowable force into what is worshipped today.

A less forgivable mistake is our continued clinging to these myths.

We should be smarter than that.

Or is that Satan's fault again?

Its good that we can take in knowledge about that true God,
John 17;3 and it leads to everlasting life


and then we can come to know him just like he wants us too
psalm 83;18


and i would have to agree with you that the unforgivable thing is that many cling to myths about God, and they know that it is a myth, but carry on doing it anyway .

And those people are even claiming to worship the God of the bible , but really they have taken on board manmade doctrines which are not inline with what the bible REALLY teaches.

And to make things even worse it is the religious leaders that are promoting the lie of myths.
so it is no wonder that people are being led down the wrong path when they listen to those who promote falsehood and not what the bible really teaches.

And make no mistake about it, people are not as smart as they may think they are.


And yes it is satans fault because he is the father of the lie , and make no mistake about it , there are many lies out there which are not inline with what the bible REALLY teaches.


people have been decieved in a very big way down through the centuries, and now in these the last days people think that the lie of falsehood is truth.





but no worries JESUS SHEEP WILL HEAR HIS VOICE

 

[citizenzen]

but no worries JESUS SHEEP WILL HEAR HIS VOICE

 

[Nick_A]

I'm with DT here.

God does exist as an unknowable force.

Man's forgivable mistake was to weave the myths that turned this unknowable force into what is worshipped today.

A less forgivable mistake is our continued clinging to these myths.

We should be smarter than that.

Or is that Satan's fault again?

Man on earth is a nullity that serves the same purpose of other animals on earth and the results are dust to dust. To become important enough to either requires a quality of awakening to reality. So why bother concerning yourself with anything that is not concerned with you as you are?

 

[citizenzen]

So why bother concerning yourself with anything that is not concerned with you as you are?

Probably because I don't possess the required quality of awakening to reality.

 

[Nick_A]

Probably because I don't possess the required quality of awakening to reality.

Agreed. When we are so full of ourselves there is no room for anything else.

 

[citizenzen]

Agreed. When we are so full of ourselves there is no room for anything else.

You do realize that you are a coconspirator, yes?

 

[DoubtingThomas]

Let us for a second assume that satan is a real being and that the biblical story of creation is correct-

Is it at all possible that religion is of his making? The bible states in Genesis 1:26 - 29 his reason for creating man. The reason was not to worship him but to care for the planet. What better way, for satan, to steer people away from thier true responsability to god by convincing them that they have to worship god in a specific place at a specific time.

 

[path_of_one]

Either way, it appears we royally screwed up in terms of our purpose in stewardship.

 

[shawn]

The Adam & Eve narrative has been derived from earlier Mesopotamian sources which described life under the rule of Custodial Gods.
The "God" or "Lord God" of the bibles A&E story can be taken to mean "the custodial rulers of Earth".
The story is entirely symbolic.
Adam and Eve symbolize the first people who were artificially created.
They lived in an abundant paradise, a garden.
They were deigned to be servants, their function was to tend the lush gardens and crops "owned" by the Custodians.
As long as they accepted their servant status and obeyed their masters, all of their physical needs would be met and they would be permitted to occupy this station indefinitely.
But there were conditions.
They must never seek certain types of knowledge.
Those forbidden forms of knowledge are symbolized in the story as 2 trees:
-the tree of knowledge of good and evil which symbolizes an understanding of ethics and justice.
-the 2nd tree symbolizes the knowledge of how to regain and retain one's spiritual identity and immortality.

When the snake (satan) presented his opinion in Gen 3:22 the passage reveals an important truth which is echoed in many religions, namely that a true understanding of ethics, integrity and justice is a prerequisite to regaining one's spiritual freedom and immortality.
Without a foundation in ethics, full spiritual recovery becomes nothing more than a pipe dream.
The Custodians clearly did not want mankind to begin traveling the road to spiritual recovery.
They wanted servants.
It is difficult to make thralls of people who maintain their integrity and a sense of ethics.
It becomes impossible when those same individuals are uncowed by physical threats due to a reawakened grasp of their spiritual immortality.
If spiritual beings could no longer be trapped in human bodies, but could instead use and abandon material bodies at will, there would be no more spiritual beings available to animate slave bodies (golems).
So the Custodians had to act.
The flaming sword symbolizes the no-nonsense approach the Custodians undertook to insure that genuine spiritual knowledge would never become available to the human race.
To further prevent access, additional genetic tinkering was effected to deal with humanities "original sin".
Material existence was made intentionally arduous and humans would have little time to seek out the understanding we need to become spiritually free.
This has continued through the millenia as we see that all the major "custodial" religions always seek to limit people's progress by restricting various kinds of specific knowledge.
Now why would they do that do you suppose???
For our collective betterment.
NOT.
The age old dilemma has always been that of slavery.

So the snake was really trying to liberate humanity, but failed and has been villainized ever since.

 

[mee]

its good to know that little lamb has a really nice shepherd to look after him . (JESUS)


and he will put him among the OTHER SHEEP JOHN 10;16
and it is a really great crowd to be amongst revelation 7;9-10

 

[Marsh]

After the 1000 years mankind will be perfect just like Adam was ,and it will be at that time that satan is let loose again, and he will try to get perfect mankind into doing his will in some way, but we can rest asured that eventually that old deciever satan the devil will go into that symbolic lake of fire in the end , and that lake of fire is not going to let him out again he will be gone for good .


then all those left on the earth will be living just the way JEHOVAH wants us too.


notice that at the end of revelation 20;3 it says

After these things he must be let loose for a little while.

so after the 1000 years when mankind has been brought back to perfection he will be let loose FOR A LITTLE WHILE

Yeah, I notice that it says that Satan will be let loose for a little while. I also notice that in no place does the Bible actually say that the Earth will be a paradise; that's something you made up. I also notice that the Bible actually says that the Holy City is going to come down from Heaven to Earth, and that the people of the Earth will walk by it's light, and that no bad people may enter it, but rather need to stay outside of it (where, as Jesus alluded to, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth). The question is, as you remain resolutely sure of yourself with no possible doubt that you or any other JW might not have it all figured out, have you noticed any of these things?

You're all mixed-up, Mee; you're cutting and pasting prophecy together in a way that does not fit in order to force it to fit the JW paradigm of things to come.

 

[Marsh]

Let us for a second assume that satan is a real being and that the biblical story of creation is correct-

Is it at all possible that religion is of his making? The bible states in Genesis 1:26 - 29 his reason for creating man. The reason was not to worship him but to care for the planet. What better way, for satan, to steer people away from thier true responsability to god by convincing them that they have to worship god in a specific place at a specific time.

He might have, but I chalk religion up to mankind. The ambitious among us always find a way to organize people into large groups, whether religions or political parties or trade unions. Religion was certainly not what God had in mind for us when he created us. God didn't want a temple; he wanted a tent. Jesus preached in Synagogues, but also on hillsides and in streets. Jesus certainly never tried to establish a central meeting place, but rather sent his disciples out into the world. Even communion as we know it today originated as a simple meal without ceremony involved.