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Apologetics Research Essay
Main Question:
Is God responsible for evil because He created Satan even though He knew Satan would Fall?
Introduction
In a world where our faith lies in the unseen, laws depending in the standard set by the society and the people going around us judging one another.A question or two may have already popped up in our minds.But then where do we get the answers to the unknown? These are the hardest things to satisfy, one’s unending curiosity to complicated questions about the things that battle between the good and the evil.This essay aims to put an end to one of the many possible question there is in the world.That is to know if– God is responsible for evil because He created Satan even though He knew beforehand that Satan would fall.The world itself is chaotic and understanding the reason behind all of this will open our eyes into the further truth of our existence.This question will help us find the justifiable causes of evil, not specifically but in connection to the stories way back our history.Four-fold Thesis Statements:
1.God created him.2.God created him good.3.Some created angels rebelled against God.4.Free will and the origin of evil.Defense
Discussing the source of evil based on the bible will not be an easy task.The Scripture known to have passed generations and have been interpreted into a thousand languages and versions, will give us the perspective to know where to properly look at.Perhaps the hardest thing to do is to uproot such topic.But to feed the hungry minds in us, it is willful to cover the story.In that case, we will now discuss the four points of bases as we discover the answer to the question with these truths in the Christian perspective.Here are the four(4)bases of arguments:
1.God created him.“God’s creation is good is indeed very good”(Gen.1:31).In the book of where all the beginning of the world was created, it can be derived that God created “ all things”.As they say, everything happens for a reason and so does God’s creation.All of it are in sync to what is essential to the existence of the earth.Nothing in this world existed before God and so everything that exists was all made by God, Lucifer was no exception to this.(McKinley)
2.God created him good.Alongside God’s vast and pure creations that included Lucifer, the fallen angel.All of His creations was all sources of beauty and goodness, it is only fair to create all good things in consistent with the other complementing creatures.Every facet of His creation is very good, whether in heaven or on earth, because everything He created was originally good.Like any other villain in a movie, the characters started out as kind and helpful until one plot changes it all.The same events happened to Lucifer as he was described to be like this: “his character is wholly pure;there isn’t a shred of darkness or deception in him.”(1 John 1-15;James 1-13)Initially, he was all pure and honorable but his own ugly desire turned him into Satan as his new name after falling to the earth.Formerly known as Lucifer when he was still an obedient angel of God.(Smethurst)
3.Some created angels rebelled against God.Inherently, Lucifer was created good with great power and influence towards the other angels, his purpose was to serve and honor God.Until he became the monster of his own evilness, and when he fell he did not fell alone.Scripture tells us that he took a sizable group of fallen angels with him which later became the demons.“Fallen angels are not treated evil by creation but as followers of Satan in his mutiny”.The Scripture made an apparent description of the two occasions that the angels revolted against God.(Horton)
God did not spare [the] angels they sinned, but sent then to hell.Putting them in chains of darkness to be be held for judgment.(2 Pet.2:4)
The angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling– these, he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.(Jude 6)
4.Free will and the origin of evil.He was once a beautiful and powerful angel of God, until Lucifer became unsatisfied with worshipping God, hence he wanted to be the one worshipped.Then he lost his position and was exalted from his status in Heaven.As he became a fallen angel all of his sins then continue to go on, not influenced by anyone but himself.Until he started to lure others into his sins, like how the serpent influenced Eve in the Garden of Eden and how all the sins of the world started.“God cannot be tempted with the evil, and he himself tempts no one.”(James 1:13-15)God created Lucifer as a perfect being, having full wisdom and free will.However, it turned out to be the opposite as he became the evil himself.Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.This can serve as to why he became greedy of his purpose, he desired for more.He got lured and enticed by his own desires and thinking until he was called as “the evil one”(Matt.13-19).All the hiatus and revelry was caused by his selfish thinking, no one else to blame.(Boyd)
Rebuttals, Misconceptions and other Alternative Explanations
