Jesus tempted by Satan, real or just a vision.

by pleaseresearch 31 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  venus

  Hi EverApostate,

  You asked "How come Satan is having a bet with Jehovah then ? As in the book of Job."

  The very essence of Book of Job makes no sense at all--God and Satan playing with the precious life of his devotee. Somebody wanted an answer to the question 'Why suffering exists?" and in his mind this is what appeared as an answer. It has nothing to do God. In most of the cultures and religions, Satan is personification of evil which was gradually got petrified in the minds of people thinking Satan is a person.
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  smiddy3

  Neil Armstrong standing on the moon and looking back at the earth would not be able to see all the kingdoms of the world

  Also for Jesus to be tempted by Satan and Jesus having gone along with him shows that after all these thousands of years since Adam Jesus has never shunned Satan .And obviously neither did Jehovah shun Satan all those years .

  So if Jehovah and Jesus never shunned their chief adversary what right do the G.B.of Jehovah`s Witnesses have in instructing their members to shun anybody for any petty or even major reason in their view.?
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  EverApostate

  smiddy3, Neil Armstrong standing on the moon and looking back at the earth would not be able to see all the kingdoms of the world

  You nailed it.
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  EverApostate

  @venus, Yes the Book of Job is total non sense. The most high in the universe has a bet with the most evil, in order to prove a point, at the cost and suffering of numerous Lives

  Job's numerous servants are killed, along wih this children. And Christians gloss over this and try to find a moral in this story. Pity on them
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  Doug Mason

  Am I correct in thinking that it was "holy spirit" who/that drove Jesus into the wilderness so that Jesus would be tempted?

  If that were so, then the satan was simply carrying out a "holy" mission.

  Why did these people write these stories? What was their objective at the time they wrote these?

  How does the nature of the early account (Mark) compare with the stories as they were developed over time (Matthew -> John -> Luke)?

  Doug
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  Finkelstein

  That evil Satan was still around when the Jesus god appeared within ancient Hebrew mythological time line.

  and dam it he's still around.
  

  If the almighty god Yahweh loved humanity his creation, why hasn't he whacked that bastard off the planet yet ?
  
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  Vidiot

  pleaseresearch - "Jesus tempted by Satan, real or just a vision?"

  Peyote, obviously.
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  redvip2000

  When Satan showed Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world,” he probably used a vision, because it is not possible to see all these kingdoms from any mountain on earth. This may have been similar to the way we can use a movie screen to show someone pictures of other parts of the world.

  What stupidity.... as if Jesus needs to be shown all of the kingdoms of the world. He is not aware of them?

  Satan: Hey Jesus, I have movie to show you.

  Jesus: Oh great! about what?

  Satan: Well...here... you see? These are called kingdoms, there are several of them around the world

  Jesus: Holy Shit! I never knew that....here i spent thousands of year in heaven looking at earth, and i never realized this.

  Satan: Durr !
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  Doug Mason

  The "Satan" of Job is not the "Satanas" of the New Testament. The individual in Job is a "son of God" carrying out activities under Yahweh's permission.

  The purpose of the Book of Job was to create an explanation for the sorry state of "God's people", laying the blame away from Yahweh. Their very recent (6th century BCE) experiences coupled with their very recent surge of Monotheism created the issue of Theodicy, which the Book of Job addresses in the concepts of their day.

  I suspect it is likely there is a soteriological intent with the story of Satan's temptation of Christ. I will research further but my initial thoughts include:

  The intention of the writers (40 to 60 years after the setting of the story) might simply be wanting to show the authority of their ancient written documents.

  Secondly, they might be saying that if you are tempted in these ways, this is how you are to respond.

  I am probably way off the mark, but it is at least a starting point.

  In other words, rather than asking only what did they write, I want to know why they wrote.

  If someone offered you the world (winning the lottery; becoming POTUS; etc.) how would you respond? Is that what these writers were posing? And then setting up Christ as the model respondent.

  Just assuming at this stage.

  Doug
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  Doug Mason

  The ancient Middle Eastern mind did not visualise "all the kingdoms of the world" in the same way that a 21st century mind does. The concepts are completely different.

  Just one example of several: "your faith is being reported all over the world" (Romans 1:8, NIV).

  For them, the expression "all the kingdoms of the world" related only to the kingdoms they were familiar with. They had no vision of the planet as from a space station, or from the moon

  Doug