4.

The Nature of Satan

That the highest created being, known as Satan or the Devil, led an angelic rebellion against an omnipotent omniscient omnibenelovent omnipresent God, and expected to win--which makes Satan out to be pure evil and dumber than a box of rocks.1

quick scan of the Bible proves that Satan is not dumber than a box of rocks. He is crafty, an excellent prosecuting attorney in Gods Court, 2 and studied in the word of God.3 None of these attributes indicate a being that is dumb. As Loftus observes, however, Satan is pure evil.4 Satans big sin is pride, and this sin blinds him to the truth of not being able to beat God. There are several relevant passages in the Bible to give a definition of pride, as well as a description of a prideful person.

DESCRIPTION

OF

PRIDE

There are X verses that describe pride: (1) In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, There is no God.5 (2) Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. 6 We see in these verses that pride imprisons a person, impairs them, and it just generally makes them think they can beat God.7

HOW GOD HANDLES

PRIDEFUL PERSON

God handles a prideful person in a very not-so-nice fashion. He tends to chastise them mercilessly on earth, and if they fail to repent, then the penalty is that horrific second death in hell. Here is what happens while on earth: (1) The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. 8 (2) When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. 9 (3) Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. 10 There are other verses that show how God handles the prideful, 11 but they all amount to the same things we see here. Destruction and utter humiliation at the hands of God.

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Cory Tucholski

CONCLUSION
Given that pride blinds, and God shames the prideful, we see that Satan continues his fight against God not because of stupidity, but because of the imprisoning blindness of his pride. The inevitable result of unrepentant pride is to be laid low by God himself. 12
1) John W. Loftus. Reality Check: What Must be the Case if Christianity is True? Debunking Christianity. <http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/2010/05/reality-check-what-must-be-case-if_17.html>. Accessed June 12, 2010. 2) Job 1:6-12. 3) Matthew 4:1-11 4) See John 8:44. Jesus tells us that Satan speaks out of his character when he lies, which means that his character is nothing but deceit and deception, for he has nothing to do with the truth because there is no truth in him. 5) Psalm 10:4 6) Psalm 73:6 7) That same message comes through crystal clear in Obadiah 1:3, but it is not a generic verse on pride it was addressed to a specific people in a specific time and place. The message is still illustrative of how pride can blind a person utterly. 8) Psalm 31:23 9) Proverbs 11:2 10)Proverbs 16:18 11) Proverbs 29:23; Isaiah 2:11, 17, 13:11, 23:9, 25:11; Zeph 2:8-10. 12)Romans 16:20; Revelation 20:7-10