Why aren't humans allowed to beat the enemy in any way?

VCR-2000

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Satan in the Bible is permitted to have influence over the people of earth, at least it seems to imply that. God doesn't want to get it out until it is all finished with so we are stuck in the meantime anyway. I thought God loved the material he created. I can't see why he would abandon or regret it because Satan was allowed to gain control of it.

This reminds me of an analogy of a broken wristwatch. Where a father buys a very expensive watch for his son, but the rest of his sons whom the father is accountable to deliberately break and damage the watch beyond repair. The father tells the son that it's all done and the other sons get away with a slap on the wrist, but he still tells the son "at least I can get you a less fancy, but still good enough watch because I love you."

So Satan now has more complete influence over the populace of earth than ever before, and bad consequences are happening to entire countries and local regions as a result. Tyranny by the majority. There may be a few people that are part of the earth who believe in a God and try to sincerely be faithful Jews, Christians, Muslims but the majority (and the most powerful leaders at the top) are evil and corrupted. There is nothing that will directly stop them, no matter how faithful and loyal any "small" person is to their God.

(Sorry I hope there isn't too much of disconnect between the title and post)
 

Grace2022

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I would not presume to question God. I humbly accept He has good reasons for all he allows to happen. I am a wretched sinner, helpless without God's help. Certainly no human can deal with Satan and his servants, that is when we call upon Jesus Christ and his angels to fight for us. Though i value having a mind of my own, i pray for the humility to pray for God's help in matters that are beyond me.
 
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zephcom

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Satan in the Bible is permitted to have influence over the people of earth, at least it seems to imply that. God doesn't want to get it out until it is all finished with so we are stuck in the meantime anyway. I thought God loved the material he created. I can't see why he would abandon or regret it because Satan was allowed to gain control of it.

This reminds me of an analogy of a broken wristwatch. Where a father buys a very expensive watch for his son, but the rest of his sons whom the father is accountable to deliberately break and damage the watch beyond repair. The father tells the son that it's all done and the other sons get away with a slap on the wrist, but he still tells the son "at least I can get you a less fancy, but still good enough watch because I love you."

So Satan now has more complete influence over the populace of earth than ever before, and bad consequences are happening to entire countries and local regions as a result. Tyranny by the majority. There may be a few people that are part of the earth who believe in a God and try to sincerely be faithful Jews, Christians, Muslims but the majority (and the most powerful leaders at the top) are evil and corrupted. There is nothing that will directly stop them, no matter how faithful and loyal any "small" person is to their God.

(Sorry I hope there isn't too much of disconnect between the title and post)

There must be hundreds of ways to look at this world. Yours is just one of them. I look at it a bit differently.

Because the classic definition of God is that He is all knowing, all powerful, all everything, I choose to accept that the world we live in is exactly the way God desires it. So I try to think about why He would desire the world to be like this.

The answer I come up with is that God desires us to have opportunities to grow our spirituality in this realm by working through the challenges of life. If we are coddled and protected from all strife, danger, bad things, even death, we will never grow in our spirituality.
 
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JackRT

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The OP raises some interesting questions that I have long pondered. We are told that 1/3 of the angels in heaven revolted against God. This is highly puzzling in and of itself but at any rate the revolt is defeated and the Devil/Satan/Lucifer are cast out along with the bad angels (demons). All of this is supposedly in pre-history but then creation takes place and the devil and his army of demons mess it all up. Seems that there was a lack of foresight on God's part. But thousands of years later along comes Jesus and defeats Satan all over again. This is now two defeats but Satan is still loose in the world. Why? Is God actually helpless to finally prevail. Is it any wonder that I find this mythology somewhat lacking? Perhaps the reality of evil in this world has an entirely different explanation.
 
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VCR-2000

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I would not presume to question God. I humbly accept He has good reasons for all he allows to happen. I am a wretched sinner, helpless without God's help. Certainly no human can deal with Satan and his servants, that is when we call upon Jesus Christ and his angels to fight for us. Though i value having a mind of my own, i pray for the humility to pray for God's help in matters that are beyond me.
Yet I do question since it involves allowing something to happen but God himself warns is literally the worst thing in the world and deeply offends him. Humility doesn't work as much. There is no obvious reason why he would allow it and also say he is deeply offended by such let's face it, except for his own reasoning ultimately just for his own benefit at the end of the day.
 
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VCR-2000

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There must be hundreds of ways to look at this world. Yours is just one of them. I look at it a bit differently.

Because the classic definition of God is that He is all knowing, all powerful, all everything, I choose to accept that the world we live in is exactly the way God desires it. So I try to think about why He would desire the world to be like this.

