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Since hanging around C.D, I've gotten a chance to get a few fleeting ideas about the beliefs of other other Christians who are NOT fundamentalists/evangelicals. Since I grew up in evangelical circles, I know what they believe about Lucifer/Satan. Many believe both are one in the same, Lucifer being his name prior to being kicked out of heaven during some pre-creation war OR at the beginning of creation and they gather this by putting a scripture here and there to create a picture. What I gather though, not all Christians hold this view, right? For those who do not believe Satan is Lucifer transformed into evil who was thrown down to earth, showed up in the garden of Eden to tempt out first parents and has since been the enemy of both man and God, what are your views as to where he came from?
devil literally means (from the Greek root words) "to cast down with words", ie: accuse
Neither is a formal name.
The serpent in the garden was obviously created by God and placed there by God (on purpose).
The purpose was to bring adversity to mankind and begin this entire process of living under the knowledge of good and evil/blessing and calamity.
The inborn predisposition of our human minds toward selfishness and hurting others is the result of that darkness being ingested into human kind, yet the imprint of God is still there (conscience).
So the kingdom of 'satan' is that which opposes us and causes us to oppose ourselves and is a spirit - a system of dark thought which is at the root of our lack of knowing and living under the influence of God's perfect freedom and love.
Through re-birth we can escape the power of the accuser, the power of the lies which we were made subject to. Ephesians 6:12International Standard Version "For our struggle is not against human opponents, but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in the darkness around us, and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm.."
At the end of the process humankind will be humbled and God will be exalted (in humankind) and the original intent of "let us make man in our image" will be fulfilled. Then God will be "all in all" as it is written.
"The night is almost over, and the day is near. Let's therefore put aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light".
To me Satan/Lucifer represent he human ego.
It often is the ego which prevents us from acknowledging our mistakes; the ego rather finds another scapegoat instead of accepting the responsibility for his own mistakes.
Satan was God's highest angel who chose to try to be "like" God. I agree he was also the serpent in the garden. The Bible says that Satan is like a roaring lion who wanders around the earth seeking who he can devour.
We have an old nature who wants to do as it pleases. When we accept Christ as our Saviour, God's spirit comes to live in us and we have God's spirit living in us. We still have to decide who we will listen to. We are "saved" but we still can sin. The Bible says Satan is the ruler of the world. At some point Christ will return and Satan will end up in the lake of fire.
He is the son of the Roman God Aurua, his Greek name is Phospheros. In Roman Religion, he is a minor god, God of the Morning Star1,2 Lucifer is Latin for 'Light Bearer' and a Roman deity associated with the planet Venus, which was known as Lucifer in Roman astrology before Venus, daughter of Jupiter, was promoted from Goddess of vegetation to Goddess of love and beauty with the planet renamed in her honor.3
There is no Scriptural source which defines Lucifer as Satan. In fact, the word Lucifer was an addition to the Scriptures in place of the Hebrew word, Heylel, which was the literal name of Venus; and, Shahar, which just means "Star of the Morning" or sometimes translated, "Son of the Morning'. The word was in reference to Babylonian Kings and titles they used to claim their divine right to rule. Artifacts such as the Cyrus Cylinder, confirm such assertions were made by kings of the ancient world.
Babylonian Kings such as King Nebuchadrezzar, who according to Babylonian culture, was either worshipped as a God, or an agent or son of God and very common title which they bestowed upon themselves. According to Daniel, Nebuchadrezzar was given all authority and dominion over mankind, beasts of the field and birds of the air, and where they live. God made him ruler over them all with the title of King of Kings;4 a title also reserved for Persian King, Artaxerxes5; and in Christianity to Jesus Christ6. In such way, a man who has dominion over the beasts of the field, birds of the air, and over mankind, indeed had his power based in heaven and were called by the title, Light Bringer, Morning Star, Son of the Morning, etc. and to lose such authority would have him fall to earth.
In all actuality, there is no scriptural source which defines Lucifer as Satan, nor has any description of Satan being an Angel of Light who rebelled against God and was cast out from heaven and changed to the serpent, Satan. The Latin word was added to the Hebrew Text by Jerome in the 4th Century and was in fact the first to ever present the belief that Lucifer was the serpent in the Garden with Adam and Eve. In addition, the reasons for Jeromes misguided and inaccurate translation of Heylel, may be found in his religious politics within the church itself. One of Jeromes main adversaries (satan means adversary) was the Bishop of Cagliari, who was also named Lucifer Calaritanus, who founded the Luciferians. Hoping that the allusion itself was strong enough to condemn the Bishop of Cagliari and his followers as heretics, Jerome hoped to have their ideas and movement abolished. In the 7th Century, Augustine focused on the Vulgate mistranslation and added more to the idea of an angel named Lucifer who rebelled against God because of pride and took down 1/3 of the angels.2,7
He is the son of the Roman God Aurua, his Greek name is Phospheros. In Roman Religion, he is a minor god, God of the Morning Star1,2 Lucifer is Latin for 'Light Bearer' and a Roman deity associated with the planet Venus, which was known as Lucifer in Roman astrology before Venus, daughter of Jupiter, was promoted from Goddess of vegetation to Goddess of love and beauty with the planet renamed in her honor.3
There is no Scriptural source which defines Lucifer as Satan. In fact, the word Lucifer was an addition to the Scriptures in place of the Hebrew word, Heylel, which was the literal name of Venus; and, Shahar, which just means "Star of the Morning" or sometimes translated, "Son of the Morning'. The word was in reference to Babylonian Kings and titles they used to claim their divine right to rule. Artifacts such as the Cyrus Cylinder, confirm such assertions were made by kings of the ancient world.
