>God doesn't have to prove himself to Satan. Satan would have already known. Use your fucking head
Really? What was all that about God's discussion with Satan in the book of Job? God "proves" Himself to all the rest of creation for His Glory, and when He is glorified, His sheep come to Him.
Really? What was all that about God's discussion with Satan in the book of Job? God "proves" Himself to all the rest of creation for His Glory, and when He is glorified, His sheep come to Him.
Oh, and I should have added, why then would the Holy Ghost send Christ Jesus into the wilderness for forty days, then subject Him to being the target of temptation by Satan? It was to prove Christ was the Lamb of God.
And it's also blasphemy since the Vicar of Christ is the Holy Ghost. A "vicar" is one who is "vicarious", as one sent in one's place. Christ sent the Holy Ghost as He said He would (in the Narrative of John).
Paul wasn't the vicar of Christ. He was an Apostle. The Vicar of Christ can only be God, the Holy Ghost.
>Are you suggesting that God was proving himself to Satan for Man's benefit?
I'm not suggesting it, the Scriptures do:
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,
24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
>Look at Lucifer… was he truly going against the Will of God?
Hmm, sounds familiar: Did God really say?
>Why is it that the priesthood always takes the same position that Lucifer wanted, as middle man?
You'd have to be more specific as to which "priesthood". Certainly the false priesthood does as they are a brood of vipers.
>Go back to the Garden, as well. >Who loved us more? >That which gave us intelligence and the ability to exercise free will?
Love? God is the one who created Adam with the freedom to choose. He chose unwisely because he listened to the doctrine of the Serpent handed to him by his wife, all based on the first lie. That is anti-intelligence and not free will at all, since when Adam ceded his dominance over the earth by bowing to the will of the Serpent, he became the slave of sin. Slavery is not "free will".
>Or that which wanted us to remain unquestioning, ignorant, and obedient as a dog for whom the shock collar is no longer needed?
That's implying God didn't want Man to learn and that He wanted Man to be as you describe. Only in Christ is true freedom, and that freedom entails serving Truth and Justice through Righteousness. This is a duty of love. It is not slavery. A father doesn't instruct and correct his child because he wants him to remain ignorant.
>Do you know your Gnostics?
Familiar enough to know they worship two gods on opposite ends of the spectrum in all things, and they strive to find a balance worshiping the two which requires doing both good and evil.
>"A sandwich was made, thus proving the Glory of God to all who hear and read this, for they and you are now responsible for this information. And it was so."
Yet another perversion of reality. God commanded the Darkness separated from the Light in order to show the Man he could not possibly survive without his Creator. By bowing to the Darkness, Adam learned what it was to be without God.
>Logic.. you should try it.
The first time Man ate from that fig tree, the world was covered in Darkness, and the Serpent became the Prince of the Power of the Air, standing between Man and God as a barrier in Dearth through Sin.
And that's "Death" not "dearth".
But as to Man not being able to survive without God, in Romans 8 it says:
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
This is the same theme in the Prodigal Son. The father released his son to his wishes, and in that desolation, learned his own wishes left him destitute, while at the home of his father, he had only unconditional love as only a father has for his son.
Jesus was with His disciples night and day for 3 1/2 years, constantly speaking with them and teaching them. Since being a target of temptations from Satan was a test of His righteousness in His role as the spotless Lamb of God, He would necessarily have to relate this event to them.
Under the Law, a lamb for Passover had to be inspected for flaws and declared appropriate for sacrifice. As the High Priest of that ultimate sacrifice, He had to undergo that same examination. If not, He would not have fulfilled the law and would Himself be found a transgressor.
Yep, and that's blasphemy. Paul said the Man of Sin would claim the names of God….(2 Thes. 2).