Monday, November 8, 2010
Jealous?
Satan finally makes it to the Garden and upon witnessing it feels sad. He doesn't seem to like the fact that Humans were given a Heaven on Earth, and in vengeance seeks to cast them out of it. I think that Satan feels jealous of the first humans. For one, they have access to Paradise, while he's stuck in the Pit. Also, God made them in his own likeness, which means they must be more beautiful than Satan himself. Furthermore, I think he's jealous of their weakness and stupidity. Satan's already lamented being a spirit with power- he partially believes that the rebellion was due to his own power. Furthermore, he wants to feed the humans fruit from the tree of knowledge. It's assumed right now that the humans are stupid; they do not have knowledge of either right or wrong. Without that knowledge, they cant have free will. They can't choose between good and evil because they don't have any idea of what good or evil is. Satan's problem is that he was given the choice between rebelling and keeping the peace, and he chose wrongly. Because the humans don't have choice, Satan must be jealous that they can do no wrong and is thus dedicated to bringing them down. Ultimately, by making humans eat of the fruit of knowledge, it seems to be Satan, not God, who gave humans free will. He's pretty much a twisted version of Prometheus from mythology; his gift didn't make humans better off, it damned them.
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Interesting logic: Satan gives Adam and Eve free will when he tempts them with knowledge? So before the first choice they have to make they don't have to decide anything? Is stupid the same as innocent? Lots of good ideas in this post, Matthew.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it isn't that adam and eve did not have the option but were ever tempted because eating the fruit was not an appealing option before?
ReplyDeleteEven though many times we envision Adam and Eve as adults, their circumstances in Eden seem to make them more like children who are innocent to their options in the world. All of this story between Satan and God and then God and Adam and Eve is like the a big family with Satan being God's first born child and then instead of getting the primogeniture, Lucifer constantly gets passed up by Jesus or the new borns, Adam and Eve.
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