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Subject: Interesting wisdom again for wendy


Author:
CJ
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Date Posted: 15:35:15 11/14/04 Sun
 Satan in the Old Testament;

Satan in fact was not clearly defined in the old testament. In fact then they refered to everything both good and evil as coming from God. If something bad had happened then you were thought to have turned your back on God. In fact the word Satan in the old testament meant angel who would obstruct. It was believed that God would send an anfgel to someone who did wrong or go against him to obstruct that person from going any further.

It wasn't until the book of job that satan began to take on as a seperate entity, yet there still is no clear defintion of this "angel" or being until the new testament. The jews began their description of Satan in the 400 hundred years between the writing of the new and old testament. Many mistakes or misinterpretations have been made regarding many of the phrases that supposedly reffered to satan. in fact many were in reference to other persons who opposed the christian religion. For example ;

"How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to earth... You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God... I will make myself like the Most High." But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.' (Isaiah 14:12-15)

However, although this passage might look like it is speaking about Satan it is not. Satan is actually not a prominent figure in the Bible (although some might argue that its presence can be seen throughout). Passages, such as the one quoted above, can sometimes be taken out of their original context and given a new meaning based on current Christian beliefs. For instance, Isaiah's word's were originally spoken into a historical context before, during and after the time the Nation of Israel was taken into exile by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Thus the original referent of these passages is not a 'fallen angel' called Satan but the human rulers and nations who sought to oppose the Jewish people and their God. So in order to explore here the biblical teaching concerning the Devil we will restrict ourselves to passages which specifically mention Satan (or the Devil) so that we avoid 'reading-into' other passages meanings which may not have been originally intended.



reasearch and excerpts taken from faithnet.com
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Replies:
Subject Author Date
Satan as a post exilic invention? Think again.stan04:06:31 11/15/04 Mon
Re: Interesting wisdom again for wendyWendy11:18:30 11/16/04 Tue

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