Wednesday, June 10, 2015

"Is Satan misunderstood?"

Many good people throughout history were misunderstood; it is sometimes even considered a mark of greatness. Could one also apply this to Satan? As, in Christ, we are moved to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44), I do not doubt that any Christian thinker, theologian, or apologist has at some point asked (or been asked), "What if Satan is actually a good guy but just misunderstood?" But perhaps God responded, "What if? Would that really matter?" With this I concur - a question on that caliber may be best kept a mystery among men and left fully answered only between God and Satan. At any rate, just because one could be misunderstood, and even good-intentioned, it does not always mean that they are right in their convictions. Rebellion against God, whether man or angel, is and always will be the biggest mistake one can make, mainly to his own well-being.


A utopian system, when established by men, is likely to be synonymous with a dystopian depression. The only way for perfect peace by man is absolute control of all wrongs. Bully-cultures find this: with each and every mistake, another village idiot is shamed into nothingness and mindlessly shut down by the herd. This is a superficial peace made by force and by fear, one in which there is no freedom to breathe; and the reason it is impossible for man to maintain freedom and peace for everyone at the same time. Christ, on the other hand, transforms, instead of controls, by instilling his certain inner peace. This is the place where one realizes that only his holiness is and feels like true freedom, rather than like imprisonment, and, too, why Hell, I imagine, a magnified version of man's never-ending conflict between freedom and peace, would be the flesh's ultimate utopia - yet its ultimate regret.

Even in my short time on this earth, it seems I am already seeing much in repetition. Perhaps from now to the beginning, even before man, there is nothing new under the sun but that of the Son. Man's rebellion against God has always been because he would rather fall in pride than rise in humility. This brings me back to what George MacDonald wrote, "[God desires] not that He may say to them, 'Look how mighty I am, and go down upon your knees and worship,' for power alone was never yet worthy of prayer; but that He may say thus: 'Look, my children, you will never be strong but with my strength. I have no other to give you. And that you can get only by trusting in me. I can not give it you any other way. There is no other way.'"

6 comments:

  1. So beautiful! We are transformed by the deep peace within placed there by the divine love that we belong to. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Extremely clever. "... Hell, I imagine, a magnified version of man's never-ending conflict between freedom and peace, would be the flesh's ultimate utopia - yet its ultimate regret." It is just that by putting God and Satan outside of us we make them bigger than us, separate from us, and therefore can be blamed in order to justify our actions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Who is this guy?! What a poignant application of timeless truths to our uniquely cluttered, media-driven world. I love this stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Quoting MacDonald and Lewis will rarely lead you in the wrong direction. Great stuff!

    ReplyDelete