Shouldn’t God have known that Lucifer would betray Him at some point? Either He planned for Lucifer to become the Devil, or He was blindsided by it all.
He knows the future so he knew.
So it was really kind of a crappy thing to do if you ask me.
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I recommend reading The Sandman by Neil Gaiman 22-28. It explores the idea of the Devil getting tired of his reign as Lord of Hell, so he locks the doors, hands off the key for safe keeping, and walks away. The rest of the story involves who should ultimately run in the place in the Devil’s absence.
I also recommend reading Lucifer by Mike Carey. It explores the idea of what the Devil does after all of that. Hint: it involves running a piano bar in Los Angeles.
The TV show Lucifer is NOT worth watching, no matter what elements they took from the comic. I think the piano bar and it being about Lucifer are about the only things that resemble the comic. I did stop watching after the first season. I see Netflix picked up a 4th season. I might have to reevaluate it later.
What do you consider “hell”? Catholic teaching is that is the lack of the presence of God. In other words, people choose an eternity with God, or an eternity without Him. What choice do you prefer?
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Some Christians slap English adjectives on their description of God that go far beyond God’s Biblical revelation of Himself. God tells us that He knows HIS plans from beginning to end. The Bible does not claim God knows every other person’s plans as well. The words omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent come with their own boundaries that some choose to ignore.
The Bible warns us not to create our own God. We can see the wisdom of this right here. The Gods people have created in this thread are ridiculous conjurings, worthy rightly of dismissal.
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My belief is that I will continually relive the exact same life that I’m living right now for the rest of “eternity.” During the in-between times I’ll have the full burden of the knowledge and emotional weight of the actions I did during my life, that I will also continue to do until the end of time, on the people closest to me and to those who my actions affected their lives even if I knew them not.
Some would call this hell.
Lol I mean…that’s the whole point
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Dodge city
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…and ye, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. Thy rod and they staff, they comfort me.
If The Lord Jesus abides in you, the devil is dead to you.
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Ha-satan is an office that serves God.
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How so?..
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The denizens of Hell need a place to receive the “punishment” they feel they deserve. There needs to be someone to serve as ruler and caretaker of such a place.
In the story of Job Ha-satan acts as a tester or a kind of prosecuting attorney to test Job’s resolve. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus called Peter Satan when Peter was arguing against Jesus resolve to go to his death.
On the other hand, note Jesus’ use of the word “devil” in John:
“You belong to your father, the devil , and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning…”
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A close look at Bible passages show that the words “ha-satan” and “devil” are used more as adjectives than nouns. For examaple, “ha-satan” is used to mean adversary, and “devil” is used to mean slanderer.
In the Old Testament we read that God stirred up an adversary (ha-satan) against David. In the New Testament, we see Satan used more as someone taking an adversarial position, while devil is causing slander and harm.
Jesus uses “fire” in two ways. One is where fire is a refining process (burning away the chaff) and one is what happens when sin takes hold (burning like in a city dump where the fire never goes out).
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You would think a God that is capable of poofing an entire Universe into existence in 7 days could make these things crystal clear.
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Maybe God doesn’t want to make things crystal clear? Maybe you’re supposed to think about it in order to better understand? What part are you unsure about? I would love to elucidate my “beliefs.”
I find it interesting how what Meri is saying doesn’t really oppose to my opinions on the topic… or at least I don’t think they have to oppose my beliefs.
65% of Americans, who go to church weekly, believe God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years.
So you believe God poofed an entire universe into existence in seven days?
I’ll share what the majority of Christians and Jews believe. The Hebrew word that modern English translates into “day” can mean twenty-four eras, or it can mean a long period of time. (Evidence of this is seen in other Bible passages.)
In other words, in the first era of creation, God created light. In the second era He separated the water from the sky. And so on.
In my experience, God seldom “poofs”. His most thoughtful responses to prayer can often take years. Yet, His timing is perfect.
We are all well aware, that a small, vocal group of Christians decided back in the 1970s that the Bible should be taken literally. Most of the faithful ignored them. But vocal atheists appear to delight in them.
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Right back at you! 
What you say don’t really oppose many of my beliefs, either. We may have a bit different perspectives, but then we are different people with different experiences.
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