Babylonian Kings such as King Nebuchadrezzar, who according to Babylonian culture, was either worshipped as a God, or an agent or son of God and very common title which they bestowed upon themselves. According to Daniel, Nebuchadrezzar was given all authority and dominion over mankind, beasts of the field and birds of the air, and where they live. God made him ruler over them all with the title of King of Kings;4 a title also reserved for Persian King, Artaxerxes5; and in Christianity to Jesus Christ6. In such way, a man who has dominion over the beasts of the field, birds of the air, and over mankind, indeed had his power based in heaven and were called by the title, Light Bringer, Morning Star, Son of the Morning, etc. and to lose such authority would have him fall to earth.
In all actuality, there is no scriptural source which defines Lucifer as Satan, nor has any description of Satan being an Angel of Light who rebelled against God and was cast out from heaven and changed to the serpent, Satan. The Latin word was added to the Hebrew Text by Jerome in the 4th Century and was in fact the first to ever present the belief that Lucifer was the serpent in the Garden with Adam and Eve. In addition, the reasons for Jeromes misguided and inaccurate translation of Heylel, may be found in his religious politics within the church itself. One of Jeromes main adversaries (satan means adversary) was the Bishop of Cagliari, who was also named Lucifer Calaritanus, who founded the Luciferians. Hoping that the allusion itself was strong enough to condemn the Bishop of Cagliari and his followers as heretics, Jerome hoped to have their ideas and movement abolished. In the 7th Century, Augustine focused on the Vulgate mistranslation and added more to the idea of an angel named Lucifer who rebelled against God because of pride and took down 1/3 of the angels.2,7
Try selling this one to millions of Christians not wanting to be confused by any facts.
I Agree...
I have met Jesus but never ol' red guy. Make him a myth and then folk get all uppity about the temptation of Jesus, you go fast for 40 days and see just how spiritual you will be towards the end.
The point is not about whether he is literal or not - it is about the perseverance of Jesus. Seeing He (Jesus) had to have experienced everything I have, it stands to reason then if there was a "literal" entity called satan, then as I have not had an encounter with him, it means therefor either he is a myth or satan means something else.
I have met my "alter ego" - that is real and needs suppressing - as for a horned entity or his supposed rebellious cronies, I have yet to meet. I did enough drugs/alcohol in my youth to open the supposed doors to demons yet nada!
Flesh as enmity towards God - that, I can relate to.
This is where the son of perdition also comes in aka the antichrist and that is another topic.
I have met Jesus but never ol' red guy. Make him a myth and then folk get all uppity about the temptation of Jesus, you go fast for 40 days and see just how spiritual you will be towards the end.
The point is not about whether he is literal or not - it is about the perseverance of Jesus. Seeing He (Jesus) had to have experienced everything I have, it stands to reason then if there was a "literal" entity called satan, then as I have not had an encounter with him, it means therefor either he is a myth or satan means something else.
I have met my "alter ego" - that is real and needs suppressing - as for a horned entity or his supposed rebellious cronies, I have yet to meet. I did enough drugs/alcohol in my youth to open the supposed doors to demons yet nada!
Flesh as enmity towards God - that, I can relate to.
This is where the son of perdition also comes in aka the antichrist and that is another topic.
For those who do not believe Satan is Lucifer transformed into evil who was thrown down to earth, showed up in the garden of Eden to tempt out first parents and has since been the enemy of both man and God, what are your views as to where he came from?
I agree with this shared by Byron.
Quote:
The serpent in the garden was obviously created by God and placed there by God (on purpose).
The purpose was to bring adversity to mankind and begin this entire process of living under the knowledge of good and evil/blessing and calamity.
Satan came from God because all is out of God and I believe that he was created according to God's purposes. He is a tool used by God for the development of man and the experience of evil is a part of this development. For example, through the experience of evil we come to understand what goodness really is and we develop qualities and growth that we may not have developed otherwise. We learn to hate sin and evil and to embrace what is good but only after having this experience. We learn who God really is and we glorify Him for who He is. Can we really know what goodness really is without having the contrast? God bless.
Last edited by ShanaBrown; 07-12-2008 at 09:33 AM..
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To me Satan/Lucifer represent he human ego.
