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Originally posted by Neo Christian Mystic
Satan is the accuser, a very important role in the court of law. Yes for it is all about law with God. Ha-Shatan stands before God and accuse humans according to their do and don'ts all day long, like you can see in Job and Revelation. It's his job. Not that I like atteurneys and their job, but we need such a role in our courts. The Holy Spirit is our defence atteurney (if he want's that is)...
Originally posted by miriam0566
thats a great theory and all, but your ignoring all the scriptures that show satan to be an enemy of god.
john 8:44, 2 peter 2:4, jude 6, rev 12:7-12
Originally posted by TheColdDragon
The snake, prior to the Christian Dogmatists usurping it for nefarious means, has long been held as a symbol of wisdom and spirituality.
Originally posted by miriam0566
yea, except the christians arent the ones who started calling satan a snake. it was the jews.
Originally posted by TheColdDragon
Problem with your statement is that the Jewish people did NOT Correlate the Serpent with Satan, that was entirely a Christian venue. As was the name Lucifer being associated with Satan.
It is worthwhile to note that Jewish faith doesn't ascribe to a literal hell, and Satan is a metaphor for sin rather than an actual entity in Jewish faith since God created good and evil and all is under his Dominion.
Yes, the snake Tempted Eve. Was the snake Satan/Lucifer? No, not according to Jewish beliefs. And since Christians borrow their faith from Jewish beliefs, the Talmud and Zohar ARE the authority on the subject whereas it relates to the Old Testament.
Originally posted by TheColdDragon
So your whole argument hinges on the Hebrews not Interpreting God correctly when they FIRST wrote the Talmud and Zohar?
The Jewish PEOPLE may have changed, but you need to conduct some research on Jewish Religious Texts and the Rabbinical traditions whereas it relates to the Talmud.
The Jewish people are the people who wrote all the books, and their interpretations are GOING to be closer to the truth of the religion whereas it relates to Old Testament content.
As for the book of Job, Job is a parable. Ask a Rabbi some time, Satan is never used in reference to an actual entity as much as a metaphorical devil's advocate to God. Depending on how studious the Rabbi, they may even tell you that Satan isn't even an entity mentioned in the traditional Jewish Texts (Since Satan is Shai'Tahn, the name borrowed from a pre-islamic middle eastern deity much like the Image of the goat-headed entity was robbed from the Celts).
The snake is in the Jewish stories too, but it isn't Lucifer or Satan.
And then you go and say that if my review is from a "Scholastic Point of View" you agree, but otherwise I am wrong? So, from a scholarly review perspective I am accurate, but because you want to believe otherwise, I am wrong?
As for the divinely inspired scriptures, I've never counted Revelations even close to Divinely inspired. As a Gnostic, I think the Apocryphal texts are more divinely inspired than some of the books that were put into the canonical text.
Originally posted by miriam0566
Originally posted by spy66
When God created the garden of Eden Lucifer and his angels where united with God. Lucifer the devil didn't reject god before the creation was finished. When God was done with the creation he told the angels in heaven to kneel to his creation. That's when Lucifer started the war in heaven. But before that Lucifer didn't have a reason to tamper with Adam and Eve.
but see now this is falling into the point you were making to me about satan not being specifically named in genesis, this is not in the bible. in fact there is nothing in the bible that says satan is lucifer, there also is nothing saying he was cast down BEFORE the kingdom of god is set up.
just look at job, satan traveled freely between earth and heaven. in daniel, the angel gabriel was stopped by the prince of persia (in heaven) and later the prince of greece.
angels as well as demons could travel to and from earth. it isnt until revelation that we see satan and his demons restricted. and this is closely tied to the last days
Originally posted by miriam0566
yes.
by the time we get to jesus, he was saying that these people were burdened by useless tradition. the rabbis hijacked judaism the same way the church eventually hijacked christianity.
granted, im not saying that those rabbi´s were completely without merit or that they simply didnt know what they were talking about. but there is evidence that they got certain things wrong.
first off, satan is not a name. its a title but im sure you already knew that. so satan or Shai´tahn being a title borrowed from elsewhere is inconsequential. second, where does the book of job say that it should be taken metaphorically? is there any verse that shows that?
does that mean noah and daniel are also ¨metaphoric¨? is it not possible that the rabbi is wrong?
lucifer is actually Helal translated and it referred to the babylonian king, but im sure from your last post you knew that.
but my question stands. is there any reason to believe that satan was NOT the serpent?
And then you go and say that if my review is from a "Scholastic Point of View" you agree, but otherwise I am wrong? So, from a scholarly review perspective I am accurate, but because you want to believe otherwise, I am wrong?
As for the divinely inspired scriptures, I've never counted Revelations even close to Divinely inspired. As a Gnostic, I think the Apocryphal texts are more divinely inspired than some of the books that were put into the canonical text.
Originally posted by TheColdDragon
Originally posted by miriam0566
yes.
Wow. The level of Arrogance, conceit and ignorance in that one word response is astounding. The Jewish people, the Chosen Race, the people who wrote and passed down the Old Testament for thousands of years before the Christians were even a thought in anyone's head... THEY didn't "Interpret" God Correctly.
I suppose if that were true, the Christian Faith wouldn't be accurate in the least as it would be based on a flawed foundation of a wrongly interpreted deity.
What evidence can you even possibly Cite that doesn't occur in the era of the Christians? You can't make such a claim. That would be like saying water doesn't have a boiling point because it isn't boiling NOW and citing that as proof.
A title for WHAT, per se?
And as for where it is "SAID" in the book, I stated very explicitly that you should speak with a Rabbi on the subject. The oral traditions of the Jewish faith are just as strong today as they were three thousand years ago. I would qualify a Rabbi as far more qualified to make statements about their faith than you are.
Depends on the Rabbi. Everyone is capable of being wrong, but a Rabbi knows more about his people's religion than you do. Assuming they are "WRONG" on something that you haven't been raised to teach is incredibly arrogant.
I'm well aware of myriad different origins of Lucifer. Helal is but one possible explanation, and a popular one
Why do you believe Satan was? It's been demonstrated that the usage of Lucifer from various points in the bible doesn't refer to the Serpent, and Satan's name was added to the book after adopting Shai'Tahn into the religion... so who is the Snake?
Was the snake Deceiving, or was the Snake being truthful? Was the snake undermining the Lord Thy God, and if so, for what Reason?
Gnosticism proposes that the Snake was Pistis Sophia, the mother of the Demi-Urgos, who saw the potential in humankind to become one with the Great Divine Spirit, and so subverted the destiny of Humankind by making them eat from the Tree of Knowledge.
Originally posted by mystiq
The symbolism of wisdom and also loss of innocence, but...its also just symbolic.
[edit on 30-11-2008 by mystiq]