From a Non-Christian perspective, one can say that God was not able to foresee things for these things to happened the way it had.Seeing things from here it seems that all the chaos got blown way out of proportion and God was not able to handle and contain it from the roots.Lucifer being made as they call him to be the “star of the morning” is greatly recognized until he made his sins and fall to the earth now called to be, Satan.Relatively, like any other ordinary human beings they tend to make mistakes, crimes and unforgivable sins.But why create them in the first place if only to give darkness and harm to innocent people.Resulting to impoverished, uneducated and mistreated children that are the one’s most vulnerable to evil deeds.These people only created injustice, depression and fear into other living humans.That can be interconnected to Satan’s doing that ended into the chaotic world we have now.Let us now recapitulate the series of events highlighting the fall of Satan to continue with the further explanation of the point.You are the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.You were in Eden the garden of God..You were anointed as the guardian cherub, for so I ordained you.You were on the holy mount of God;you walked among the fiery stones.You were blameless in you ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.Through your widespread trade, you were filled with violence and you sinned.So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub from among the fiery stones.Your heart become proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.So I three to the earth;I made a spectacle of you before the kings’.(Ezekiel 28:12-17 NIV)
In that sense I say these two points to further explain my point above.First, is that if God really had knowledge of Satan’s temptation and human sin.Then, why did he created him in the first place.It feels like a waste of effort to put life on someone that is bound to make mistake and fall eventually.It is the crucial part of the current world’s position as the idea of “good” is becoming of a rare trend.Should God have created a perfect angel of great wisdom such failures will not turn into the sins he have committed.Also, a portion of Satan’s story implied that he was neglected even after all the dedication and obedience ha have been to the Lord.Thus, goes to be the an unaccounted part of God’s “perfect plan”.Second, is why would God create humans in imperfectly if the Scripture said that we are created in His image and likeness.It is somehow related to the topic since we are referring to God’s perfect plan.It is regrettable to hear how people tend to be influenced with evil, affecting not only one’s own life but the life the family he resolves with.All these wickedness rooting from the fact that evil is living among us.Lingering to places where most humans can be tempted easily.Can we say that for humans we are created good as well? As it is not explicitly stated in the bible.I wonder if the same can be applied to us human, if so then another justification can be said that it is not a solid argument to be part of God’s divine blueprint of the world– and its creatures.Yet, somehow we see these loopholes that has come to light in accordance to the apologetic question.We will now proceed with the rebuttals to the four(4)points mentioned above in bold characters for easy reference.1.God created him – it is most likely that it is only God who created everyone.But why? When he knew beforehand that such action of Him will be put into vain.As mention on my first rebuttal all the goodness in his creations is put into no avail.As He fail to cut the evilness of Satan in our world.Probably, God did not know everything as the Scripture say that He is.2.God created him good – it is described that Lucifer when created is naturally pure and holy.But then where does all the hatred and vanity came from? In heaven which is similar to a paradise.What went wrong in there? What changed him? And is it really something inside him all along.All these doubts sprung for this particular point on why such an event would change him totally from his original personality.3.Some created angels rebelled against God – Lucifer must have great convincing powers to brought with him a portion of the angels.Which was not stated to be tainted with evilness.They must have experience or seen something that turn them against the Lord.Together they felt the need for change for the indifference they experience.The leadership they seek was given to them by Lucifer.The choice that the angels long to have it is within Lucifer’s capacity that is why the angels followed him, knowing that they will all fall together.4.Free will and the origin of evil – in the end of all stories there are villains present and here Satan takes the fall.In time of crisis that needs pointing of fingers, someone always has to be the sacrificial lamb.The destination his free will has brought him into, is the punishment to be mocked and watched afar while Satan fell to the earth from the Heavens.Without the free will us humans will have to live like how robots do, dictated and limited to the functions specified into the system.That is why it is natural thing to have the free will and capacity to do things as we wanted.Conclusion
God is the only perfect being, therefore every created thing including humans would have the tendency and capacity to have sins.In His perfect, sovereign and divine plan even the human sins can be a part of His process.In the world we currently exist in, the good and the evil always blend and confuse us.But always know that no one will be swayed in temptations if you know yourself enough.When times of despair, the temptations comes in easy on different appearances.One’s faith in God will always prevail, because it is in our darkest moment that the devil disguises himself to be someone that will deceive you.As they try to lure you of something but take back another thing from you in tenfold.Ultimately, it is only God that helps us without expecting anything in return, He will be the light in our darkness.In ways beyond our complete comprehension, God’s glory is best displayed in ways that we least think of.Works Cited
Mckinley, Mike.Did the Devil made me do it? : The Good Book Company, 2013
Horton, Michael.The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for the Pilgrims on the Way: Zondervan Academic, 2011.Boyd, Gregory A.Satan and the Problem of Evil: Inter Varsity Press, 2001
Smethurst, Mike.Who Created Satan? Retrieved from https://www.xiexiebang.com.ph/amp/s/www.xiexiebang.com/articles/who-created-satan
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