why was Satan (a rebel, slanderer of Jehovah, and slayer of mankind) not killed immediately following his rebellion?For the simple reason that Jehovah was proving a point.
satan is not the slayer of mankind. we die because without death there would be no evolution. but that answer might not work here, so let me rephrase:
satan is not the slayer of mankind. Jehovah is. let's get this straight.
Jehovah is the one killing people for the sins of their ancestors, not satan.
satan did not slander Jehovah either. Satan called it as he saw it. Jehovah is a big autocratic cry baby. --> Satan was attempting to help human beings break free from the grasp of this tyrant.
Satan, being more intelligent than Jehovah, had no real choice than to rebel against him. he was only being honest to his personally developed moral structure!
Jehovah does not have the power to kill satan, and is pretty incapable of making a point, actually. would you like to know why?
because satan is human will. the will to govern ourselves, and think with freedom whatever thoughts we want. we also have the right to drop jehovah as satan did. we have the right to free minds, independent of God, and the satisfaction and happiness that this life choice can bring.
jehovah pretends that he is letting satan live to teach everyone a lesson. but actually, jehovah is powerless over satan and humans (human will and tenacity).
If the answer is yes to any of these, please point out the scripture that tells us how he was altered/modified.
now remember, you will not find the answers to scientific questions in the bible. neuroscience is no exception.
i would venture that jehovah was modified. if we were created in his image (or him in ours as i feel is more likely), then it probably went something like this:
"pssst. hey jehovah" (satan executes first command. this is sort of like booting the jehovah program)
"yes satan my evil son?" (program output. retreives satan file from database. all succesive conversation is now linked with this file.)
"hey uh, this job guy seems way too goody goody two shoes. you know, think he don't stink. you wanna give him reason to curse you? heheheh..." (plants seed of idea in brain of jehovah the almighty tighty. note. when brains are presented with new ideas, they have been altered)
"okay satan. he seems perfectly happy and god fearing, but lets rough him up a bit. whatya say? for old times sake! remember adam and eve? ha! what a gas!" (jehovah has been altered from his omniscient great and just self, to the apathetic and easily swayed entity of job 1-3)
this shows me something about this so called jehovah. he does not even approach omniscience. why can i say this?
because what he did to job was wrong. let's be clear about this. even i can see this!
you know, this story of Job really smells. smells like a frame up job if i ever saw one. after all this, i am actually skeptical of whether satan was ever even near the scene of the crime! nothing like a good scape goat! ...goat... hmmmm? the implications of my devistating logic i leave to you!
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i find it humorous that satan is the typical apostate here, and people seem to be cheering on his shunning. jesus is not having a spiritual conversation with the bad apostate, but only answering his questions! yay team!
let me ask you: what did satan ever do to you? and while we're at it: why do "bad" things happen to "good" people?
tetra