The answer I come up with is that God desires us to have opportunities to grow our spirituality in this realm by working through the challenges of life. If we are coddled and protected from all strife, danger, bad things, even death, we will never grow in our spirituality.
I actually sympathize with that a little bit. Also, it's great that we are desired to have opportunities and challenges, but a lot of it is more horrific and overwhelming too. I'm not really saying I want the world to be coddled from danger, but certain of those challenges and bad things are simply not overcome.
 
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zephcom

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I actually sympathize with that a little bit. Also, it's great that we are desired to have opportunities and challenges, but a lot of it is more horrific and overwhelming too. I'm not really saying I want the world to be coddled from danger, but certain of those challenges and bad things are simply not overcome.

I don't internalize other people's challenges. I assume my challenges are there for me to work on. Other people's challenges are there for them to work on.

If it helps, I think of this physical realm as an elaborate 'roll playing' opportunity. We are not the physical shell we wear while we are in this realm. We are actually immortal spirit beings existing here for the opportunity learn and grow our spirituality.

The things -I- need for my spiritual growth happen to me. The things others need for their spiritual growth happen to them. As we overcome the issues and grow spiritually, our challenges change.

I may have a part to play in helping others grow spiritually. One thing that comes to mind is that I might be hit and killed by a drunk driver. The challenge would be for him/her to grow spiritually as they deal with living after the accident. Or I might not be killed but just paralyzed. The challenge then may well apply to both of us as we learn grow our spirituality out of the adversity that befell us both.
 
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Coady

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Hi VCR-2000,
I see you're a diest which I understand to mean that God kind of wound up the clock and walked away or something to that effect. I'm coming from more of a "without a doubt the God of the Bible exists." The following thoughts though are my own! and are extra-biblical! Pure speculation and I can stand corrected! In fact I welcome any correction from the readers.

I think that God created the angels first and then when man was created it was going to be their job to watch over this lowly (or at least lowlier) creation. Again - not in the Bible- I think Satan wasn't on board for being used to doing that kind of service and rebelled along with a good deal of other angels. Well, guess what? It looks like Satan ends up being God's servant to test and try and purge God's elect - just what he didn't want in the first place. If you read the book of Job carefully you'll see several instances where Job more or less utters some prayers that ended up being answered. "Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book." (Job 31:35) And, more or less, Satan caused a book to be written that has helped saints in trials down throught the ages. Another way at looking at it.
 
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VCR-2000

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More broadly, I don't know what to call myself. I do consider the part that God "wound up the clock" and left us alone sometimes. I just couldn't find a way to change what it says on here, it seems stuck from when you first register.
 
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Coady

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I see. I've only ever encountered that approach when reading about Abraham Lincoln and many considered him to be an example of a diest. On a surface level he would make quotes that seemed to be that of a Christian but biographers that went deeper suspected more of a diest stance. I think as the civil war went on though, he did start to think along the lines of being used by God to save the union.
 
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HitchSlap

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I see. I've only ever encountered that approach when reading about Abraham Lincoln and many considered him to be an example of a diest. On a surface level he would make quotes that seemed to be that of a Christian but biographers that went deeper suspected more of a diest stance. I think as the civil war went on though, he did start to think along the lines of being used by God to save the union.
Interesting aside; as a very young man, Lincoln wrote an article for the local newspaper advocating atheism.
 
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VCR-2000

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"The Bible is not my book, and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."
~~~ Abraham Lincoln
Does anyone know what exact point of his life when he actually said that?
 
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Sketcher

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Satan in the Bible is permitted to have influence over the people of earth, at least it seems to imply that. God doesn't want to get it out until it is all finished with so we are stuck in the meantime anyway. I thought God loved the material he created. I can't see why he would abandon or regret it because Satan was allowed to gain control of it.
We have not been abandoned. (John 16:1-15)

So Satan now has more complete influence over the populace of earth than ever before
Debatable. He had quite a bit of influence before Christ came, and before Israel was taken captive to spread Jewish beliefs and ideas. Kings were revered as gods and could take from the people anything they wanted, slavery was common, and in some places human sacrifice was practiced, and all of this was simply accepted. And before the flood, the Bible says it was even worse.

There may be a few people that are part of the earth who believe in a God and try to sincerely be faithful Jews, Christians, Muslims but the majority (and the most powerful leaders at the top) are evil and corrupted. There is nothing that will directly stop them, no matter how faithful and loyal any "small" person is to their God.
Are you insinuating the Muslims aren't part of the problem? The militant Salafists and the militant Shiites are overtly part of the problem, and Islam is a false religion besides all that. And there are Jews who are not exempt either.
 
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